A UMNS Commentary
By Kara Scroggins*
August 3, 2009

The subtitle above Ephesians 2:11-22 says “One in Christ.” I like it.

We are all “members of the household of God.” As an only child, I’ve always been attracted to the idea of one big happy family.

And I like this whole peace idea too: “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.”

These words from Ephesians resonate with our doctrines of equality and justice, with the commandment to “love our neighbor as ourselves,” and to seek unity as the one body of Christ.

When I hear the Scripture, I picture our world. I see physical walls being torn down and centuries-old prejudice being overcome. I see an end to genocide in Darfur, to conflict in Chechnya, to drug wars in Mexico and hate crimes in California. “I’m on board, God,” I say. “I’m all for this breaking down of walls: those walls, over there.”

But what happens when the walls we’re asked to break down are so much a part of our daily experience that we don’t even see them as walls? What happens when our “neighbors” are actually, physically, our neighbors?

United Methodist seminars

One of the aims of the United Methodist Seminars program at the United Methodist Board of Church and Society is for groups to take what they experience in Washington, D.C., back home. We want them to see the issues they learn about as relevant to their daily lives and to claim a role in addressing the systems of oppression where they live.

To help with that this summer, I’ve done some research on the communities that participants have come from. The stories I’ve read have broken my heart: farm workers denied basic human rights in North Carolina, immigrants living in fear of raids in Colorado, American Indians in South Dakota deprived of health care, living in the poorest county in the nation.

“The truth is, I’m much more comfortable advocating for American Indians in South Dakota than I am accompanying a homeless man into a restaurant to share a meal.”
–Kara Scroggins

Yet when the seminar groups came, they were often unaware of what was going on in their own backyards. I was shocked. These people, so close to them, were suffering, and they couldn’t manage to see them as brothers and sisters?

Hadn’t they read passages like this one in Ephesians, where we are called to recognize our shared humanity and break down the walls of hostility? Couldn’t they see? Didn’t they care?

Homelessness in D.C.

Instead of focusing on the people in their home states, though, the first thing these groups brought up was the homelessness in this nation’s capital. They wanted to know how people could turn their backs. How could I walk by a homeless person every day and not offer her lunch, or devote my time to writing letters to demand affordable housing and government support? Couldn’t I see? Didn’t I care?

The truth is, I’m much more comfortable advocating for American Indians in South Dakota than I am accompanying a homeless man into a restaurant to share a meal. Commuting to work, I am moved to tears of grief and anger as I read the newspaper, yet I can somehow walk by the same homeless diabetic calling for help every single day as I hurry into the United Methodist Building.

And it’s not just walls separating me from my neighbors. Those men in business suits lobbying against life-saving health care reform, those camouflage-clad protesters campaigning for loosened gun laws, the teenage girl who tried to steal my wallet on the Metro the other day: The “thems” and the “thoses” are all around me, too close for comfort, too close to be called neighbor.

Last week in worship, another summer intern, Allison Bovell, led us to view ourselves and those around us as bearers of God’s image. All right, I conceded, I will see this woman honking at me from her gas-guzzling SUV as a child of God. I will smile when I pass the homeless man on the street; I’ll even try to think kind thoughts about those people that write ill-informed, inflammatory editorials in The Washington Post.

There, the wall of hostility is broken. Are you happy God?

That’s not enough

But God says, “No, that’s not enough.” Not only has Christ “proclaimed peace to you who were far and peace to those who are near,” not only has he called us to lay down our weapons, but he has commanded us to pick up our plowshares.

Jesus did not break down walls of hostility so we could draw lines in the sand. We do not become tolerant cohabitants of a planet, or a nation, or a city street in D.C., but co-builders of a kingdom. All of us are invited to bring what we have and all of who we are to the table to grow something holy for our God: “In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”

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Across language barriers and economic stratifications, across cities and suburbs, across the aisle of the Capitol chamber, we are empowered by Christ to claim a common identity, a common purpose, a common love. And that means, not only do I have to recognize the value of each person and group of people I am too afraid to embrace, but I have to welcome the fact that they are part of the same effort, the same vision: A vision that is not mine, but God’s.

The homeless diabetic has a job to do in this kingdom. Until he is empowered to do it, we are not complete. We are called to be God’s dwelling place, not as individuals, but as one body, “built together spiritually.” And it is through the love of God in Christ that this beautiful dream is possible: We are able to move beyond fear of ourselves and of the “other” into life as a community, a vibrant, greater whole.

*Scroggins is a summer intern with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society and wrote this reflection for a worship service and "Faith in Action," a newsletter of the board. She has been working with the United Methodist Seminars program and attends the University of North Carolina.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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