07-22-18
“Breaking Divisions”
Rev. Kevin Hay
Ephesians 2:11-22
2:11 So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth,
called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision” —
a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands–
2:12 remember that you were at that time without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers to the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world.
2:13 But now in Christ Jesus
you who once were far off
have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
2:14 For he is our peace;
in his flesh he has made both groups into one
and has broken down the dividing wall,
that is, the hostility between us.
2:15 He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances,
that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two,
thus making peace,
2:16 and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.
2:17 So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off
and peace to those who were near;
2:18 for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.
2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,
but you are citizens with the saints
and also members of the household of God,
2:20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
2:21 In him the whole structure is joined together
and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
2:22 in whom you also are built together spiritually
into a dwelling place for God.
2:13 But now in Christ Jesus
you who once were far off
have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
2:14 For he is our peace;
in his flesh he has made both groups into one
and has broken down the dividing wall,
that is, the hostility between us.
Breaking Down Divisions
from the beginnings of the Church until today
Jesus has been breaking down divisions
and bringing peace
THEN, it was divisions over the Law
and who was in and who was out…
Jews and Gentiles
the Circumcised and the Uncircumcised
strangers and aliens…
those from far away, those from nearby…
Divisions grew deep and people dug their heels in
about who was included on the inside
of God’s Covenant with the people of Israel…
as Paul wrote to remind the Ephesians
who were arguing over who was in and who was out
that they too were once on the outside…
as the uncircumcised Gentiles…
Division is an age old problem
though Divisions often seem to be growing even more, today,
than ever before…
What are the divisions that run deep today?
What are the things that divide us and cause us to dig our heels in…
in the world, in this country, in this state and community, in the Church…
Who are the circumcised and the uncircumcised?
Who are the strangers and aliens?
What Divisions do we need Christ to break down the dividing walls today?
As many of you know
I come from a pretty long line of Presbyterian ministers
8 generations in fact…
my grandfather – Rev. Dr. Edward C. Hay
was a Pastor of many churches throughout the southeast
during his life in ministry…
and his 2nd to last church before retirement
he was called to be the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church
in Birmingham, Alabama
so in 1965, he moved his family of 6
his wife, my grandmother
my father,
2 other sons and 1 daughter
to Birmingham, Alabama
and they moved right in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement
to the downtown Presbyterian Church in Birmingham
there was some pretty extreme Division and Racial Tension
going on in downtown Birmingham during this time…
segregation was deeply entrenched
in both the legal system and social culture of Birmingham
segregation was a way of life in Birmingham…
in the workplace
restaurants, buses, bathrooms…
the bombing of the 16th St. Baptist Church in 1963
was just 4-5 blocks away from First Presbyterian Church
the infamous fire hose scene also took place downtown in 1963
where Birmingham Police Chief
Eugene “Bull” Connor used high-pressure fire hoses
and police attack dogs on protestors
marching from the scene of the 16th St. Bombing to City Hall
protesting this tragic bombing…
and amidst all of this racial tension and division
and protests of the Civil Rights Movement
Martin Luther, King, Jr.
found himself in jail… in April of 1963
where he penned the infamous
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
on scraps of paper given to him by the janitor
and later on a legal pad given by his lawyers
and while the letter has become famous
many people skip over WHO the letter was actually addressing…
the letter itself was addressed to
8 white clergymen in downtown Birmingham, Alabama
it was an open letter, intended to be read for all,
much like many of Paul’s letters
as it was published by the Birmingham News paper
but it was addressed to 8 white pastors of churches in downtown Birmingham
including the pastor of First Presbyterian Church
whom my grandfather followed soon after…
- his name was Rev. Dr. Edward Ramage…
Dr. Ramage faithfully served First Presbyterian
in downtown Birmingham
for 19 years in a time of great division and racial tension
he was often caught in the middle of the division and tension
as one who was criticized for supporting desegregation
by the segregationist
while also being criticized for moving too slowly
by the desegregationists…
in fact that’s what Dr. King’s Letter was addressing
was pastors who spoke out in support of the Civil Rights movement
but who also seemed to be “playing it safe”
by also encouraging the movement,
and leaders like Dr. King
to wait, to be patient, to let the process play out in court…
as these pastors had recently published a letter in the paper
“A Call to Unity”
urging them to stop doing things like
boycotting local downtown businesses
and organizing various protests, sit-ins, and marches
that were “disrupting” the city…
and so as Dr. King found himself incarcerated
he sought to respond to this “Call to Unity”
by these 8 local white pastors…
by writing his response in the famous
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
a letter that was actually just recommended
by the most recent General Assembly of the PC(USA)
to be studied for possible inclusion in our Book of Confessional Statements…a letter where Dr. King famously argued that
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere….
as King says…
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,
tied in a single garment of destiny.
Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly…
Anyone who lives inside the United States
can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.”
and King addressed the suggestion that the movement wait for the process to work itself out in the courts, saying…
“‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.'”[6]
Declaring that African Americans had waited
for these God-given and constitutional rights long enough,
King quoted Chief Justice Earl Warren,
who said in 1958 that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”[6]
arguing that…”Perhaps it is easy for those
who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, ‘Wait.'”[10]
It was a time when Division and Racial Tension ran deep…
and Martin Luther King, Jr.
sought to offer leadership in the midst of division in in the South
much like Paul sought to offer leadership in the midst of division in Ephesus
another aspect of the civil rights movement in downtown Birmingham
amidst the boycotts of local businesses, protests, sit-ins, and marches…
and the stirring conversation around the “Call to Unity”
and Dr. King’s response in the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
there was a growing rumor
that on Easter Sunday in 1963
the black community was planning
to enter the local white churches in downtown
on Easter Sunday…
and of course, in a deeply segregated city…
the big question was
what would the pastor do if this happened?
and since it was such a widespread rumor…
there were even rumors of tv cameras
hanging around the downtown churches on Easter Sunday
prepared to report on this development…
the daughter of Pastor Ed Ramage
– who was the Pastor at First Presbyterian at this time…
reflected on this experience in a blog…
saying…
Kathy (her friend) and I stood dead still and fell silent
when they walked into our sight. The choir kept singing.
They were finely dressed walking arm-in-arm, bravely,
like two Joan of Arcs, heads held high and proud,
their shoulders square.
They were two young African-American women
holding on to each other tightly
in a fancy downtown church of all white people.
They looked straight ahead
and kept walking down that long red carpet.
I couldn’t see their faces but I could tell they were brave
because everybody was looking at them
and they didn’t take the first open seat, or the second.
As they passed rows,
I saw members of the congregation in the side sections
peel off and walk right out of the church.
The young women walked all the way down to the second row.
Kathy’s daddy moved over and motioned them in.
I felt so relieved and was certain that he and my daddy
had cooked up a plan for him to do just that
because Dr. Joe didn’t make a habit of sitting up front.
Daddy delivered the shortest Easter sermon in history that day,
and I did not listen to a word of it.
Then it was over – “May the Lord bless you and keep you and may his face shine upon you both now and forever. Amen.”
2 young black women bravely came into a church service
not long after the 16th St. Baptist church bombing just blocks away…
walking all the way down to the 2nd row…
while other church members walked out
and news cameras awaited to report on what happened…
the following weeks and months… after allowing this to happen…
Pastor Ed Ramage began to receive hate mail, death threats
people slashed his tires
and he began to fear for his own safety
and the safety of his family…
the division and racial tension was so extreme
the he eventually decided to leave this church and move his family away
in December of 1963…
and understandably so…
this was the type of Division and Racial Tension
that was prevalent in downtown Birmingham
at First Presbyterian Church
a church and community
my grandfather soon moved his family to in January of 1965
Division and Racial Tension
of the Civil Rights Movement
the 16th St. Bombing
Fire hoses and police dogs
boycotts, sit-ins, protests, marches
the Letter from a Birmingham Jail addressed to his predecessor
the controversy over the black community
coming into worship on Easter Sunday…I’ve been told that…
the next several years as my grandfather was the Pastor
in preparation for Easter
and in fear of another visitation from the black community
on Easter Sunday
the Session would discuss and vote on
what the Pastor was supposed to do if this were to happen again…
My grandfather knew all the background going in
and he was clear with the Session before he came
that he believed God’s Church
and the Lord’s Table was open to all God’s people
and that if we was going to go to Birmingham,
they needed to know where he stood on this issue…
and that he would stand firm in his views…
yet for the first several years, as the Session voted,
the Session continued to vote that…
if any African Americans attempted to enter the sanctuary
on Easter Sunday
they would NOT be welcomed by the Pastor.
it was a time and place of extreme Division and Racial Tension…
I remember my grandmother telling another story several times
it was the time for the Presbyterian women in Birmingham
to come together for a Triennial luncheon gathering
the women of all the Presbyterian Churches in town
would gather every 3 years for a luncheon
and my grandmother was involved
with a group of women in charge of organizing this gathering…
but one of the churches that would be invited
was the historically black Presbyterian church
in downtown Birmingham
the church where Condoleeza Rice grew up actually…
and nobody knew what they were supposed to do…
how do you have a luncheon with the women from the black church?
when at the time, it was culturally and socially
inappropriate and unacceptable
for white women and black women
to sit together at the same table…
when divisions are so deeply engrained in our culture
when we have our heels dug in so deep…
how do we break down divisions like Jesus does for all of us?
how do we throw open the doors
and invite all God’s people into worship?
how do we invite all of our neighbors to join us for a meal,
when it’s culturally and socially unacceptable?
Division is an age old problem, we continue to wrestle with today…
Paul writes to the Ephesians
as they are still wrestling with God’s covenant with Israel
and whether or not all believers in Christ are equal
when it comes to salvation and God’s covenant
the Division Paul is addressing,
could as easily describe
the Division during the Civil Rights movement
just as much as it could easily describe
the many Divisions we experience today…
but in a world full of Division
Paul reminds the Ephesians, and us
that Christ brings us peace and breaks down dividing walls..
saying..
2:13 But now in Christ Jesus
you who once were far off
have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
2:14 For he is our peace;
in his flesh he has made both groups into one
and has broken down the dividing wall,
that is, the hostility between us.
but what does that look like today
what does Christ bringing peace
and breaking down divisions look like today?
in a world divided over political parties
both democrats and republicans have their heels dug in so deep
it often seems that it’s nearly impossible
to accomplish anything in government…
we stick to our own groups of like-minded people
watching and reading our own versions of the news
sticking to our own sources of conservative or liberal bias…
as the divisions grow deeper and deeper
we dig our heels in about our stances on…
– separating children from their families
- immigration enforcement and literally building walls
- or who should be our next Supreme Court Justice
just to name a few…
and it happens in other places too…
we dig our heels in about our stances on various issues
at work, in our social life…
even in the Church…
we have become so Divided
that conversations
coming together to talk
or to share a meal with one another
has become nearly impossible
much less reaching any agreement or compromise…
It took several years,
but after continuing to include it on the Session Agenda
after several years of my grandfather
being intentional about having the conversations
with the leaders of the Church every year…
eventually, those conversations
allowed Christ to break down the dividing walls
as the minutes eventually
showed the word “NOT” being crossed out by my grandfather
instead of saying:
they would NOT be welcomed by the Pastor.
the sentence eventually changed to simply say
they would be welcomed by the Pastor.
and that happened because the Session intentionally engaged in conversation
with people of differing perspectives
and allowed Christ to break down the dividing walls…
as the Presbyterian Women discussed how to proceed
with their triennial luncheon with the women from the black church
my grandmother eventually offered a solution
saying – let’s just remove the chairs
and we can all eat standing up
so that’s what they did – they removed the chairs…
and she says it was a beautiful moment, of getting creative
and allowing Christ to break down the dividing walls of society and culture…
so in times of increasing Divisions
socially, politically, even within the Church…
how can we allow Christ to break down the dividing walls?
as the middle of our Affirmation of Faith reminds us today…
“In each time and place, there are particular problems and crises
through which God calls the church to act.
The church, guided by the Spirit,
humbled by its own complicity
and instructed by all attainable knowledge,
seeks to discern the will of God
and learn how to obey in these concrete situations. “(9.43)
So… in this particular time and place…
How can we be intentional about engaging in the hard conversations
so that we can cross out some of those divisions?
In this particular time and place…
How is God calling each of us to get creative
and find ways to
to remove the chairs…
so that all God’s people can gather at the table…
as we allow Christ to break down the dividing walls…
in today’s society and culture?
How can we say together, as the hymn we sang says it…
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions
All are welcome, All are welcome, All are welcome in this place.
as Paul reminds us so well…
2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,
but you are citizens with the saints
and also members of the household of God,
2:20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
2:21 In him the whole structure is joined together
and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
2:22 in whom you also are built together spiritually
into a dwelling place for God.
AMEN
WE RESPOND IN FAITH
*Affirmation of Faith – Excerpts from the “Confession of 1967” of the PC(USA)
As a denomination, part of our constitution consists of the Book of Confessions
it is a series of creedal statements like the Apostle’s Creed
officially approved by our denomination.
Each one has it’s own unique character
and is often shaped by the history and events of it’s time…
While we typically just use the Apostle’s Creed here at Romney Presbyterian
We now currently have 10 confessional statements of the Presbyterian Church
the most recent one approved was the Belhar Confession
and just this summer at the most recent General Assembly,
the process was initiated, to begin exploring adding another one
“Letter from a Birmingham Jail” Martin Luther King, Jr.
In that spirit, I invite us today to join in using one of our current confessional statements,
the Confession of 1967 as our Affirmation of Faith
Excerpts from the Confession of 1967 of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
“In Jesus Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself.
We confess that Jesus Christ is God with us, the eternal Son of the Father,
who became human and lived among us to fulfill the work of reconciliation.
We believe that the risen Christ is present in the church by the power of the Holy Spirit
to continue and complete his mission.
This work of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
is the foundation of all we say about God, ourselves, and the world.” (9.07)
“In each time and place, there are particular problems and crises
through which God calls the church to act.
The church, guided by the Spirit,
humbled by its own complicity and instructed by all attainable knowledge,
seeks to discern the will of God and learn how to obey in these concrete situations. “(9.43)
“God has created the peoples of the earth to be one universal family.
In his reconciling love, God overcomes the barriers between sisters and brothers and breaks down every form of discrimination based on racial or ethnic difference, real or imaginary.
The church is called to bring all people to receive and uphold one another
as persons in all relationships of life: in employment, housing, education, leisure,
marriage, family, church, and the exercise of political rights.
Therefore, the church labors for the abolition of all racial discrimination
and ministers to those injured by it.
Congregations, individuals, or groups of Christians
who exclude, dominate, or patronize others, however subtly,
resist the Spirit of God and bring contempt on the faith which they profess.” (9.44a)