Walls

Yesterday, with two late nights of legislative sessions in a row in the rearview mirror, members of both houses were a bit exhausted. But they were not exhausted enough to miss the powerful cry and call to action of Bishop Eugene Sutton from the Diocese of Maryland. His sermon called us to break down the dangerous, insidious, and “invisible” walls of systemic, economic, and racial injustice that separate and divide God’s people. 

“There is something about a wall that God does not like. Since biblical times, God keeps tearing down walls.” Bishop Sutton stated. There is “something about being divided that does not sound like love.”

In recent years, the time of pandemic has revealed the nature of how the Church has benefited and played a part as an accomplice to the injustice, oppression, and exploitation of Black lives. This wall has prevented us from being true to our call to be Jesus’ followers and authentic examples of love. 

So how do we begin to do good work of bringing down this wall?

Humility: Let’s realize that this difficult but significant work must be done, but we can’t pretend to be Jesus. On the contrary, we NEED Jesus at our center as a reflection of love to be able to begin eliminating these walls. 

Love: “We are a community of love.” It’s because of love for our neighbors, for our family, that we begin dismantling walls of oppression and exploitation and begin to move towards justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.

Repair: Being intentional about recognizing the many broken places that exist because of injustice thoroughout the years. It’s been far too long, y’all. It means picking up all those broken pieces and putting them back together. It also means that this won’t happen overnight. It means beginning the difficult task now so that the next generation can continue to repair and heal from the past.

Truth Telling: The truth hurts. However, that does not mean we remain silent. We’ve remained silent for far too long. Acknowledging our complicit participation in preventing fair livelihoods of people of color, acknowledging that we have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. Telling the truth means being uncomfortable and moving towards a place of peace.  

Over history, walls have been built to separate and divide God’s people, including the Great Wall of China, the Wall of Jericho, and Hadrian’s Wall among others. All of these walls could not defeat the power of God. The walls of separation did not work. They never have. As we look towards the future of the church, we have hope that with humility, love, repair, and truth-telling the walls of injustice will be destroyed. 

Bishop Sutton Ended with “Let’s rebuild our communities with the resources we have. Let’s make great strides to tear down all walls of inequity and injustice and start building bridges across the divides in our communities, in our churches, in our dioceses, and across The Episcopal Church. And as we do so, may we give all honor and glory to God, now and forever.”

May we be authentic agents of love and peace as we bring down the walls that divide us.