In part 2 of the ‘Seeking the New City’ sermon series, the themes of Belonging and Hope were highlighted. Abraham’s family didn’t feel at home in this world; they belonged to a ‘New City’ whose architect and builder is God. They longed for a better country, a “heavenly homeland.” Their faith in God was fueled by hope that God is a faithful Promise-Maker. Their sense of belonging and hope in the Kingdom of God transformed their view of themselves and their way of life. We don’t know who we are or how to live until we know to what community we truly belong. Followers of Jesus belong to the Kingdom of God inaugurated in Jesus’s Incarnation, Ministry, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, and Outpouring of the Spirit. God’s Kingdom is already, but not yet. It has arrived with Jesus in part, and yet when Jesus returns it will arrive in full. In the meantime, the Body of Christ is a ‘sacrament of the Kingdom,’ a foretaste and a glimpse of the future. The Kingdom of God Jesus-disciples are called to embody is a new social order, a new way-of-being-in-the-world. We are to embody the shalom (justice, peace, righteousness, and wholeness) that will characterize the entire, restored world. In the Body of Christ, we embody that present-invading-future social order of shalom even now! That’s Good News!