Out of Place

 

I have taken photographs of this spot several times across the different seasons of the year. Each time I walk past, I am fascinated that such a spot exists in my neighborhood. With the thick growth of trees and the variety of docks from each home lining the shore, it is so hard to imagine we are in the middle of a huge urban area. Only the power lines high above distract from the scene. It is as if somehow a rural locale was dropped into the middle of the city.

Sometimes we can feel out of place. We can live under the weight of not fitting in, of not understanding the behaviors and attitudes of those around us. We can feel alone at times in our commitments and convictions. We can embrace a lifestyle that seems out of step with the masses. Yes, we can experience feeling out of place.

The early followers of Jesus were a hodgepodge of people with all kinds of stories. As they embraced the Good News that God’s love erases all the boundaries between us that we work so hard to define, they left their “place” and found themselves, literally, out of place. That is where the Church came in. We read in the Letter to the Ephesians, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.”

All of us, with our different stories and experiences , can find our place together in the love of God and in a community that lives into that love. We can belong. We can find kindred spirits. We can share life in a place of love.

Peace.