Breaking Down the Walls

Yesterday I performed my first big wedding for a great couple, and it went really well!  Everything went rather smoothly and there were no major slip ups or drama involved.  I really enjoyed it actually.  It's always interesting to see how families get together and do things- their traditions, their habits, their communication, everything.  Corey and I also went to the rehearsal dinner and the reception and met some nice people.  I'm sure this will be one of many bigger weddings that I'll be doing!  It also gave me a chance to reflect on our own wedding and relive some of those memories.  Sometimes I wish we could go back and do it all again!

Today during our Prayz service I had us set up the band in the very front of the sanctuary in front of the pews instead of up in the altar area so it was a more intimate feeling, and we just had voices and 2 acoustic guitars lead in song.  We had a list of songs that I had picked out, and we had people request certain ones during the service.  My thought was to have a "campfire" feeling to the whole thing.  I don't know how well people liked it, but I personally thought that it was something different and cool to do.  It reminded me of back when I was a youth leader and we went on retreats and worshiped together using only our voices and a guitar.  Those were some of the moments where I felt really connected to God and to others.  Either way, today was something different, and I think we need to mix it up every now and then.

The sermon today talked about a subject very near and dear to me: breaking down walls and barriers.  The scripture was from Ephesians 2:11-22

 

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.  For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.  

For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.  Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

I love this because it's about how Christ breaks down all walls between people and the petty things that divide them.  It's amazing to think how radical a message this was to the Jews and Gentiles in the early church who wanted nothing to do with one another.  They couldn't agree on anything- what to eat, what not to eat, how to live their lives, what to celebrate, how to do things, etc- but they all agreed on one thing: Jesus!  So then we get this message that Christ came for ALL so that ALL may be one in Him.  What a wonderful message that is, even for us today (especially for us today!) because we still build those walls that divide, even in the church.  I am still heartbroken that my annual conference defeated the amendment to change the Discipline to say that ALL persons may be members in the UMC.  I can't seem to wrap my mind around why anyone would want to build that wall within Christ's church to say that so and so cannot be a member here because (name whatever stupid reason you can think of).  It's not up to us to decide!  Don't people get that?  Can you tell that this frustrates me to no end? So I thank God that there are pastors out there that preach sermons about how ALL are welcome in Christ's church and preach the message that those walls are broken down because of Christ.  I can rejoice in that fact and share that fact no matter what anyone says, because I believe this wholeheartedly and really cannot understand any rationale against it.  There's my sermon for the day!