New People, New Places

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 “Listen also to the immigrant who isn’t from your people Israel but who comes from a distant country because of your reputation— because they will hear of your great reputation, your great power, and your outstretched arm. When the immigrant comes and prays toward this temple, then listen from heaven, where you live, and do everything the immigrant asks. Do this so that all the people of the earth may know your reputation and revere you, as your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I have built bears your name.”

- 1 Kings 8:41-43 CEB -
We’ve all been there. The new person. A new space. The incredible awkwardness of feeling uncomfortable and alone. While it is tempting to celebrate the season of fall by thinking only of the return of what is familiar, we easily can skip over how the fall brings new rhythms and new places in our lives.


Whether we ourselves have all the newness happening now or not, we know there are those around us that are entering into something new. From moving to a new home and city, starting a new school, or even just walking into a new and different class, we all have immigrants so to speak in our midst and potentially have some small sense ourselves of what it could be like to feel out of place. Of course, it could be very likely that you also have true immigrants in your midst as well.

The verses above are from King Solomon’s dedication of the Israelite temple in Jerusalem. This was a big undertaking that took several generations of hoping and planning to make happen. Definitely something to be proud of and write home about. Yet in what could have very much been Israel-only celebration, King Solomon dedicated a space for those that would be new – those that are in a state of transition – those that are immigrant.

What part of our faith opens us up to those who are entering into a new place and stage in life? How do we ourselves seek God while we are entering into new places and new spaces in our lives? How do we share the love we know from God with those who are different from us? As someone that has not so far removed relatives that were actual immigrants, I am so thankful we worship and serve a God that creates space for all of us, no matter how familiar the places we find ourselves.

To Read More: 2 Kings 8:22-30,41-43, Deuteronomy 24:17-21, Luke 10:25-37

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