Crescent Hill Baptist Church

Crescent Hill Baptist Church
Louisville, Kentucky

Pentecost Sunday
June 4, 2006
W. Gregory Pope

A CHURCH WITH NO WALLS

Ephesians 2:11-3:15

(The pastor is wearing both Red and Green Stoles. Another worship leader is wearing a Red stole. Another is wearing a Green stole. Another is wearing a Purple stole. Another is wearing a White stole. The Congregation was asked to dress in five different colors according to their last name.)


Children of all ages and colors, I have a story for you.

In a beautiful meadow at the bottom of a great mountain lived a people called the “Greens.” They wore Green clothes, lived in Green homes, drove Green cars; they even believed that God was Green.

At the top of the great mountain were another people, the “Reds.” They wore Red clothes, lived in Red homes, drove Red cars, and they believed that God was Red.

Greens and Reds didn’t speak to each other. In fact they hated each other. Green parents would teach their children to say:

.... Green is happy; Red is sad
.... Greens are good; Reds are bad

Red parents would teach their children to say:
.... Red is happy; Green is sad
.... Reds are good; Greens are bad
So Reds and Greens grew up seeing each other as “sad” and “bad.” But they didn’t really know each other. Some Reds went a whole lifetime without ever even talking to a Green. They didn’t know each other because they stayed in their own territories. They didn’t go to the same churches or schools.

It happened one day that a Green boy was walking with his father when he saw a Red boy flying his kite in their meadow. When the Red boy saw them he became frightened and ran back toward his mountain. But in doing so he sprained his ankle and couldn’t walk very well. The Green boy wanted to help him, but his father said, “No. Don’t you remember what your mother and I taught you?

........Green is happy; Red is sad.
........Greens are good; Reds are bad.

The Green boy persisted in asking his dad if he could help the Red boy. “Dad, how do we know this Red is bad? All I know is that he has a sprained ankle and he needs someone to help him walk home.”

The Green boy’s father turned to him and said sternly: “Son, Red is the color of the devil. God only loves Green. Our religion teaches us to help our own kind. You are to do as you are told.”

A few weeks later the Green boy was out playing with his pet rabbit. He chased it through the tall grass and into the open fields. He played for so long that without realizing it, he had crossed into Red Land. He was about to catch the rabbit when the little rascal jumped down a small cliff. Green went after him, and as he did, he caught his right leg between two big rocks. He pushed and pulled, but could not move. He called for help, hoping a Green would hear him. He worried that sooner or later a Red would come by. And it frightened him because he had never met a Red.

As the sunlight faded, someone approached the trapped Green boy. It was a Red. It was the same Red who sprained his ankle, the boy who had been flying his kite in Green Land. The Green boy closed his eyes waiting to be hurt by his enemy.

The Red boy stood by the Green boy for a few minutes. Then he went to a tree and broke off a branch. “Don’t hit me with that branch,” Green said, thinking that’s what Red was about to do.

“I’m not going to hit you,” Red answered him. “The branch is to pry loose the rocks that are holding your leg.”

Red pried loose the rocks. Then he tore his Red shirt into long strips and tied the branch to Green’s leg. Then he helped Green walk home.

When Green’s father saw his son’s leg tied with the Red cloth, he cursed his boy. “I don’t care if you were injured. You should not have let a Red touch you.”

Though Green knew his father was upset with him, he could not forget the Red boy who had helped him. When his leg healed, he went into Red Land to find his helper.

For a whole day Green walked in the neighborhoods of Red Land. It took a lot of courage to do this because everywhere he went people slammed doors on him and called him names. Some young children even threw rocks at him. Finally, Green found the Red boy who had helped him. He did not slam his door on Green, but welcomed him into his home.

Green was happy to see Red, but he was surprised to see that his helper had clothes that were a mixture of Red and Green.

“I thought you learned that Green was bad, said Red. “Why are you wearing Green with your Red?”

Red replied, “Do you remember when you were hurt, and I tore up my Red shirt to make a splint for your leg? I figured that you became part of me, and I became part of you. In helping you and talking with you, I came to see that Green is just as good as Red.”

“Won’t the other Reds throw rocks at you when they find out you’re a ‘Green-lover?’” asked Green.

“I don’t care what people think,” said Red. “It is right to help people whether they are Red or Green.”

The two boys became close friends. They often visited each other. They made up a new song which they taught to the other children. It had these words:

Green is good, but so is Red,
Purple, Yellow and Blue too -
All the children should be glad;
There is no color that is bad.

Little by little more Reds and Greens started visiting each other. Then they began going to each other’s schools and churches. They even went beyond their own lands and visited the Yellows and Blues and Purples. After a while most people didn’t call themselves “Greens” or “Reds” but simply “Rainbow People.” And to this day their children sing, “There is no color that is bad.” (William J. Bausch, Storytelling: Imagination and Faith, Twenty-third Publications, 1985, 152-154)

In the days of the Ephesians, they were not called Reds and Greens, but Jews and Gentiles, the circumcised and the uncircumcised. The division between the two groups was deeper than any of us could ever imagine. A hatred deeper than any we know today.

And yet, the divisions and barriers of today are quite strong: race, economic status, political party, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, Cardinal-Wildcat. We often turn away from people we don’t know simply because they are different.

The Bible teaches us, however, that we are all a part of each other. We are all made in God’s image. We all bear the mark of God upon our soul. And we are all of us different. There are different races, genders, and social classes. And there are differences among and within races, genders, and social classes. And those differences create barriers of understanding. And it takes hard work to understand each other and coexist together.

But the good news of the gospel is that in Christ our differences, no matter what they are, do not matter. In God’s eyes, our text for today radically states, the barriers those differences create no longer exist. The cross of Christ has torn down all dividing walls and created one new humanity. Our task as God’s people with the help of the Spirit is to see with God’s eyes and live into God’s vision. As we grow deeper and mature in Christian Spiritual Formation we learn how to live without barriers between people. And as the story teaches, it is often children who led us.

Paul perhaps made clear his most revolutionary understanding of the gospel when he wrote to the Galatians and said, “In Christ, there is no Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free. All are one.” In Christ, race and nationality mean nothing to God. Black and white, Asian and Hispanic, Cuban and Middle Eastern sit next to each other in God’s congregation. There are no lines on God’s map. Women are not second class citizens in God’s community. Women can lead and preach in God’s church. Money doesn’t give you status and wealth is not power in God’s kingdom. And there are no balconies for slaves in God’s family. Differences no longer matter in God’s eyes. All are one in Christ.

As I read the gospels, it seems to me that Christ had one overbearing hatred that stemmed from his great love for all people. It was a hatred for barriers. Barriers we erect between ourselves. Barriers we erect to keep people from God. Jesus despised barriers. He would not let racial and religious barriers stand, speaking to Gentiles and Samaritans. He would not let gender barriers stand, allowing women into his circle as disciples of his teaching, trusting women to be the first preachers of the Easter gospel. He was enraged at social barriers that divided rich and poor. And his heart was broken when religious people excluded others because of their sin.
I think Jesus would say the greatest sin is the sin of exclusion. And that there is no better place for a sinner to be than within the community of faith learning to walk in the way of Jesus with other sinners.

The world we all live in is now much more diverse than it has ever been. We all have neighbors of different races, religions, and ethnic backgrounds. In some ways we get along better than we used to. In other ways, seeds of racism, bigotry and fear of the other still have a firm grip on our consciences.

And yet, according to the poet Robert Frost, there is something in the very heart of creation that rebels against barriers. He writes:

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
(Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”)

If the heart of Creation, like the heart of its Creator and Christ, rebels against walls and barriers, then the Church, God’s human Community, should be a place of such radical inclusivity that people would pass by this place and shake their heads and wonder, “What in the world is going on at Crescent Hill Baptist Church?”

One Baptist church has as its motto: “Open to All, Closed to None.” Sounds to me like they have taken seriously Jesus’ parable of the wheat and chaff, telling us not to worry about trying to determine who’s in and who’s out. That God’s job, Jesus said.

Jesus made it very clear. Our task is simple: Love God, Love Neighbor. Never has our world needed such bold and simple love more than now.

There’s a musical group called The Black Eyed Peas. A few years ago they released a rap song entitled, “Where is the Love?”* Listen to some of the powerful verses of that song.

I feel the weight of the world on my shoulder
As I’m gettin’ older, y’all, people gets colder
Most of us only care about money makin’
Selfishness got us followin’ our own direction
Wrong information always shown by the media
Negative images is the main criteria
Infecting the young minds faster than bacteria
Kids act like what they see in the cinema

Whatever happened to the values of humanity?
Whatever happened to the fairness in equality?
Instead of spreading love we’re spreading animosity
Lack of understanding, leading lives away from unity.

If you only have love for your own race
Then you only leave space to discriminate
And to discriminate only generates hate
And when you hate then you’re bound to get irate
Badness is what you demonstrate.
Take control of your mind and meditate
Let your soul gravitate to the love.

People killin’, people dyin’
Children hurt and you hear them cryin’
Can you practice what you preach
And would you turn the other cheek?

Father, Father, Father help us
Send us some guidance from above
‘Cause people got me, got me questionin’
Where is the love?

It is no secret that we live in an increasingly violent world. Even the violence in our city is growing.

Our text for today boldly states that Jesus has broken down the walls of hostility that divide us. In the eyes of God, there is no “us” and “them.” There is no American and Iraqi. There is no black and white. There is no Asian and Hispanic. There is only one humanity. Paul said he bowed his knees to the Father from whom every family on earth takes its name. Did you hear that? All the world - every color, every race, every nation, every family - takes its name from the one God and Father of us all.

Two thousand years ago, Paul called it a mystery that had been hidden but was now revealed. I would say it is still a mystery hidden from most of the world today. It doesn’t appear that the world doesn’t know that yet. Could it be because the church doesn’t know it yet, or doesn’t believe it, or doesn’t practice it?

So what can we do about it? What are willing to do about it?
Are we ready to tell our city that all people are God’s children?
Are we ready to seek understanding in the midst of our differences?
Are we willing to teach our city that our differences do not make us enemies?

We will have to do that telling, seeking, and teaching in the midst of our life together. And so, we have to begin by asking ourselves:

How wide are we willing to throw open the doors of this church?
Are we willing to knock down every wall, every barrier, and embrace all people, without judgment, as children of God?
Are we willing to be that much like Jesus?

Are we willing to publicly say to our city, “It does not matter who you are or what you’ve done, you are God’s child, created in God’s image, no more and no less a sinner than the rest of us, and you are welcome here. We will help you find your way as we seek to find our own way. There are no barriers between us. There are no walls that separate us. The cross of Christ has made us one in God’s family.”

That is the best definition I know of “Pentecostal.” Where the Spirit blows with such a gospel force that all walls and barriers crumble. People understand each other and live in community together, no matter what their differences.

As children in God’s one and only family, we are invited to eat and drink from God’s table. As we prepare our hearts for the table, I want us to sing together, not a rap song, but a children’s song: “Jesus Loves the Little Children.”

Jesus loves the little children
all the children of the world,
Red and yellow, black and white,
they are precious in his sight.

Jesus loves the little children of the world.


* Elephunk album, Feb 10, 2005 (listen to song by going to http://www.blackeyedpeas.com/home/albums/336 and clicking on the song "where is the love" which you can play for free on RealOne.)
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CRESCENT HILL BAPTIST CHURCH
2800 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, Kentucky 40206
(502) 896-4425

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