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As a child I loved playing football. We would often gather ata field adjacent to an elementary school to play. There was nothing organised about it. Captains would be identified, and then they would choose the players for their teams, alternating, one after the other. One is either included or excluded in the teams. Some are accepted - others are rejected.

Perhaps you have had the experience of being on the inside, of knowing acceptance. It is a secure feeling. Maybe you have also known rejection and exclusion. It can be frustrating and disillusioning.

Paul, in his letter to the believers at Ephesus (Ephesians 2:11-22), declares that it is good news, we have access to God, we are called to accept one another, Jesus Christ has destroyed the distinctions between insider and outsider, accepted and rejected.

This is good news for us. You see, we are the outsider to whom Paul refers, we are the Gentiles, we are the ones whom once were far off, excluded, but now in and through Jesus Christ have been brought near. There is a wideness in God's mercy. This has happened through the blood of Jesus Christ, through he blood of the cross - a cross that represents the peace that God has made with the world; a cross that represents all divisions, a cross that communicates God's desire for the world.

• In Jesus Christ, God looks upon the multitudes, and has compassion, and says, "You are included"
• In Jesus Christ, God looks upon the Gentiles, and has compassion and says, "You are included."
• In Jesus Christ, God looks upon the stranger, and has compassion and says, "You are included."
• In Jesus Christ, God looks upon the women, and has compassion and says, "You are included."
• In Jesus Christ, God looks upon the prodigal, and has compassion and says, "You are included."

This is a radical message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no longer insiders and outsiders. There are no longer accepted and rejected. There is no longer the holy and the unclean (see Acts 10). There is no longer male and female, all are equal.

In a divided conflict ridden world, "The Miracle of Being Included" is surely good news.