On Sunday, Rev. Joshua Patty preached on Paul's letter to the Ephesians, where the apostle describes how Christians begin to experience heaven on earth. In contrast to a world that consistently divides people into groups where some are "in" and some are "out," though Christ God has created a single group for all of the faithful. The main demonstration of this is the end of the division between Jew and non-Jew, but it extends to other groups and identities as well. If people want to be faithful Christians, they need to seeing beyond the barriers and divisions that humans say exist between them -- because such divisions will not exist in heaven.
That said, Christians still need to find ways to live on earth, which means that they must cope with these very divisions and their challenges. In many ways, Christians need to claim their heavenly identity -- their citizenship in God's new world -- while still living on earth.
Click here to listen to the sermon.
