At the Dividing Wall

Last night at Centennial, John Borden spoke with us from the International Institute of Minnesota. This is one of seven organizations in Minnesota that helps resettle refugees and offers educational programs for immigrants. I learned a lot from his presentation, and one of the things I found particularly interesting related to the title of session three of our readings: At the Dividing Wall. I can't remember the specific statistic - it was either 40 percent or 60 percent (either way, a significant percent) of undocumented persons do not arrive in the U.S. by travelling across the Mexico/U.S. border. That 40 or 60 percent actually come by plane - arriving in the U.S. legally, but then outstaying their visas. Which brings up the question of the usefullness of walls, fences, and borders in an effort to "protect" the U.S. from undocumented persons. But this is more of a logistical question than a faith question. One of the faith questions is what God calls us to do. Are we called to build walls? Fences? What about bridges?

In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul talks about divisions among the people of Corinth. He acknowledges reports that some are saying "I belong to Paul" or "I belong to Cephas". Similar, perhaps, to when we say "I am an American" or "I am a Mexican". We may be those things, but Paul challenges the people of Corinth and also us, with the question "Has Christ been divided?" He challenges the divisions that we create as humans, in the face of Christ who loved all and died for all in an effort to save all.

What sorts of bridges and/or walls can we envision Jesus building today? What would they look like?

As an aside, I was struck by the image used by Bill Nara in our Stewardship Moments, when he talked about his families use of the term "love tanks". When they are running a little on empty, and needing an extra boost of love, they ask one another for a hug, or to help fill their love tank, in the same way that we sometimes run out of gas in our cars. He likened the church to a community whose job it is, is to fill peoples love tanks, to support them so they can go out and love others and serve others. So I commend his comments to you for consideration - think about your love tank, what it's filled with, how full it is, and what you use it for.
-Melanie