Sermon - July 18, 2021

<p>In June of 1990, I had the privilege of traveling throughout Europe while performing in several countries.  I accompanied the Mona Shores Choir, directed the Handbell Choir, and gave organ recitals in St. Petersburg, in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and The Netherlands.  It was a remarkable experience for which I am deeply grateful. At one point during that tour, we took the ferry from Denmark to what was then East Germany. It was just days before the borders came down. We made our way to Berlin and, while we were in Berlin, the borders that had divided East from West did come down.  During our stay in Berlin, we were also able to chop down our own piece of the infamous Berlin Wall.  My own little chunk of that memorable, insidious, dividing wall now sits on a bookshelf in my kitchen as a reminder of that trip and our historic experience.  When I look at my piece of the Berlin Wall, it reminds me that walls of hostility, whether concrete or metaphoric, are created because of fear and they ultimately divide families, communities, and nations as the Berlin Wall did for so many years.         </p> <p>When the Berlin Wall came down and when the borders between East and West Germany dissolved, I had so hoped we as a people were entering a new place and time in the history of the world.  However, when we look at the past few years, it seems we cannot learn from history because we now live in a time of epoch wall-building – walls that are seen, unseen, figurative and literal.  And, it seems we <strong>always</strong> develop such absurd arguments as we attempt to justify our wall building efforts.  We say we build walls because they will keep us safe.  Because we are afraid or in danger.  Because we feel threatened.  Because we have been hurt by others.  Because we are protecting what is ours or what we have.  But guess what, all these justification projects and arguments show no grace, no attempt to understand those considered “other,” and they serve to create divisions and hostility between people.  To move be