Ok, on Sundays we have begun this tremendous new series called Hope Beyond Belied. It is a study in the New Testament book of first Peter. Each week we investigate a different section of this book. We began last week with chapter one verses one through twelve. Each Sunday I will cover as much of the test as I can but it is just impossible to highlight everything that needs our attention. So, I am going to use some of my blog time over the next few weeks to discuss a few of the parts I am not able to get to on Sundays. Here’s a link to the free online recording of the entire message, if interested. http://relaxedchurch.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=57
Let’s start with a word that is worth exploring. It is used a couple different times in the first chapter. In verse one Peter describes Christ followers as “strangers.” Then in the same chapter, verse seventeen he instructs us to “Live your lives as strangers hers.” In different translations the word strangers is replaced with “aliens, sojourners, exiles, foreigners and refugees.”
What comes to your mind when you think of someone as a stranger or any of the other descriptions? To me, there are a two or three words or concepts that emerge. Here they are.
Unfamiliar
Detached
Looking Beyond
A stranger is someone who is not overly familiar with his or her surroundings, only familiar enough to get to the next destination.
A stranger is someone who is not willing to connect too securely with their temporary place of existence. They hold things loosely. They release easily.
And a stranger is always looking to their “home” beyond their refugee status. They always know that this is not home. Home is someplace else.
So how do you feel about being a “strangers” in this world that we call “home?”
Steve Thornton 
I understand you mean this in a much broader sense; none-the-less, I have oftentimes felt less a stranger among “strangers” than many closest to me. More so among Christians. I believe primarily because of the all-too-common religious based expectations found so often among those of faith. There is the expectation that persons should be / act / think particular ways — often, having no biblical basis for the perspective — but instead often based on more religious tradition or idea. I believe this is often why so many unbelieving ‘strangers’ find Christianity so utterly strange. 🙂 – td
Any one on