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Walls and Carpenters:
A pondering by Holly Woodbridge Scripture to Read - Ephesians 2:11-22 Scripture Focus: 14 Because of Christ we now have peace. Christ made both Jews and non-Jews one people. They were separated as if there were a wall between them. But Christ broke down that wall of hate by giving his own body. 15 The Jewish law had many commands and rules. But Christ ended that law. Christ’s purpose was to make the two groups of people become one new people in him. By doing this Christ would make peace. 16 Through the cross Christ ended the hatred between the two groups. And after Christ made the two groups to be one body, he wanted to bring them back to God. Christ did this with his death on the cross. This past Sunday as our kids dug into Ephesians 2, we found that Jesus is a bit like the HULK, Wreck-It-Ralph, and Thor: He has this power to demolish walls. However, unlike these guys, He didn’t use a fist or a hammer. He used a cross. So, what is this wall that He demolished? It is a dividing wall, like most walls. The dividing wall in this passage is about circumcision particularly (Sorry to make you squirm, guys.) It divides the Jewish Believers and the Gentile Believers in the church of Ephesus. They are all believers, but there is this dividing wall between them, this wall of hate (vs.16). I asked our group at Kids Crossing, “What things divide us and build walls between us today?” They said things like: what sports team you cheer for, what politician we vote for, the color of our skin, and whether to wear masks. They are spot on, aren’t they? In our room we had built a giant wall of cardboard boxes and Micah got to knock them down. Then the kids, without instruction, started kicking any remaining boxes out of the way. Hmmm… what a great idea. Instead of trying to rebuild that wall, they got rid of any remaining rubble that separated them from each other. *HEY! You CAN try this at home, and at church and in your neighborhood. Later in the lesson, we built a table and chairs out of the rubble. You see, Jesus doesn’t just knock something down and leave a mess. He makes something NEW. That was what the cross was all about. A table works very differently than a wall. A wall excludes, a table invites. A wall brings division, a table brings conversation. A wall is cold, a table is warm. Remember, our Savior was a carpenter. And He not only sat at tables, he built them. So, the next time you are at church (which should be this Sunday) look around, knock down a wall and invite someone to your dinner table. Welcome To The Family By: Debby Kerner Rettino Welcome to the family We’re glad that you have come To share your life with us As we grow in love and may we always be to you What God would have us be a family always there To be strong and to lean on. May we learn to love each other More with each new day May words of love be on our lips in ev’rything we say May the Spirit melt our hearts And teach us how to pray That we might be a true family Holly Woodbridge
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AuthorNotes from the Staff @The Woods Archives
March 2023
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