a·li·en
adj.
1. Owing political allegiance to another country or government; foreign: alien residents.
2. Belonging to, characteristic of, or constituting another and very different place, society, or person; strange. (Synonym: foreign.)
3. Dissimilar, inconsistent, or opposed, as in nature: emotions alien to her temperament.
n.
1. An unnaturalized foreign resident of a country. Also called noncitizen.
2. A person from another and very different family, people, or place.
3. A person who is not included in a group; an outsider.
4. A creature from outer space: a story about an invasion of aliens.
5. Ecology An organism, especially a plant or animal, that occurs in or is naturalized in a region to which it is not native.
tr.v. a·li·ened,
a·li·en·ing,
a·li·ens Law
To transfer (property) to another; alienate.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin - other.]
We talked about the alien at church this evening.
- ” ‘Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in Egypt.’” Exodus 22:21
- ” ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.’ ” Leviticus 23:22
- ” ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.’ ” Leviticus 25:23
- ” ‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.’ ” Leviticus 25:35
- “He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing.” Deuteronomy 10:18
- ” Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice.” Deuteronomy 24:17
- “Hear my prayer, O LORD, listen to my cry for help; be not deaf to my weeping. For I dwell with you as an alien, a stranger, as all my fathers were.” Psalm 39:12
- ” Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.” Ephesians 2:19
The alien - or stranger - is mentioned a lot in the Bible; a lot more than the examples I’ve found here.
Talking about the alien is two-fold:
- How we treat the stranger among us.
- Who we are on this earth and where we live and work.
The alien and our neighbour are the same thing - and Jesus teaches us that our neighbour is not always the person we expect them to be. In fact: our neighbour is everyone. We have local neighbours and global neighbours. And if we are to love them as we love ourselves, then that puts a whole new outlook on how we live our lives. And that brings about a need for social justice.
But If we are the alien that also impacts on how we live our lives. We’re not called to blend in. We’re called to stand out, to be counter-cultural, to be relevant. Easier said than done, I know. I offer no suggestions, just thoughts.
And I did start thinking. I started thinking about how I live my life, who I impact, how I help the stranger or alien. Which I don’t think I do. And how can I? What are my giftings?
And then I started thinking about the one person I have been seeming to have an impact on. G is an alcoholic. He slipped again before Christmas, but is back in recovery again. He’s done it before, he can do it again. He’s been sleeping rough again for a while - he got into a fight and was thrown out of his hostel. He hangs around the gardens at church, which is where we, the church, first met him, before he sobered up about 18 months ago.
When I meet him it often seems to be significant for him. I seem to make a difference for him. I’m honest with him. I don’t talk the Christian clap trap that people often talk to those who have substance abuse problems. I tell it like it is to him. But he has a faith, we’ve been in a home group together, he came round for Christmas dinner two years ago. But I seem to make a difference in his life. However small that might seem to me.
And there’s a woman who comes to church, another recovering alcoholic, who likes my honesty, my f*** ups and the fact that I tell it straight how I see it, and don’t try to warp (I meant to write wrap there, but I think this is a better word for what I’m trying to say) things to fit a happy clappy Christian viewpoint.
And that got me thinking. Where do I like being, what do I like doing? Where have I most often felt at home in my life. And to be honest, it’s behind a bar. Which doesn’t really fit with a Christian lifestyle (and doesn’t really pay for a London lifestyle either). But we’re not called to fit in, to mould, are we?
If people ever ask what my ideal job would be, it would be a funny little old man’s pub (British people will know the type), with the locals that come in and spend the day there, where the barmaid is part barmaid, part psychotherapist. And, if you have the ‘luck’ I have, you get 80-year-old men trying to snog you when you’re only 23!
But I enjoy it. I can be that listening ear, if I’ve got a reason. The bar liberates me from my awkwardness and enables me to talk to just about anybody. The conversations I had a Greenbelt last year from behind the bar were amazing (but I’m not doing that again, as I didn’t get my proper Greenbelt experience. This year I’m going as a punter, but helping on the Workshop stand). Some people opened up in amazing ways.
So this is something to think about. Maybe it will be another one of those great ideas that comes to nothing, that I seem to have a lot of. But then God works in mysterious ways.
