Daily Scripture

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling-place for God (Ephesians 2.19-22)

Daily Reflection

The purpose of a wall is to separate. The Berlin Wall was torn down in 1989, but since then the Israeli separation barrier has been constructed, and the Mexican wall aims to keep immigrants from infiltrating the USA.

In the Jerusalem temple of Jesus’s day a wall separated Jews from Gentiles, and women from men.

As well as actual walls of bricks and mortar there are the invisible but very real walls of prejudice and fear that separate people: walls of racism, religion, class, homophobia ...

In Christ there are no outsiders. What Paul describes here is not a wall, but a ‘dwelling-place for God’, where all are equal, and all are accepted in love.

Lord, show us how to break down the walls of hatred and fear and live together in your love.

Revd Rosemary