Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a; Psalm 89:20-37; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34,53-56
“For he is our peace; he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall.”
From the Guardian, November 1989: “They crossed the border with incredible joy, amazement, tears and good humour. They sang and sparkled, above, below and beside the Berlin Wall. It was one of those very rare, absolutely electrifying, moments when the ordinary lay people take over and all the professionals – from prognosticators to border guards – get quietly out of the way.” (1) I am sure I am not alone amongst those of a certain age who can remember vividly the events of early November 1989. Those first few late night news reports of people physically tearing chunks of the Wall with any implements they had; clambering over; sitting on top of the Wall. A concerted, united effort to reunite, reconcile, two divided communities back into one. It was inspiring, an event filled with hope, joy and the message of peace. And I must admit, these are images I recall when the news today is of division, separation, prejudice and hate. When leaders talk of building walls, physically and virtually, between neighbours; when they speak of the dangers of “the other”, anyone who is different for whatever reason; when social media stokes fears and promotes ideas of hate and sending those who are different away to protect our people.
“For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall”. Christ is our peace. He has reconciled us all to God in one body by the cross.” Christ has broken down the dividing wall! The letter writer to the Ephesians is very clear about what they believe God thinks of such division, of such deliberate separations, of building walls. In Christ, God seeks to “create in himself one new humanity … thus making peace”, reconciling us all to God and “putting that hostility to death.” And yet we sing: “In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth”. (H353). Because breaking down the barriers which divide nation from nation, neighbour from neighbour, is not a nice-to-have, it is an essential part of God’s plan, God’s hope for humanity. God’s hope that we will love one another as Christ has loved us. That we will love our neighbour as ourself, because God first loved us, loved us so much through the Son, the Good Shepherd, the one who looks with compassion on his people, and reaches out to draw them to him, to be gathered in God’s arms together united through divine and human love.
Our epistle is full of words of reconciliation, of atonement – at one-ment with God through Christ. And these words of reunion echo Paul’s words to the Galatians: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all are one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). We are all reconciled to God through Christ: the same God who “when we were still far off, met us in the Son and brought us home”, as the alternative post communion prayer tells us. In Christ we are reconciled to God and to each other. And this means there should be no barriers between God’s people, between God’s children, between any people. We should love one another, each other, all, with a pure heart fervently, as I quoted last week from Wesley’s beautiful anthem.
It is this unity, this recognition of reconciliation that has guided some of our greatest peacemakers: Archbishop Desmond Tutu worked to end the separation of peoples in South Africa and reunite them again. Martin Luther King Jnr led non-violent action to end Segregation, and in one speech at Brandeis University, spoke of the necessity to seek to love our enemies and to overcome the divisions caused by hate: “As we struggle for justice, as oppressed people all over the world struggle for justice and freedom and human dignity, it is my great hope that we will never succumb to the temptation of indulging in hate”. He understood that in God, changing the world “is done through loving… a type of love that seeks to redeem”, that seeks reconciliation and not revenge (2).
But what can we do to respond to God’s call for unity, for reconciliation? There are no Berlin Walls around us to break down. Or are there? And if there are, how can we affect the world around us, how can we challenge the fear and hate that divide? And I think the answer is through Christ and with Christ and in Christ. Yes, we can change the world, but not by ourselves, not just in our humanity. Our epistle makes it clear that it is through God’s action in the death and resurrection of the Son that we are reconciled with each other and with God. It is in Christ that we are made strong, together. “In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.” We are made into the house of God, together, through Christ, and it is this that makes us strong. It is this that gives us the strength to love, to love all people, to challenge those things that divide us and to live God’s love in the world through our whole beings, and in all our actions. United with God and with each other through Christ, we are strong, we can stand. Divided from each other or from God we will fall. And this unity, this reconciliation through Christ, is the temple God seeks, the house God wishes to build. One that is “built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.” It is this strength in unity, as reconciled people together for God, that will guide us to forgive, to seek justice, to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. It will strengthen us to bring people together, working with all elements of society, all people, so that through us hostility will be “put to death”, and, through new life in Christ, the peace of Christ can be spread into our congregations, our communities and out into the world. And if we stand together against prejudice, oppression and hatred, in Martin Luther King’s words, not “indulging in hate” (3), but offering love, then God’s will is done, God’s kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven. So, as in every Eucharistic prayer, I pray that we will be: renewed by God’s Spirit, inspired by God’s love and united in the body of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. “Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways! Reclothe us in our rightful mind, in purer lives thy service find, in deeper reverence praise, in deeper reverence praise.” (H152)
- Editorial, the Guardian 11th November 1989
- Martin Luther King Jnr, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Justice without Violence” lecture at Brandeis https://www.brandeis.edu/now/video-transcripts/mlk-transcript.html
- Martin Luther King Jnr, Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Justice without Violence” lecture at Brandeis https://www.brandeis.edu/now/video-transcripts/mlk-transcript.html
The Revd Jackie Sellin