See you at the ‘border’!

“Lord, where can I meet you?”“Come,” the Lord answers, “meet me at my favourite spot.”

“Where is your favourite spot?” I reply.The Lord says, “Meet me at the border.”

This seems to be the ‘geography’ of the Lord.The Gospel says that “Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee” (Luke 17:11), between two peoples divided by an invisible wall.

The Lord walks along that line,the very line where we have been building walls since our first appearance on earth.

Look around you.Don’t tell me you don’t see them:walls between you and others,between groups and nations,walls even between parts of yourself.

The horror we have witnessed in Gaza over the past two years did not begin with the wall built in 1994?

And if the wall between Mexico and the United States could speak, how many stories of tragedy would it tell?

I know what you are thinking: walls are comfortable. I feel so safe behind them. Why should I leave them? They protect me from what I don’t know, from what might be dangerous. They keep me from having to face other worlds, from facing what is different.

Nevertheless, I want to give you a reason to open a gap in your wall; a reason I find truly compelling: if you climb over that wall, you will find a part of yourself waiting on the other side!

When you cross the wall and embrace the migrant, for example, you are embracing that part of yourself which struggles for a better life.

When you look beyond the wall at the person you dislike, you are embracing that part of yourself which others may find difficult to love.

When you cross the wall and meet Ahmed, who sleeps under the bridge near my church, you are meeting that part of yourself which feels lost, abandoned, and alone in this world at times. 

When you attempt to build even a fragile bridge to meet those you despise, are you not also reaching toward that part of your life you have long refused to accept?

Crossing the wall is hard!

But aren’t you curious to meet a new version of yourself?

Wait for me, Lord — I’m coming.

See you at the border!

Photo by De an Sun on Unsplash