“Tear Down that Wall!” by Rev. Ruth Faith Santana-Grace

“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.
(Ephesians 2:14, 19-20)

It was 1989 and I was living just south of Rome, Italy when the sounds of a tumbling wall were heard around the globe. The wall that separated east and west Berlin was to be no more, marking the end of the cold war. The ramifications of this were significant in more than the obvious way. The challenges would be real – a new economy had to be conceived in Germany. 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. The excitement about the hope of this new era was palpable – a wall being removed so that a new unity could be found.

Historic moments such as this one (positive or negative) have a way of inviting us to reflect on our lives and, frankly, on how our identity as a people of faith is incarnated or not in the world. At first glance, we might be tempted to distance ourselves from these events – after all, what do they have to do with me? But as we have learned over the past 17 months or so, a pandemic in one corner of the world can and will directly impact other corners of that same world. Injustice seen on our news feeds in distant places finds a cry for justice in our nation. Violence and injustice experienced in our nation finds a cry for restoration and wholeness in those places from which we are separated by geography, race, language, and nationality.

It is clear that the author of this letter to the Ephesians understood the danger of creating dividing walls. The temptation was playing itself out in the community of Ephesus, as one group of believers thought their practice and understanding was purer and truer than the practice and understanding of other believers. I was struck by the power of the words – our wall is “the hostility between us.” Hostility is the mortar, the cement by which walls are built. Hostility implies an aggressive spirit and reaction that opposes anything that the ‘other’ might be thinking, saying or doing. There are no good intentions in the word hostility.

As a people of faith, the power of this text is not to be under-valued or glossed over like a “Pollyanna” moment. Jesus is our peace and has broken down the dividing wall between us. Wow! I can almost hear Jesus’ words to us saying “followers of me – tear down that wall.” It is only by tearing down the wall that we can embody the hope of the Gospel in a world already divided by many “isms” and assumptions. Friends, we have many walls to tear down – the increase of race-related violence is overwhelming as Black, Brown, and Asian siblings have lifted up their voices in ways that require our response. Our LGBTQ+ siblings continue to struggle. It may sound cliché – but it is really not. The Apostle Paul reminded the early Christian community in Corinth – “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it…”

We have many walls to tear down, as poverty, hunger, and homelessness plague our cities, nation, and the world. Jesus was intentional about meeting people where they were hurting. By meeting them in that space, by healing, feeding, supporting and encouraging them – he ultimately escorted them into a new place of possibilities – tearing down the walls of assumptions that framed first century Palestine. Our time – our task- is to tear down the walls in 21st century USA.

In the end, walls are a great deceiver. At first, they look like they are keeping others out, making us feel safe. However, in the end, the result is often that those walls confine us to a way of life that is more like a prison than a sanctuary. I do not pretend that this work is easy, but I do believe the walls must come down – stone by stone, one by one – removing and breaking apart the mortar of assumptions, hostility, and fear that holds it together.

If we are to be faithful to the Gospel, bringing down the walls is as much a part of our mandate as feeding the poor. We are to be bridge builders of resurrection possibilities. We are to be risk-takers of offering abundant grace and love – such as we have experienced through God in Christ. I am in a deep place about this challenge for us as a people of faith. I am weary with some of the conversations that have framed my lifetime. But I do believe walls are contrary to whom we are created to be – keeping us from one another, and thus, from God. That is my humble understanding of the Gospel.

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 – no longer “strangers or aliens…” but “members of the household of God.” Friends, let’s tear down those walls together!

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