Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
- Ephesians 2:12
 
Have you ever felt excluded?
 
Paul wrote to people who had had a deep and painful experience of exclusion. They weren’t just excluded from a group of people; they were excluded from all of the benefits that membership in that group provided.
 
Imagine how it would be to be excluded from the services of the fire department or the police. Your door has been kicked in and your roof is on fire and you have no hope that anyone will come to your rescue.
 
When the Gentile Christians look back at their life before Christ, they saw themselves as without hope and without God in the world. At the time, they may have felt content, maybe even at peace. But looking back they see that they were on a train to a terrible destination (without good company).
 
Some of us have felt at times like we’re without hope and without God in the world, as if we’re excluded from the circle of God’s people.
 

• Maybe you weren’t raised in and around Christian community. You didn’t know the songs or phrases or traditions. The snacks were unfamiliar. You felt like an outsider.
• Or maybe one day during a long stretch where you weren’t engaged with faith or a faith community, you realized that there was something missing.  And maybe you weren’t sure how to connect with God or if you’d find a community where you could work out faith. You felt like an outsider
• Or maybe you did something that made you feel ashamed (or that still makes you feel ashamed). You thought there’s something so wrong with you that you can never be accepted. You felt like an outsider.
• Or maybe you have an unexamined stereotype about what a Christian looks or acts like (unfashionable, hypocritical, weak/dumb/petty/cruel). You’re not sure you ever want to be “one of those people.” So you felt like an outsider.

 
In God’s good goodness, he goes out of his way to connect with those of us who live as outsiders. He does his best and most beautiful work on the margins. And he welcomes us into the innermost circles of his life.
 
Where have you felt like an outsider when it came to your faith?