“The Wall”
Ephesians 2: 11-22
October 27, 2024
(Build wall of boxes and containers 8feet tall- down on main level with choir stand)
What are we going to do about this wall? It’s pretty high these days, isn’t it? What wall are we talking about?
There are three different aspects of this wall:
1. The first aspect is the Red and Blue politics of the United States. Our presidential election highlights the very different values found in those who support Donald Trump and those who support Kamala Harris.
2. The second aspect of this wall are the progressives and evangelicals in the American church. These days the evangelical church is steeped in White Christian Nationalism. And the progressive church stands for justice and equality for all.
3. The third aspect of the wall is between those who are like most of us (for example white and straight) and those who are different than us (for example: persons of color and LGBTQ).
What are we going to do about this wall?
Maybe we should keep up the wall. Don’t good fences make good neighbors? Robert Frost wrote about this ninety years ago in a poem entitled Mending Wall.
Do good fences or good walls make good neighbors?
What are some of the reasons we might want the wall?
1. We can avoid dealing with hard topics.
2. We have little tolerance for conflict or tension.
3. We’re afraid we’ll be criticized or hurt in some way if we have to engage with people who differ from us.
What are we going to do about this wall? Should we leave it up?
Maybe good fences and good walls make good neighbors?
Let’s see what the apostle Paul says. He’s writing from a prison in Rome. Paul knows that his death could come any day. He faces these days saying the words of his Lord, “Not my will, but your will be done.” Because of all this, Paul is doing a lot of reflecting on the cross of Jesus. What does it mean that Jesus died for us? Paul’s been praying and pondering about this: What does Jesus dying for us really mean?
Recently, Paul has heard from one of his churches – the one in Ephesus. It’s a church he started a few years before. Paul lived there for almost three years preaching and teaching and evangelizing. He left a strong church. But now he hears about some of the problems they’re having.
One of the major problems in the Ephesian church is a wall that has built up. The wall is between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. The Jewish Christians hold to the importance of tradition. The Gentile Christians emphasize their present-day personal experience in Jesus Christ.
The Jewish Christians find it difficult to sit at the same table as Gentiles. The Gentile Christians look at Jewish Christians as elitist snobs. The wall between the two grew after Paul left.
The letter we have called Ephesians could be the last letter Paul writes in his life. He writes to the Gentile believers in Ephesus.
What are we going to do about this wall? Should we leave it up? Maybe good fences and good walls make good neighbors?
Paul says, “Christ has made peace between Jews and Gentiles, and he has united us by breaking down the wall of hatred that separated us…. On the cross Christ did away with our hatred for each other. He also made peace between us and God by uniting Jews and Gentiles in one body.”
The Message paraphrase puts it this way: “The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance.”
What are we going to do about this wall? The good news is that Christ has broken down this wall on the cross. He tore it down.
The Scripture reminds me of a famous speech by President Ronald Reagan. He stood at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany on June 12, 1987. Ronald Reagan said,
“Behind me stands a wall that encircles the free sectors of this city, part of a vast system of barriers that divides the entire continent of Europe. From the Baltic south, those barriers cut across Germany in a gash of barbed wire, concrete, dog runs, and guard towers….
Standing [now] before the Brandenburg Gate, every man is a German separated from his fellow men. Every man is a Berliner, forced to look upon a scar.”
Later on this speech Reagan comments on the positive changes that are beginning to happen in the Soviet state. He goes on, “We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace.
There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate.
Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate.
Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
Thank God, just a few years after that speech, the wall did come.
What are we going to do about this wall? Christ has torn down this wall by his death so we are called to continue Christ’s work of tearing down this wall.
Americans divided into Red and Blue: tear down this wall.
American Christians divided into evangelical and progressive: tear down this wall.
People divided by color, sexual orientation, age and so many other ways: tear down this wall.
Tearing down the wall means we can talk with each other.
It is not easy. Tearing down the wall calls on us to exhibit the following character traits:
1. Risk. We take a risk to reach out to those who differ from us. We don’t know how they’ll respond.
2. Humility. We recognize that we might not have all the answers. Paul puts it this way in I Corinthians 13: “We don’t know everything, and our prophecies are not complete. But what is perfect will someday appear, and what isn’t perfect will then disappear. When we were children, we thought and reasoned as children do. But when we grew up, we quit our childish ways. Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror. Later we will see him face to face. We don’t know everything, but then we will, just as God completely understands us.”
When we tear down this wall, we’re humble and admit that we don’t know everything. We’re humble and recognize that we can still learn and change and grow. We’re humble enough to learn from them.
3. Respect. We honor those people who are different from us and who believe differently than us. We don’t try to fix, convert, control or demonize them. We respect them.
4. Listen. We seek first to understand them before sharing our viewpoint. It’s sometimes helpful to paraphrase what the other person said before we speak. We listen to them.
5. Hospitality. We create a safe place for people who are different and who believe differently than us. Jesus talked about loving our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus also said, “Love your enemy.” We’re like the Good Samaritan who bandaged up the person who was very different. We’re like Abraham and Sarah who were a gracious host and hostess to strangers. The strangers later revealed themselves as angels of God. We extend hospitality to them.
We talked about this last Spring. Since then I’ve read two other books that are helpful. The first is entitled: The Psychology of Christian Nationalism. In this book Pamela Cooper-White says, “I believe in talk – under the right conditions. I will adopt the emergency medical language of triage here to suggest that the first step toward conversation is to determine whether fruitful conversation is possible. The first point of discernment is: Am I the right person to have this conversation with this person….I offer three possible choices to make about whether to attempt a serious conversation. Like a traffic light:
1. Red light stop – talking will do no good – at least not here, not now, not by me. This is for dealing with the true believers. There are also Stop Moments where you realize in the middle of a conversation that you need to change the subject or walk away.
2. Yellow light – try, but tread lightly. This is for people you think might be open to independent thinking on the issues and who might be open to a meaningful conversation. With these people, the best step is to start out with lots of listening and lots of respect. Empathy and genuine curiosity should be the guiding attitudes.
The third light is the green light where we feel we can go deeper, gently and wisely. Once again, we start with respectful listening that includes finding common ground and exhibiting kindness.
The second book I read is entitled: How to Heal Our Divides. In this book, one of the authors talks about three practices in the art of listening. One is being unusually interested in each other. The second is choosing to stay in the room with differences. The third practice is not comparing your own best with the other side’s worst.
Robert Frost says, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”
Paul says, ‘Jesus Christ it is that doesn’t love a wall.’
Ronald Reagan says, “Tear down this wall.”
Paul says, ‘You are already one in Christ, so tear down this wall.’
I invite each of us to find some small way to tear down the walls in our nation between those who presently support Trump and those who don’t. (take down part of the wall of boxes)
I invite each of us to find some small way to tear down the walls in American Christianity. (take down part of the wall of boxes)
I invite each of us to find some small way to tear down the walls between people like most of us (white and straight) and those who are different than us (persons of color and LGBTQ) (take down part of the wall of boxes)
I invite each of us to find some small way to bring us together in unity and love. (take down another part of the wall of boxes and reach across the divide)
