The theme for the week of prayer for Christian Unity
this year is crossing barriers. We are hearing a lot about barriers and walls
at the moment.
I am a nightmare when it comes to leaving car parks.
The machine you put your ticket in is always too far from the car. So it takes
me ages to get the barrier to come up. A barrier stops you going somewhere, it
divides. A wall is built to separate, to
keep people out. It keeps our own sort one side, and undesirables the other. It
protects our own interests.
“We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to
be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power.
From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day
forward, it’s going to be only America first, America first. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on
immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and
American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other
countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs.
Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength. We will bring back our
jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we
will bring back our dreams.”
That’s the way of the world it seems, looking after
number one, not engaging with others, being aggressive, separate, protecting
our rights and our assets, being discriminatory often. Barriers and walls
rather than community.
Contrast this with the story of the prodigal son Jesus tells, the father who represents the
heart of the way of God, rather than the way of American Presidents and others
who want barriers and walls rather than inclusion and acceptance. Consider the
father in the parable Jesus tells us.
To hand over half the inheritance into a bolshie rude
young son’s slippery hands seems ridiculously indulgent and irresponsible,
doesn’t it?
When he comes home smelling of pigs, all that
undignified running down the lane to meet him, what’s that all about?
By all means, cordially welcome the young fool back,
give him a bath and some clean clothes. Give him a strong lecture. Inform him
you will give him a second chance. If he proves himself reliable he can stay on
and work for wages.
But be prudent, take it slowly. Don’t even think about
a party until he proves himself worthy to be treated as a member of the family
again.
This father ignores the teaching of the Bible. The
advice given in the Book of Proverbs. He even disobeys the religious law, which
in Deuteronomy 21: 18 says that a son like this one, “a glutton and drunkard,
should be taken before the elders of the village and then sentenced to death by
stoning.”
What kind of an enigmatic parent is this? One who give
us dangerous freedoms? Who permits us to damage our lives rather than be forced
slavishly into moral living? Who entrusts us with possessions we might not be
not capable of handling wisely? Who when all is selfishly squandered, runs to
meet the sinner? Who welcomes the wastrel to a party table? Who stands in the
darkness with good people who cannot cope with free grace being lavished on the
unworthy? Let’s build a wall to keep them out not run to meet them!
One of the most powerful books written on the subject
of this accepting love is by Henri Nouwen, called The Return of the Prodigal
Son, which is a reflection on Rembrandt’s painting of the moment of embrace
between waiting father and homecoming child. Nouwen talks about walls and
seeing beyond them.
Let these words live in you this afternoon:
He talks about us having to realise the immense
suffering that results from human lostness: “ seeing such lostness opens my
heart to a genuine solidarity with my fellow humans. Forgiveness is the way to
step over the wall and welcome others into my heart without expecting anything
in return.
Only when I remember that I am the Beloved Child can I
welcome those who want to return with the same compassion as that with which
the Father welcomes me. ”
He goes on to talk about the love of the remarkable
father – whose goodness, love, forgiveness, care and compassion have no limits
at all.
While he was still far off, his father saw him and was
filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him….
The grace of God is available for all. That is the
message we are called to live and share. Not separation but inclusion.
I visited Hadrian’s Wall last year and reflected on
the fact that this may be the most remembered achievement of the Roman emperor
who came to power in AD 117. As many as 18,000 Roman soldiers manned this
80-mile-long barrier, built to keep the northern barbarians from invading the
south.
Hadrian is remembered for building a physical wall to
keep people out. Someone else is wanting
to do that today. I can’t think who! In contrast, Jesus Christ is remembered
for tearing down a spiritual wall to let people in.
When the early church experienced tension between
believers of Jewish and non-Jewish birth, Paul told them that, through Christ,
they stood equally in the family of God. “For He Himself is our peace, who has
made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation . . . so as to
create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace . . . . For
through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father”
One of the most beautiful aspects of the Christian
faith is the unity among those who follow Jesus. Through His death on the
cross, Christ has removed the barriers that so often separate people and has
drawn us together in true friendship and love.
He has broken down the wall.
I don’t want to keep on and on about President Trump
but I think it is ironic later in his inauguration speech he quoted Psalm 133:
How good and how pleasant it is when we live in unity. But it isn’t just unity
with our sort, who think like us, who share our values, it is with those the
other side of the barrier, beyond the wall, who we need to cross over or climb
over to meet and embrace as much as the father ran to meet his Son. To be
inclusive with the other can lead to life enhancing celebration and deep
joy. To reach out towards Methodists if
you are Anglican, and Anglicans if you are Methodist can broaden your horizons
and bless you, I’m getting married in five and a bit weeks’ time in an Anglican
cathedral for goodness sake. It’s been an education learning Anglican ways, I
now know about the Ecclesiastical Measures Act of 1533. Similarly, we enhance
life when we embrace difference, new relationships, new friendships, new
experiences, putting our ticket in and letting the barrier let us out of our
enclosed safe space.
John Wesley in his sermon on Catholic Spirit had it
right:
Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike?
May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without doubt, we
may. In this all the children of God may unite, even though they retain these
smaller differences. These remaining as they are, they may help one another
increase in love and in good works.
Surely in this respect the example of Jehu himself, as
mixed a character as he was, is well worthy both the attention and imitation of
every serious Christian. "And when he left there, [Jehu] met Jehonadab the
son of Rechab coming to meet him, and he greeted him, and said to him, "Is
your heart right, as my heart is with your heart?" And Jehonadab answered:
"It is." [Jehu said], "If it is, give me your hand."
Do I want a world full of barriers and walls? No.
Do I want a world where we run to embrace the other
who yearn for relationship with us? Yes.
Will I try to give my hand to someone who might very
different but who is my sister or brother who can make my life better? Yes.
Will I work hard to crush isolationism and right,
which seems to be so dominant at the moment by challenging injustice and being
aware of the other? Yes.
Let us be brave enough, to
cross barriers and break down walls. Today.
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