Toongabbie Anglican Church Blog

Weekly Blurb Foreigners and aliens?

Foreigners and aliens?

Sunday 14 June, 2009 · Posted by Raj Gupta

In recent times, and again as recently as this week, there has been a heightening of the number and scale of – what appear to be – racially motivated attacks within our country. Deeply ingrained racism in Australia is nothing new. Just a few years ago, many will remember the ‘Cronulla riots.’

This time, the attacks seem to be directed to those within the Indian community. The people of our church should feel some outrage about these attacks. Firstly, we live in an area which has a very strong Indian and sub-continental contingent. This is a fact for which we give thanks to God, and at this time we should stand with our fellow human beings against these attacks.

The second reason that we should feel a sense of outrage is because we are Christians. Jesus came into the world to give his life so that every individual can have the opportunity to turn back to God (Ephesians 2:8-9). In doing so, he broke down the dividing wall of sin that existed between us and God. A direct result is the breaking down of barriers between people, as together the people of all nations rejoice in Jesus.

Ephesians says about the Gentiles (that is, non Jews): Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household … with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. Ephesians 2:19-20

God desires for people to put aside their differences as they realise they are nothing compared to what God has done by sending Jesus to give his life. I hope, at the minimum, this spurs us to pray for what is happening in our community.

In the last 2 years at Toongabbie Anglican, one of our greatest joys has been to welcome into our church community so many people of a sub-continental background. One of the greatest opportunities our church has is to bring the message of Jesus death and resurrection to this people group. And, under the sovereignty of God, he is blessing our church with exactly the right resources to do so.

In fact, in a few weeks time I am calling together those with a heart to reach those of a sub-continental background. With the coming up of the Indian Food Festival in August, and also the visit of the Archbishop, the time has arrived for us to pray and think about how we can reach the thousands of sub continental people that God has blessed our community with. Please speak with me if you’d like to be involved.

Raj