Thank you to all of you who came out in the snow and contributed to our service on the theme of Church Without Walls. One of the themes of this year's Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is barriers, and so we took the opportunity this week to reflect on the barriers we erect as individuals, as churches, as societies, and to commit ourselves to break down the barriers that separate us from others.
At the centre of the service was the recognition that God loves diversity because God created it !
However, it is not always easy for us to do so - and all too easy to act instinctively in ways which exclude. Even Jesus' disciples were not immune - as we saw in our Gospel reading, they thought Jesus should just go along with the social boundaries of their time ("Send her away !") But Jesus didn't ... (Matthew 15: 21 - 28)
Group discussion was enthusiastic, and there was much to share from them. Thank you to all who did. If you were not able to be with us (or even if you were) you are invited to continue the discsussion here ...
The world will provide you with stones every day;
what you build out of it,
a bridge or a wall,
is up to YOU!
Anon
Should you wish to (re)read it, the talk is below.
Peter King
14For 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. 15He has abolished the law with its
commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new
humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, 16and might
reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to
death that hostility through it.
Ephesians
2: 14 - 16
27As many of you as were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is no longer Jew or
Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female;
for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians
3: 27 - 28
No outsider shall enter the protective
enclosure around the sanctuary. And whoever
is caught will only have himself to blame for the ensuing death.
Temple
Inscription (C1 CE)
Three
statements. The first two from the New
Testament; the third one from the Jerusalem
Temple.
At the time of Jesus, Judaism was very much
a religion of insiders and poutsiders. You were either a Jew or a gentile, and
the temple was constructed with a series
of walls, preventing outsiders (Gentiles, Women, Laypersons) getting into areas
into which they were not allowed.
As we saw from the reading from Matthew's
Gospel, the message of Jesus was all about making outsiders (like the Samaritan
woman) into insiders (like the disciples) - which is why they objected so
loudly.
The
New Testament writer to the Ephesians likens it to the breaking down of a wall
- perhaps one of the dividing walls in the Temple: Jesus "has broken down the dividing wall, that
is, the hostility between us".
The writer to the Galatians goes
further: Within the new community
"There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there
is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."
·
So
what does this mean for us ?
Some years ago the then Archbishop of Canterbury
George Carey, not known for memorable remarks, referred to a church he had seen in
Papua New Guinea that had no doors and no walls. People were able to go in,
stay on the edges, listen for as long or as short a time as they liked, and
then move away. The image became the metaphor:
the Church without walls.
Every year at about this time (January
18 - 25) churches throughout the world observe the Week of Prayer for Christian
Unity. What this is about is removing
the walls that separate our various church traditions and denominations so that
we all acknowledge one another and the importance and value of our diversity. It's good that we are all different ! God made diversity and enjoys it - so why
shouldn't we ?
·
But it
doesn't have to stop there !
Perhaps you could turn to the persons around
you and think for a moment about the dividing walls that are part of your life:
·
Are
there walls that you - or we as a church - or we as a society - need to break
down ?
·
And
if so - how do we make a start ?
You each have a piece of paper with (a
rather simple) picture of a wall on it.
We are going to play some music and while the music is playing there
will be an opportunity to write something on the back of the sheet that
symbolises for you a wall which you would like to play a part in breaking down.
You are invited to take the paper home with
you as a reminder of what you have written.
You are also invited to come up to the front and take a brick out of the
lego wall we have erected, both as symbols of your commitment to break down the
walls.
