Our epistle lesson for today says that Christ Jesus “has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” The apostle was speaking of the conflict between the Jews and Gentiles in the nascent Christian community of his day and Christ’s reconciling work among them. Unfortunately, Christ’s reconciling work is not done; dividing walls of all kinds remain, separating us from the others God calls us to love.

From the time we first realized we were separate from our mothers, we have been building dividing walls to protect us from the world. As our primal fears have grown about those who perceive things differently in the various spheres of our lives, we have built our walls stronger, deeper, taller, and maybe we have even erected walls within walls to ensure our separation is complete from those whom we see as hostile to us. Perhaps we have built walls to protect our culture from change, our way of life, our economy, our government, our political persuasion, our religion--goodness knows how many wars have been waged in the name of religion. Separation and hostility are not God’s way! May we all finally come to know that in our hearts.

We are children born to be “members of the household of God,” dwelling in peace and love with each and all. If, when we look deeply into our lives, we find a dividing wall surrounding us, separating us from some of God’s other children for any reason, it is time to open our hearts to Christ Jesus’ healing, reconciling presence. It is time to invite the Beloved to enable us to dismantle our dividing walls stone by stone so that we can be a part of Christ Jesus’ “one new humanity” “joined together . . .spiritually into a dwelling place for God.”