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From stranger to friend
Nowadays we talk a lot about globalization – positively as much as negatively. But
who caused this phenomena which we call globalization? Historically the knowledge that the earth
is round came with Columbus and through that globalization became a part of domination.
Yet the reason for the unity of all human kind is much older and deeper than this historical
marker. It is founded in the coming of Christ who through baptism has formed a new people
from all peoples. For Paul it couldn’t be fast enough to travel
to the ends of the then known world of the Roman empire (Romans 15, 23-25): “But now
as there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing
for many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while
I am passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed
you company for a while. Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the
Saints there.” We know that due to his imprisonment Paul was unable to realize his plans.
From this beginning strangers grow together to a new communion, a new body in Christ.
Jews, Greeks and Romans, later Germanic and Slavic tribes; then the many peoples of the
Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia. They are alien to each other the different people
and races. Different are there cultures. And yet they become one church from near and far.
But it is easier said than done! Everything alien has a Janus face, meaning they have
a hostile and a friendly side. What is alien causes fears. Differing customs, differing
behaviors, differing values threaten us. But at the same time what is alien also attracts
us. How otherwise could we explain our wanderlust? If in Christ the secret of His love comes
to affect between two strangers then neither the weakness of the other nor my own will
be exploited but rather will we serve each other with our respective strengths. No longer
strength against weakness! Because through that strangeness turns into hostility. Rather
strength for weakness and weakness for strength. In this manner we both will be linked in the
secret of love: from stranger to friend within one church.