Walls that divide

Read the Rev. Camille Josey’s column and check out what’s coming up in the church calendar.

There’s Hadrian’s Wall. The Great Wall of China. The Berlin Wall. The West Bank Wall. The Southern Border Fence. Just to name a few.

Human history is full of examples of our tendency to build walls that keep others out, fence others in and divide us one from another. As I write this, I am preparing to go to Cuba, another place that has in recent years felt the effects of a wall that divides, though not a physical wall.

In my previous trips to Cuba, I have been struck by how much the wall of the embargo has added to the oppression of an oppressive system. Many in the U.S. are critical of President Barack Obama’s decision to lift the embargo, but I am eager to see if and how the lives of the men and women on the street are affected by this decision.

I have been told that there is now Wi-Fi access available in many public parks where just a few short months ago Internet access was severely limited and controlled. I can’t help but believe that this is a small step in tearing down the walls that divide us.

I wonder when we will insist that no more walls be built. Walls between Christian and Muslim, between Buddhist and Hindu, between black and white, between American and Hispanic, between democrat and republican, between rich and poor. And when the church will be at the forefront of the work of tearing down walls. I wonder when we will reach the tipping point of tearing down more walls than we construct.

Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “For he 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 he might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it ... for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. 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 2.14-22, NRSV)

Jesus never refused to extend his love to anyone, Jew, Gentile, Pharisee, Roman soldier, prostitute, thief, terrorist (zealot), businessman or beggar.

Jesus did not construct walls to separate some from his offer grace and mercy. And he tore down a lot of walls as he ministered. Why, then, do we Christians continue to insist on building walls that divide rather than extend the grace and mercy and love we have received? Is there a risk to us in doing so? Yes. Absolutely yes. Jesus didn’t say, “put on your safety gear and, remember, safety first.” He said, “pick up your cross and follow me.”