Spirit Soundings: On Tumbling Walls, Ephesians 2:14, 19-22, 11/13/2015

  “For Christ is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one
and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us…
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
In him the whole structure is joined together
and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
in whom you also are built together
spiritually into a dwelling-place for God.”
(Ephesians 2:14,19-22)

“On Tumbling Walls…again”

Rev. Ruth Santana-Grace

As I was preparing for this reflection, I was reminded that just 12 months ago I was led to this same text and similar words– unaware that one year later we would find ourselves in the midst of such an emotionally charged year. It took me back yet again to a memory some twenty-six years ago when the images of a tumbling wall swept throughout the globe. The crash was loud – the wall separating east and west Berlin was to be no more. After decades, the Reagan-Gorbachev era marked the end of the cold war. The ramifications of this were significant in more than the obvious way. A new economy had to be conceived. A new cultural reality would need to be shaped, with the hope that a once-divided people could be made ‘whole.’ I can still hear President Reagan’s raspy voice – “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall.” I lived in Italy at this moment and the excitement about a new era was palpable.

The bringing down of the Berlin Wall gave way to the bringing down of assumptions. The world began to see new possibilities. Isn’t this the way it often is? A barrier comes down and new possibilities present themselves. I’ve learned that as long as the barrier exists, it is impossible to see the possibilities that might be right on the other side. So long as the barrier exists, it becomes difficult to see the light that is breaking in through the walls.

The events of this past week as top leadership at Missouri University step down under the cloud of racial insensitivity, racist accusations and innuendos reminds us of just how prevalent and powerful the walls are. The truth is, this past year seems to be an endless reminder of these human walls as violence, hate, racial unrest, polarizing speech have become the norm in our daily news feeds. These walls are reflected throughout our culture, but they are also, at times, tragically reflected and ignored within the Church of Jesus Christ.

As the presbytery staff and leadership prepare for our meeting next week, I recalled the sermon text of our January meeting – the text in Ephesians. I continue to be struck by the power of the words – “the hostility between us.” There is so much hostility woven into the narrative of our culture today. As a presbytery, we are going to venture into uncomfortable waters as we engage one another in an ongoing conversation about race, bias, and privilege. We have recently taken a first step by sending a small gift to the saints at Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina – not because the $12,000 we collected will ever make up for the pain. Rather, we wanted to extend our hearts in solidarity to victims of the unimaginable. At our last presbytery meeting, we heard from our African American brothers and sisters, through the voice of the Rev. Janel Dixon, as she and the Rev. Stuart Spencer participated in a dialogue. Friends – as uncomfortable as these conversations are for us, they are empowering and necessary for us to remove the “hostility” that is the wall between us. I can almost hear Jesus’ words inviting us again, “followers of me – tear down that wall.”

But there is something about a wall that is unnatural to whom we are created to be. At first glance the walls we create appear to protect us, but in the end, the result is often that they imprison us to a life not fully free – one that keeps us from the gifts of others who are not us. I don’t pretend to have the answers to this complex question, but I do believe that the wall must come down – stone by stone. This will be a slow intentional process – for the wall is kept together by assumptions, hostility, and fear. I have however come to also believe that if we are faithful to the Gospel, bringing down the wall is as much a part of our mandate as feeding the poor. To this end, we invite us all to engage in the complex conversations of race, bias, and privilege – in an effort to intentionally find ways to build bridges into one another’s experiences and hearts.

May we allow the cornerstone and foundation of our very being to be the only structure that defines who we are and who we can hope to be – “built together into a dwelling-place for God.” May all the other stones – walls and the like – come tumbling down – allowing for resurrection possibilities to be birthed and shaped in our lives, in our ministries and throughout our presbytery.

May we allow the cornerstone and foundation of our very being to be the only structure that defines who we are and who we can hope to be – “built together into a dwelling-place for God.”   May all the other stones – walls and the like – come tumbling down – allowing for resurrection possibilities to be birthed and shaped in our lives, in our ministries and throughout our presbytery.

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