Radical Inclusiveness in Ephesians

The letter to the Ephesians was written in the first century after Jesus, after his death, but before most of the Gospels were written.  The most important issue confronting the small groups of Jesus-followers was how to be a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles. How can there be one group of people made up of two groups of people who have built their respective identities on NOT being like each other? Paul or not, the writer was most concerned about this new community of people who were called to be ONE where they had been TWO before.  The writer was most convinced that Gentiles didn't have to give up being Gentiles and Jews didn't have to give up being Jews in order for them to live together in peace.  Somehow (maybe mysteriously!) Jesus made that possible.

Reading Ephesians again in the 21st century, I'm wondering how it addresses us.  Could it be that the categories of Jew-Gentile are recreated in our own differences, religious and otherwise?  So many of us build our identities on NOT being like THOSE people--those kinds of Christians, those Muslims, those Southerners, those Yankees, those Republicans, those Democrats.  What would we have to do differently to break down the barriers that still divide us?
I'm reminded of an old joke. "There are two kinds of people in the world: those who divide the world into two kinds of people and those who don't."
Lord, save us from ourselves!