Ephesians 2.14 - 18
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.
He has abolished the law with its commandments and
ordinances,
that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of
the two, thus making peace,
and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through
the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.
So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and
peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one
Spirit to the Father.
***
I want to repeat the first line, “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.”
That is what Christ does, Christ takes the sides of who we
thought we were and makes us into something so much greater in him. In Corinth the people are
debating whether Jews or Gentiles can become Christians, and the Author of Ephesians reminds them that it isn’t about who they were but who they can become
in Christ.
An example of this can be see in Robert Frost’s poem Mending
Wall. In begins,
Mending Wall
Robert Frost, 1874 - 1963
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
‘Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.'
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say ‘Elves’ to him,
But it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father’s saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, ‘Good fences make good neighbors.’
The people in Ephesis have been building a wall, one side
are the Jews who say that only Jews who are circumcised can become Christian,
the other side walking along the wall are the Gentiles who believe that they
can be Christian without even being circumcised. Well then the writer to the Ephesians says, you can be either, but as long as you have that wall between
you, you can’t be a Christian. Being Christian isn’t about the walls we put
between us, its about the way we like the hunters, or the earth swell,
dismantle those walls. It makes us not just neighbors, whom we treat as
ourselves, but family, the family of God.
But to be this family of God, to live out our Christianity,
there are identities we have to dismantle stone by stone,
Imagine a world
Where animal and plant, and humanity, all become creation,
Where farming, ranching and forest service all become
stewards,
Where the spectrum of male and female, become person,
Where straight, gay, lesbian, bi and transgender all become
about love,
Where kid, or young adult, or youth, or middle aged, or
infant, or elderly, become valued,
Where teacher, staff, principal, administration, and school
board all become students,
Where poor, and rich all become equally abundant and
generous,
Where the athletic and the disabled all become special,
Where the gifted and talented and those with special needs
all become gifted and talented,
Where Baker
City so vastly caucasian
becomes racially diverse,
Where kneeling and our Flag and National Anthem are not
where rockets red glare but signs of peace whether on the field on in the
sanctuary.
Where the solider and conscientious objector both become hero
Where all boarders between countries, and regions, and
states, and the East and West side of this one, become a communion of saints.
Where pastor, elder, deacon, acolyte, and first time visitor
become a priesthood of all believers.
Where Catholic and Protestant become Christian,
Where Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Atheist and
Agnostic all become Chosen,
Where bikini and burka both are symbols of women’s
liberation,
Where Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and the Green
Party and those that didn’t even vote become American.
Where that vote is not a source of our polarity, but a
celebration of pride in our nation’s democratic diversity, and that voting
diversity includes Puerto Rico.
Where Fox News or Stephan Colbert, or our Facebook feeds
become listening silence,
Where it isn’t us vs. North Korea, and instead we who
seek eternity of what God called good.
Where weapons and threats of weapons are dismantled into
marshmallow roasting sticks and the scary stories told around the campfire.
Where the only reason Russia and the United States are at
odds was because of a friendly competition to explore the heavens.
Where we are not earthlings but beings in a vast universe
beyond our fathoming.
Where we are not only those present here now but also those
who have passed in a chorus of witness.
Where God is not only He, but also a nesting mother hen, and
a baby and a dove.
Where the Holy Spirit is not merely for the people of
Pentecost but also the Spirit joins us together today.
Where Jesus isn’t only the human who tore the bread and
poured the cup so long ago, but also the Christ who tears apart the walls which
divide us, and pours out our clinged to identifies now, and in so doing makes
us one and blesses us today.
It’s this tearing, from what we were, bread and juice, to
what we will and can become with him, the blood and body of Christ in the world
for all people. A people who are not just good neighbors, but family.
