It is almost 3 years since I got my New Zealand citizenship and my Kiwi passport. There was a civic ceremony to welcome the new citizens in West Auckland. Even though I was the only new citizen from Myanmar, I was still very proud of my new status. I still haven’t travelled on my new Kiwi passport, but I remember what it was like travelling on my Myanmar passport.
When Keith and I travelled to Myanmar I would need to get a visa for the transit countries if we spent a night there. It was the same when we went to Australia where I also needed a visa. When we returned to New Zealand we would be separated at immigration into different queues, one for citizens and the other for foreigners. The road to citizenship wasn’t easy, seven months to get a visitor visa and nearly two years to get a resident visa. When I was on my visitor’s visa, I was not covered by the New Zealand public health system and one night in hospital in 2013 was very expensive. It was times like this where I sometimes felt like a foreigner or a stranger and that I didn’t belong.
After the resident visa, the path to citizenship got easier. Some Kiwi citizens are able to have dual nationality and two passports but sadly I had to give up my Myanmar citizenship to become a Kiwi citizen. Each step along the road to citizenship gave me more privileges. Sadly, many people in the world including refugees are stateless. They have no rights and privileges and they are pushed to the side and not included or valued.
There are some wonderful verses in Ephesians that talk about citizenship and carry the same theme of welcome and inclusion that we have been looking at in Luke. The path to this citizenship is straightforward and it is open to everyone.
Ephesians 2:19-20 (NLT)
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.
These verses were written by Paul, a Jew but also a Roman citizen which was the best citizenship to have at that time. While Paul valued this citizenship, he rejoiced even more in the other dual citizenship he had, being a citizen of the kingdom of God. This citizenship is not a country with borders and passports. It is God himself ruling his people and giving them the privileges and responsibilities that come with it. This included the gentile believers who had previously been stateless and outsiders.
Roman citizenship (in the time of Christ) and Kiwi citizenship (today) are highly valued, but like Paul we can rejoice in an even more wonderful citizenship, citizenship in God’s kingdom. When I became a Kiwi citizen, I got a new passport, but my birth certificate remained the same. When I became a fellow citizen with God’s people, I didn’t get a new passport but, in a sense, I got a new birth certificate because I became a child of God.
My God bless you in the week ahead.