Edgewood United Church

United Church of Christ

July 23, 2006  Edgewood United Church, UCC  Rev. Karen E. Gale

Walls
Ephesians 2:11-22

I want to talk about walls this morning.

Kevin Baker writes in this week’s Christian Century magazine,
“The world is full of walls. Everywhere we go, there are fences, gates, partitions and other ingeniously constructed barriers—all aimed at keeping something or someone in and keeping something or someone else out. We need walls: walls in our homes to protect us against wind and rain; walls to keep livestock safely in and predators out; walls to help us separates spaces and improve organization and efficiency. But walls, both literal and spiritual, can lead to grief, division, and even violence. All walls serve a purpose, but not all walls serve the purposes of God.”  (Christian Century, July 11, 2006)

I think he is right. There are many walls in our world but not all serve the purposes of God.

I remember as a child we went on lots of car trips, especially when moving across the country. My younger brother and I, after several hours in the car, found a way, as most siblings do, to annoy and irritate one another until finally the only solution seemed to be to make a wall. And so we drew an imaginary line down the car seat and each of us meticulously defended the territory on “our” side. We knew the power of walls at a very young age.

As adults we know even better the power of walls and it seems throughout history we have been building walls to separate us one from another. Many times it was physical walls: the Great Wall of China built to keep out the so called Mongolian savages. The Berlin Wall built to preserve a political perspective and the confinement of totalitarianism. The Iron Curtain. The wall currently being built between the lands of Israel and Palestine cutting off people one from the other on the basis of belief and ethnic origin.

But walls are not just physical as we well know. We build walls through legislation and threats of violence. We build walls through silence and shaming. We build walls all the time.  That is, until we look again at what God’s calls us to do and be, what it means to be the church, free and open. Until words like those in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians crack open our myopic view and cause us to think again about the walls we have in our lives.

Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus which is in modern day Turkey. It is a church sorely divided and Paul is trying to bridge the sides of the debate and draw people back together again.

Paul is speaking to a community that knew walls of culture and separation very well. Men were separate from women. Family members were separated from strangers. And certainly Jews were separate from Gentiles in particular by the very visible mark of circumcision. Would Gentiles, those who were not circumcised, be allowed in the new church? How could the church possibly overlook and overturn the long standing, commandment about circumcision?

Judaism had created a culture of separation from the secular world for many reasons. Separate dietary laws, separate money for the Temple offerings. Jews even had a special dispensation from the Roman emperor so as not to have to bow to his image. This separation preserved their culture and beliefs. It preserved their faith. But over time it also propagated a culture of exclusion, division and a sense of one’s way being the only way. Just like in any other situation, walls just too easily move from a helpful purpose to an exclusionary one.

A good example is the inscription on the entrance door to the Temple in Jerusalem which was uncovered in an archeological find early last century. On the door post to enter the central temple it read:

No outsider shall enter the protective enclosure around the sanctuary.
And whoever is caught will only have himself to blame for the ensuing death.

That’s a pretty clear wall.

So it is understandable that those in the early church are having a hard time understanding that that dividing wall no longer matters; it is their faith in Christ, their ministry in Jesus’ name that draws them together. They are made into one by Christ, circumcised and uncircumcised together. No longer is the sacrificial mark of circumcision the important thing but the mark of baptism which was open to all. (And, let’s face, baptism is quite a bit less painful than circumcision—you can understand why Gentiles were fairly adamant on this point).

And so leaders of the church in Ephesus are struggling as to how to be a body of faithful people without the walls that have for so long defined faith and belief. How can we possibly include everybody? That is absurd, anti-cultural and just plain wrong. Yet that is what it is to be church. It is what Christ calls us to be and do. To get rid of the walls in our midst. “Christ has broken down the dividing wall between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinance that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace.”

That is pretty strong stuff. And it is not easy.

Fred Craddock a famous American preacher tells this story about returning to his small west Tennessee hometown in years past for each Christmas. Every year he would visit an old friend named Buck. Buck owned a cafe on the main street of the town, and he always gave Craddock a cup of coffee and a piece of chess pie. One Christmas when Craddock went in to get his coffee and pie, Buck said, "Come on, let's go out and get a cup of coffee."

Later, sitting across from Craddock, Buck asked, "Did you see the curtain?" "Yes, Buck, I saw the curtain; I always see the curtain." The curtain was in Buck's cafe, separating the front half of the cafe from the back half. White folks came in the front of the cafe from the main street, but black folks came in from an alley behind the cafe. The curtain was there to separate, to separate white people from black people.

Buck looked up and said, "Fred, the curtain has got to come down." "Good," Craddock responded, "Pull her down!" "That's easy enough for you to say," said Buck. "You come in once a year and tell me how to run my business." "Then leave it up," Craddock countered. In personal agony, Buck said, "Fred, I take that curtain down, and I lose my customers; I leave that curtain up, and I lose my soul!" (textweek.com)

It is not easy. But at stake are our very souls, and the very heart of our faith. The very crux of the gospel and Christ’s message.

The dividing wall faced us very clearly in viewing racial segregation in this country. And we have been working on tearing down those walls for decades with more work to be done. We’ll be doing more thinking and discerning and advocating on this come fall when the affirmative action item hits our Michigan ballot.

But right now as a nation we are faced with another decision about walls: the proposed wall to be built on the Mexican American border with the intent of preventing illegal immigration. For millions of Americans fears about the changing demographic our country (we are getting browner which brings out racist fears), fears of race and culture, fears about jobs and the economy have raised a hue and cry to bar illegal immigrants and make those who help them a felony. Furthermore, many want to build a wall to keep all people out.

This issue is not new in this country. Nina Bernstein of the New York Times has a wonderful slide show piece on the internet that traces the United States’ relationship with illegal immigrants from Mexico over the past 100 years. What is revealed is a cycle of invitation, exploitation and expulsion repeating itself over and over again.

In 1917 cotton growers invited Mexicans to come and work doing stoop labor, the hard work of bending and hoeing and picking. Owners wanted border patrol to have the back door left open for illegal aliens to come in to work. Meanwhile congress was tightening immigration on all other groups through the front door.

This remained true through to the 20’s until the Depression. At that point there were 1million Mexicans and Mexican-Americans living in the US. Growing fears, racism and the panic of a nation cause many to force or frighten these workers into leaving, even those who were American citizens. Informal policies of “scare heading” meant well publicized raids and arrests. By 1931 Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were gathering families and leaving, ad one man said it was “leave or starve.”

Then in WWII the process started all over again. Mexicans were invited north, enlisted through temporary worker programs. We stimulated informal border crossings and photos from the time show Mexican women working right alongside Rosie the Riveter in factories. We asked for help and workers came. But then in the post Korean War economic slump Mexicans and Mexican-Americans were once more vilified. Stories and images of Mexicans as welfare seekers and illegals circulated. Raids started up again and threats were made to families if they did not leave. Many, many left their land and jobs and went back.

Then a decade or so later once again we covertly invited Mexicans back by recruiting them to our agricultural and service sectors. Now in a political and economic season marked with uncertainty and fear, all the old images and rhetoric come rushing back.

Marcello Suarez Orasco says, “this have been a bad faith pact all along. We can’t have it both ways, an economy that is addicted to immigrant labor but is unwilling to pay the costs.” And I would add, a society that is unwilling to truly recognize illegal immigrants as our brothers and sisters. (Nina Bernstein, NY Times.com)

And so here we are again. Facing again what to do with these people who have worked beside us and lived in our midst. Yes, folks are here illegally. What shall we do? An easy solution is to build a wall. It worked for the medieval Chinese, at least for awhile.

The harder choice is to look at the words of our tradition to see what solution might be embodied there. Paul says, “Christ has made both groups into one and broken down the diving wall, that is, the hostility between us. That he might create in himself a new humanity in place of the two thus making peace.”

Instead of building a wall, the harder solution is viewing this issue as creating a new humanity, as making peace, as looking from a justice perspective. Our scripture says to us, “you shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (Exod. 22:21) Where do we stand in relation to this commandment?

We have to ask ourselves:

Why is it that folks come here to work? (is it because we use a disproportion share of the earth’s resources resulting in an artificial high standard of living for us…)

Why is it that the disparity in quality of life, the disparity in wages, is higher on the Mexican American border than on any other border in the world? (does the presence of American owned factories just across the border that benefit from low wages and lower environmental controls contribute to this problem…)

Why is it that we feel we can use workers in fields filled with pesticides yet offer no health coverage, put workers up in substandard housing and pay them below a decent wage then discard, criminalize and deport them when it is convenient for us?

“You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” We were once aliens in a strange land. This is true for all of us. How many of you or your ancestors were immigrants? Unless you are full blooded Choctaw or Sioux, every hand should be up. We have all been aliens. All of us. 

“The concern that new immigrant stick to themselves, aren’t learning English and are threatening American culture was voiced in earlier ears about the Irish, the Italians and the Jews—who at the time were considered members of a different race from Anglo-Saxon Americans. It was directed at those who came as indentured laborers and had to work to pay off their debt of passage. These prejudices and stereotypes and this anger was all directed at my great grandparents and yours. All of us who were aliens in a strange land.” (Kevin Baker, Christian Century July 11, 2006)

Were there walls when we got here?
If so, why would we want to inflict that on anyone else?
If not, how can we erect a wall against those who are merely following in our footsteps?

How can we possible wall off this land—land that truly is not even really ours considering we stole it from American Indians? How can we wall off this land if we believe in the Christ who comes to tear down walls, the Christ who demands we seek justice and fairness, the Christ who calls us to look at all with compassion?

Building a wall is sometimes just a lazy way of problem solving. It is simple. Just bricks, mortar, razor wire, some time and labor. It frees us from having to do the hard work of truly understanding the problem and finding ethical, compassionate way forward. But that hard work is what our faith calls us to do.

Thankfully, there are others creatively moving beyond walls to other solutions, perhaps not yet on immigration, but I read stories this week of two cities in the US working with homeless problems. Homeless people are looked upon with as much scorn, derision, and disgust as illegal immigrants. Some even say, “at least immigrants work.”

Some communities have solved their homeless populations by enacting very tough loitering and vagrancy laws—political walls to evict the homeless. Others gave every homeless person a one way bus ticket to somewhere, anywhere, as long as it was away from their city. A wall of distance.

But the situation was different in two places.
“A few years ago, in Evanston, Illinois, there were a growing number of homeless people. A Baptist church in a wealthy suburb of Chicago decided to open its doors as a shelter and some Evanston church leaders were considering doing the same.

“When the Evanston city council heard about this, it moved to pass a new zoning ordinance forbidding the use of churches as shelters for the homeless. The organizer of one shelter project had no complaint. Rather than opening up a shelter for the homeless, they decided to host an all-night prayer vigil to which all were welcome. Participants in the prayer vigil received pillows and blankets along with bulletins and hymnals. (Denise Griebler, Aha!!! July-September 1999, Vol. 8, #4.)

Perhaps not taking down the wall but walking right through it.

The issue of homelessness is also facing New York City with a very large population of homeless. New York is going to build walls. They have been evaluating the shantytowns and bridge underpasses that homeless are currently living in and the city authorities will clean them up and wall them off so those can’t live there anymore. At first I was outraged to hear this. And then I read on.

To move forward in this initiative the city has started building an additional 12,000 new units for formerly homeless individuals. These units will be subsidized and have integrated mental health, drug rehab and social services. This is in addition to the already 21,000 units constructed in the last 5 years. Not FEMA trailers, not jail cells, but a real place to live and the support to make it a fair shot of a home. Breaking down the walls. Walls that said homeless folks were not worth it. Walls that said homeless folks could not be part of society. Walls that said to give up on these people.

Our scripture calls us to welcome the alien among us…not as a source of cheap labor, not as disposable, not as an enemy to wall off. We are to welcome the alien with love.
This is a faith issue.  This is a moral issue. It is not a partisan issue—you will find politically diverse people all across the board on this. It is certainly a political and economic issue, but so is most of what Jesus speaks about and what most of the bible addresses.

Last week’s Christian Century editorial column took this head on: “Jews and Christians share this scripture: you shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (Exod. 22:21) Scripture says that God’s people are to regard sojourner not with fear, indifference or loathing but with love and respect. Movements to criminalize millions of individuals, break up families and destabilize industries are bad enough. The notion that the alien among us is anything other than beloved elicits some of scriptures’ strongest condemnations: “Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.” (Deut. 27:19) (Christian Century, July 11)

I believe that we must stand against this wall on the Mexican border as an issue of conscience. To protest what is not ethical. A wall that does not bring justice and hope and equality. A wall that does not live into the purposes of God.

Amen.