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Holy Week resources and reflections

Tear down walls by building relationships, advocating for justice, and listening (Stated clerk’s column)

If you ever watch any show on HGTV you know that every remodeling project will involve a wall coming down. The homeowner usually takes a few swings with a sledgehammer for show, and then the pros take over. The reasons these walls come down vary. Usually it is about creating greater flow, or better entertainment, or a more spacious feel. Whatever the reason, it is the opposite reason of what a wall does.

Tracy Kidder wrote a book titled House. It followed the construction of a house from acorn to last nail. He states that walls define a room’s purpose. I have often thought about that when I am faced with walls that attempt to define people.

There at least two walls that are trying to define who we are. One is the United States-Mexico border fence and the immigration policies that wall supports. Boundaries are only one way you define a country. The values of a country and the way it values human beings are of even more importance. Locking up and deporting people who are fleeing for their lives seems out of accord with our values as a nation of refugees. The other wall that is just as real and overlaps the first is race. Some of us can’t see it, and some of us can’t stop seeing it. But it is there none the less. It is a wall that defines people and prevents us from living together as equally precious children of God.

The president has officially broken down some of the walls that existed between the United States of America and Cuba. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been working on that for more than 50 years. We have done that by building relationships, advocating for justice, and listening. Those tools are better at breaking down a wall than any sledgehammer. Those are the same tools we need to use to tear down the other walls.

The disciples tried to create an impromptu gated community in their hideout room after Jesus’ crucifixion. John 20:19 says, “…and the doors of the houses where the disciples had met were locked because of fear … Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” Sisters and brothers, let’s tear down these walls. And the peace of Christ that passeth all understanding and walls be with us.

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