God breaks down our walls

In a few days our larger church celebrates the Feast of St Simon and St Jude, two of the Twelve, Jesus' gathered disciples. St Jude was the name of a segregated 'colored chapel' connected with St Michael's, my church in New York City. This feast day is an annual time to remember the legacy of the St Jude's community and atone for the sins that had kept us segregated from one another. One of the readings set in the lectionary for this day is from Ephesians 2, speaking of the division between Jews and Gentiles in the early church: in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. That letter from a different situation long ago spoke directly to our modern sins of racism and hostility. Every year it struck me how the Holy Spirit continues to speak through Scripture -- and how God calls us past all we find to divide ourselves. 

St Jude is also sometimes known as the patron saint of lost causes. I believe we always have the potential to come together across our dividing walls, despite all the ways we build them higher and higher. I refuse to believe we're a lost cause! God can tear down walls faster than we can build them. Thanks be to God for that.