Dear Friends,This past Sunday, I brought forth the image of the wall, building on the passage from Ephesians about God breaking down the dividing wall. I also used Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” which begins “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall."
Though most people who know that poem remember the line “fences make good neighbors,", Frost’s intent, in my opinion, was the opposite. Fences divide us and keep us apart.
We are constantly fencing ourselves off from others. Though we may not erect physical barriers (though sometimes we do), we wall ourselves off from others with our attitudes, our preconceptions & prejudices and our unwillingness to extend ourselves into unknown territory.
Walls & fences & barriers are built for good reason often: for protection, for privacy, for claiming our own space. And indeed we need to feel safe.
But sometimes we erect those barriers when they don’t need to be there. Sometimes we fence ourselves in in a misguided attempt to close ourselves off from the world around us; God’s world. Sometimes the last thing we need, in order to live out our calls as Christians, is the safety within the confines of our walls and fences.
What barriers do you erect around you? What attitudes prevent you from being fully engaged as a child of God? What prejudices keep you from reaching across your fences to others who need a hand or simply understanding?
Stop for a moment and envision the fence that is around you. Is there a gate in it or have you made it impermeable? How high is your fence; can you see over it or is it so high that others can’t see in? What would happen if you took down the fence? Where would you be without your barriers? How might you find safety and privacy without your fence?
Ponder these questions as you remember that God seeks to break down the dividing walls.
Peace,
Gerry
text © Gerry Brague, photograph © Beatrice Murch, used with permission (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/)
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