St. Patrick Presbyterian Church, Epc

CitizenshipThe tension we face as believers in Jesus is that we have dual citizenship. Most of us here are citizens of the United States of America. And yet, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have citizenship in God’s new people. Christians are spoken of as a new people, a new nation. If you don’t see the tension here… well, I am at a loss. Increasingly, we feel this tension in our bones and imagination.             The easiest thing to do to try to ease the tension is to either withdraw from the world — and this has been done in every generation since Jesus. Rather than be corrupted by the kingdoms of this world we move geographically away. Or we assimilate into our earthly citizenship and adopt its ethics, ethos, and machinations. And yet…            The place Paul finds himself this week is with firm solidarity within his Roman citizenship. Over and over, he appeals to it. The question I keep asking myself, after living in the book of Acts since last August, is why so much time is spent on the five trials o