I have lived abroad for short periods when I was a student and it is exciting to do this, but also daunting. There are so many things that are unfamiliar about living abroad: culture, language, climate, scenery and so on. It’s very easy to feel like an outsider, to not understand the culture and therefore offend people inadvertently (last year in India, my left-handedness almost got me into trouble, for the left hand is still seen as unclean in that culture) or to be misunderstood because of language barriers.

In our society, many people feel like outsiders; they feel the loneliness of misunderstanding and the pain of not ‘fitting in.’ I have a plaque which hangs in my kitchen that says

Xenophilia means we reach beyond understanding to love what we don’t understand because we know there are no outsiders to God’s love. As Rend Collective remind us in their poignant song, No Outsiders’, ‘we are all welcome: there’s grace enough.’

You are our refuge
You have no borders
When I was a stranger, knocking at Your door
You took me in
With no questions, and no conditions;
When I was a sinner, running from Your grace
You called me friend.
You called me friend.

There are no outsiders to Your love.
We are all welcome, there’s grace enough.
When I have wandered, Lord, your cross is the open door.
There are no outsiders;
I’m not an outsider to Your love.

You are the harbour
In every tempest.
When my soul was shipwrecked,
Tossed upon the waves,
You calm the storm.
You are the Father
And there are no orphans –
Every tribe and nation
Gathered in Your arms
Sings with one voice,
Sings with one voice.

There are no outsiders to Your love.
We are all welcome, there’s grace enough.
When I have wandered Lord, your cross is the open door.
There are no outsiders;
I’m not an outsider to Your love.

I was tired, I was poor;
I was thrown upon Your shores.
I was homeless and afraid,
‘Til I heard You call my name.
Now I’m ransomed, I’m restored;
Resurrected, I am Yours.
I am loved, yes, I belong.
Oh, my soul has found its home.’ (‘No Outsiders’, Rend Collective)