Everyone Belongs by Shawn Casselberry

Last updated on: March 21, 2014 at 8:12 am by Shawn Casselberry

Everyone Belongs by Shawn Casselberry 2014-03-21T08:12:06-08:00 Shawn Casselberry

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Everyone Belongs

Imagine a world where everyone belongs.

Where we don’t demonize people who think differently than us.

Where we don’t think we’re better than anyone else.

Where there is no “us and them.” There’s just “We.”

Where we are one human family.

Where there are no labels except “beloved” and “Child of God.”

Where we live together in the same neighborhood despite racial and economic differences.

Where there are no prisons or walls to divide us.

Where we share resources so that we can all enjoy God’s good gifts.

Where we make peace by building community.

Where every enemy is destroyed by making them friends.

Where agape love is the foundation of our relationships.

Where faith and justice go hand-in-hand because faith sustains justice and justice authenticates faith.

Where we desire simplicity because we don’t want some to have too much while others don’t have enough.

Where we create communities (churches) where everyone belongs because everyone needs grace, everyone has something to give, and we know the world is big enough for us all.

Dr. King called this the beloved community.

Jesus called it the kingdom of God.

This is what Jesus teaches us to pray for.

To pray and act so that the world will look more and more like the kingdom.

This is the vision we commit to living out every day despite the barriers and resistance we face.

This is why we welcome the strangers, feed the hungry, befriend the outcast, visit the elderly, emancipate the prisoner, protest injustice, and build community with those on the margins.

Because in God’s kingdom everyone belongs.