Building Community Through Remembering and Reconciliation

So as we start, the word community, which you'll see on the next slide, I want you to think about one word, a feeling or a picture.What does community look or feel like to you? What's the first word that comes to mind?On the count of three, we're going to yell it out loud. There's no right or wrong answer. Okay. So you've got a word, a feeling or a picture. We're going to yell it out loud. Kids, I want to hear you. Okay. Are we ready? One, two, three. Wow. It was a lot. Kids, I didn't hear you. Did you yell? Well, next time. Next time. We'll get you. Okay. My word, my word was complicated.I know it's good for me.I know I need it. Sometimes I feel really empowered.Sometimes I feel really drained. [00:07:13]

I also realized when I was looking through this passage that I think of community on a very personal and individual lens, right? I need a place to belong. I need support in this season of my life. I want to help others connect. I want to make a difference.And so today I'd like to look at community as a community from a community perspective.Community from a community perspective.What does that mean, you ask? [00:08:47]

And so as a community, I'd like us to explore community together. And part of the reason of that is also because Paul wrote this letter, Ephesians, to a church community in Ephesus. And he wrote it about, he started this church about 20 years after Jesus' resurrection. And it's all in the book of Acts. You can read it there. But he wrote this letter to the church community about five to 10 years after starting that church. Kind of reminds me a little bit of Hope West. [00:11:12]

And the text says to, we remember.We remember being excluded and the feeling of someone reaching out and including us.And I'm sure we could think of one of those times where we felt deeply excluded.And then someone from the inside reached out and brought us in.And what did that feel like?Now imagine magnifying that to a community. [00:12:07]

And Paul here references a name people developed and used to exclude. And even put it in quotes, right? The uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision in the flesh.God's community used something so beautiful that really served as a sign of God's promise to create barriers.And I'm sure that we can all think of labels and names today that we have for people, groups and communities that ultimately create barriers and lead to this experience of being excluded. [00:14:08]

So we remember as a community where we were, separate from God, separate from each other, but we also remember where we are.And verse 13 on the next slide, kind of a picture of where are we now? And I love the language that Paul uses here, right? That we both have access to the Father, both of these groups. We are reconciled, not just to God through Jesus, but reconciled to each other. We are one new humanity, members of his household, fellow citizens, being built together. [00:14:42]

Understanding community Jesus' way is really hard.It makes us, it makes me confront truths about ourselves, what we think, what we grew up believing about certain communities and certain people.But remember where we were, and remember where we are, and how it feels to be included.How can we extend that to those around us? [00:16:57]

How do we experience community as a community? And this maybe answer shouldn't surprise you. Through Jesus.And I know this sounds like the cheesy Sunday school go -to Bible answer, but this passage really highlights experiencing Jesus as a community in a unique way. So Jesus brings together people who are radically and deeply different. He brought together Jews and Gentiles. He brings together people that are radically and deeply different culturally, generationally, ethnically, socially. [00:19:06]

Peace is not from us, but it is for us to experience.And verse 14 starts this off with the phrase, for he himself is our peace.And what does it mean that Jesus is our peace?On this slide, I kind of outlined it in icons.So what does it mean that Jesus himself is our peace? What did he do? He made us both one. He broke down the dividing wall.And he abolished the law that was expressed in ordinances.Why did he do it? To create one new person. To make peace. And to reconcile us to God. [00:19:58]

When I was looking at this passage, I was really struck with the multidimensional aspect of peace.That it's not just between me and God, right, or us and God. But it's between me and all the people going this way.And this is the kind of peace that he talks about.And how does Jesus do this?Through his death on the cross. Right? Jesus' work on the cross, not through our efforts, through his grace and great love and richness and mercy that beginning of Ephesians 2 talks about. This is dramatic. [00:20:41]

Jesus breaks down division and hostility. He abolishes, right? He doesn't, if you grew up in a family like that, he doesn't sweep it under the rug, right? He doesn't ignore it.He doesn't dismiss it or excuse it. He abolishes it.And then he creates, okay? And I love that second sentence where it says, he repealed the law code that becomes so clogged with fine print and footnotes, right?Something that I, you know, fine print and footnotes that the laws that governed behavior and gave structure for living as a God -fearing community in the Old Testament had a greater purpose. [00:22:54]

In experiencing community as a community, I've been learning over just my journey to both invite others into my community space, my story earlier, but also to say yes to being invited in other spaces. And so, you know, the past many years, our family has been included in celebrating Eid and Shabbat, Passover and Diwali, and, you know, visiting the small Spanish -speaking church that's at the bottom of our building. [00:24:05]

But there are beautiful things that are happening here in our community that we can continue to extend and bring people in. And learn to both invite but to also to say yes to.So can I give us another 30 seconds to connect with our neighbor on this next question? Again, just share what comes to mind. If you're visiting or you're new, think of a community that you're a part of. But just a quick question for us to really examine is what walls need to be broken down in our church community? [00:25:36]

How do we practice community as a community?And it's through engaging in Jesus' peace, through engaging in the actions of Jesus' peace, right? And then thinking about things that through him we can destroy and things that through him we can rebuild, right? It's that active kind of living in peace. [00:27:57]

It's clear here, right, that Jesus is the essential piece in creating a new framework for us to live in as a community.Cornerstone, those many of you may know already, right, it's the first stone that's placed in construction and it's placed as the corner where two walls meet and all other stones are aligned to it. [00:29:57]

Many of us have stepped into work that challenges broken systems.We've been part of organizations restructured around diversity and equity and inclusion. We've had conversations, we've helped write new policies, we've done meaningful work and these are all great ways to break down barriers of race and class and education and these efforts have deepened community in some really beautiful ways.But in this section, Paul reminds us that Jesus himself is our peace.He doesn't just improve what we've created, he's torn it down and he's rebuilt. [00:30:18]

So what would it look like for our community to reflect that? To be a multi -generational, multicultural, multi -ethnic reflection of God's community and real relationships.And it can feel overwhelming and impossible, and honestly it is, without Jesus as the cornerstone and without Jesus' help.And that's why Jesus has to be the cornerstone.He invites us to build and experience community with him at the center. [00:30:54]

And that's why Jesus has to be the cornerstone.He invites us to build and experience community with him at the center. And it's not easy, I'm not going to lie to you, it's not without hurt, because if you're anything like me, you're coming broken and in various pieces. But if we understand that we are made in a reflection of God's image, and that everyone we see is a reflection of God's image, there is something beautiful, right, that he is building. [00:31:16]

So for those of us who call this group our spiritual home, do we really see Jesus as the cornerstone of our community?And do we really believe that he's torn down these walls, not just outside, but in here and in us? And are we willing to engage with him as he rebuilds and in his work of peace? [00:31:45]

Oftentimes, I think of my faith as a journey with Jesus next to community, right, how am I being changed, how am I growing, how am I being challenged? And this passage really challenges me to think about my faith journey with a community perspective.How do I understand reconciliation with other people who are vastly different from me?And how do I understand being fellow citizens in a new humanity being built together? [00:32:22]