Tuesday's Child: Walls of Separation

One day last week someone posted a list of the 27 worst Nativity Sets to their Facebook page. By the time I read the post the number was up to 30+ and climbing. Most of the submissions were truly mind boggling.  One made entirely of Spam comes to mind - not exactly something you could keep in with your other Christmas decorations from year to year.

One of the responses to that post, however, included the powerful image above - a Nativity Scene including the Separation Wall in Israel/Palestine, the wall that effectively keeps Bethlehem isolated from the rest of the world.   As you can see, on one side of the wall are Mary, Joseph, the Christ Child and the animals living in the stable.  On the other side of the wall are the wise men and shepherds wanting to come worship the Child but unable to reach him because of the great grey wall in the way.

The artist is Tawfiq Salsa, a Palestinian Christian from Beit Sahour ( The Shepherd‘s Field ). In 2007 as an act of quiet resistance, he made a ‘walled nativity set’ - a nativity scene where the wall stopped the wise men from getting through to the Holy Family. Tawfiq said “I made these sets as a protest at what is happening to the local community of Bethlehem and Beit Sahour”. * 

I will assume everyone reading this has heard about this wall.  You will have heard both about Israel's concern for her security which led them to build the wall(s) in the first place and about the struggles Palestinians have getting from their homes to their crops, schools, jobs and churches or mosques.  You each have your own opinions about whether it is useful, necessary and/or just for Israel to isolate pockets of Palestinians behind a patchwork of walls.  I'm not going there today.  That is a discussion for other times and places.  

Rather, when I first saw this wall with Jesus on one side and those seeking him on the other side I was struck by the multitude of walls that keep people separated from the Christ.  

There are some who don't even know that there is a wall.  They have lived behind it all their lives and don't know there is any other way to live.  They don't care what's on the other side because they don't know what's on the other side.  They may never have been exposed to religion and have no basis for comparison between what their daily life is like and what it means to live in Christ.   They might even ask questions like, "Why do I feel like something is missing from my life?"   

There are some surrounded by great grey walls, too tall to climb and too thick to break through, walls that have been built over long years of rejection and abuse at the hands of Church and Christians.   Some may have come to believe that they will never be acceptable to the Christians or to God, that their particular sins are unforgiveable.  Others want nothing to do with anybody who even says the word Jesus, because they are quite certain they already know what they are going to hear.  

Others have smaller walls, walls that are more permeable, walls that have portals that can be passed through easily at some times yet at other times seem to be completely closed.  Often these walls are temporary and self inflicted by depression or feelings of unworthiness or guilt.  Many of us who show up fairly regularly have gone through  periods of spiritual drought, times when we simply cannot break through those walls of our own creation to let God's healing love touch us.

If I were a bit more confident that I knew all of the answers I would spend the next page or two pontificating on how to get rid of all those walls.  I would list techniques to be used and a bibliography of academic resources to be studied.  Luckily for anyone reading this, I am not that confident.   I do believe that the only resolution to Walls of Separation, whether the Walls in Israel/Palestine or the walls in the hearts of individuals, can be found in the commandment to love your neighbor as you love yourself.  How that is to be done in each case, however, is beyond me.  

The best I can do is teach those who are untaught and love those who are in pain. The best I can do is try to model God's grace and love as I have come to understand them through the teachings of Jesus, to live my life in such a way as to bring knowledge where it is desired and healing where it is needed.   The best I can do is continue to pray each day for those who suffer the pain of separation, that all Walls of Separation may one day come down and that all persons might be reconciled with God and with each other.

*If you are interested in Separation Wall Nativity carvings or in learning more about Beyond Bethlehem's Wall: Christians Helping Christians, the agency making them available you can get that information on their website http://www.beyondbethlehemswall.com/aboutus.html