Sermon on Ephesians, Chapter 2 : Building God’s Extraordinary Church: Walls of Peace
By Rev. Dr. Terri Driver-Bishop
July 19, 2015
Last week started studying the letter of Ephesians. In the first chapter, Paul encourages the
church at Ephesus to build God’s Extraordinary Church. Such a church begins with a solid
foundation of agape love which is found in Jesus Christ. Agape love is unconditional,
generous and self-giving love. Such love redeems others and draws them closer to God.
Today we will focus on chapter two of Ephesians. Here Paul talks about building up the
walls of the church. It is a metaphor about our relationships with others. What kind of walls
does Christ want us to have in God’s Extraordinary Church?
In Ephesus, and in other churches in the first century, there were two groups of people.
There were followers of Jesus Christ who had grown up in the Jewish faith, they knew the
Jewish laws and traditions, the Torah and the prophesies about a Messiah who will come to
save the people. There were other followers of Jesus who came from a Gentile background
and knew nothing of these things.
Before following Jesus, these two groups didn’t associate. The Jews were forbidden to
enter a Gentile home. The Gentiles had different morals and values which they brought to the
community of faith. As we read Paul’s letters to the first churches, most of them experienced
problems within the congregation because people had such diverse backgrounds.
The church in Ephesus does not seem to have these problems, Paul encourages the
Ephesians to stay unified. He says, “don’t let anything divide you.” Paul makes it clear - Christ
came to break down the dividing walls of hostility between Jewish and Gentile believers. He
reconciles both groups to God through the cross. Christ also reconciles us to one another and
builds his church with walls of Peace.
One of the most significant walls of modern times was the “Berlin Wall”, dividing
communist East Germany from the democratic West Germany after WWII. The 97 mile wall
was constructed of stone and concrete. It stood for over 25 years, keeping people from
crossing in either direction. Hundreds of people lost their lives trying.
In 1982, a Lutheran pastor started holding weekly services of “prayers for peace” at his
church, the Church of St. Nicholas in the East German city of Leipzig. His name was Pastor
Christian Fuhrer. More and more people began attending these prayer services until
thousands gathered in the church courtyard for Monday night prayer vigils.
In September 1989, participants leaving the church defied the arrest threats of the German
police to march publicly against the government. On October 9, the protesters feared that the
Stasi police would fire upon them, but they marched anyway out of the Lutheran church and
around the city. They numbered about 70,000. When the Stasi security forces did not fire on
the marchers, they began to lose their fear.
Finally, on November 9th, 1989, the people massed around the Berlin Wall and began to tear
it down. Christian Fuehrer, remembered the night. He said, "Everyone was holding a candle,
a symbol of non-violence -- you need to hold a candle with both hands to keep it from going
out, which makes it impossible to throw stones. We had a sense that something extraordinary
had happened, but we only really understood the enormity of it later."
was reunified and the wall came down.
Shortly after, Germany
Today, 25 years later, very little is left of the Berlin Wall, except a row of bricks in the
pavement to mark where it had been. At the church of St. Nicholas, peace prayers continue
for today’s problems, as they celebrate 850 years of ministry.
How can we build walls of peace in our church and our community today? Like the early
church in Ephesus, we have two main groups in our community of Baltimore. The county
estimates that we have approximately 36% people of color and 27% of those people are
African American. 64% of the population is white. In our discussion of the book The New Jim
Crow by Michelle Alexander, it is shocking to learn how racism is still strongly manifested in
our law enforcement systems, our criminal justice systems and our political systems. Racism
is evident in our educational systems and in our churches. How can we build walls of peace?
There are many ways to do this but here are a few that everyone can do. First, like
Pastor Christian Fuhrer, we begin by centering our lives in prayer so we live in the agape love
of Christ and understand that Christ unites all people as one. Paul says that Christ is the
cornerstone. As the cornerstone, Christ joins people together who come from different
directions - even people who have been enemies. He stretches out two hands and grabs hold
of different people and connects them. Paul says in Galatians 3:28 – “There is neither Jew
nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Following our Savior, we build walls of peace by connecting with those who are different
from us, one person at a time. The problem with wall is that they separate us from other
people. When we don’t know anything about other people, we may end up misunderstanding
them or fearing them. Misunderstanding and fear gives Satan an opportunity to build a wall of
hostility.
In the anti-racism training I have received, the most important thing I learned was that the
first step in pursuing anti-racism is to be a friend to someone who is different than you.
Someone who is racially different, culturally different, religiously different, economically
different, differently- abled or who has a different sexual orientation. Sometimes this is not
easy, but the effort is worth it. I find a sense of spiritual wholeness with my multi-cultural
friends. It is like I found a missing piece of myself that I never knew was lost.
It is interesting to me that newly developed genetic tracking has reveals that we are all
one. We all came from the same group of people in Africa 60,000 years ago. A group of
people then moved to the Middle East and then some went to Europe and then some went to
Asia. The group from Asia migrated to North America. As people migrated, they acquired
different physical characteristics of language, culture and skin color to adapt to their new
environmental conditions.
Biologically, we are all one family. St. Paul would contend that we
are all one family spiritually as well through Christ who draws us together and makes us one
household of God.
The walls of God’s Extraordinary Church do not shut people out, they invite people in.
This church was built with clear windows through which we see the outside world. It is a
reminder that we are called to be a church without walls. Because of Christ, we invite and
welcome everyone to our community of faith. No one is to be excluded. God’s love is for
everyone. Diversity is a strength and it brings glory to Christ. It is a sign that we are building
walls of peace in our community of faith.
I invite you to pray this prayer today: St. Francis’ prayer of peace which was written 1000
years ago.
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.
here there is hatred,
let me sow love;
of your p
Where there is injury,
pardon;
Where there is doubt,
faith;
Where there is despair,
hope;
Where there is
darkness, light;
And where there is
sadness, joy.