Wizard of Oz
Pastor Patrick has mentioned a few times over the last couple of years, that we are members of the church body which is the collection of all believers. I was thinking about that this morning when I read a devotion about a couple traveling into Romania (communist at the time) and having the train boarded by the border guards.
Before I get into that story, I wanted to share my experience in going from West Germany to East Germany (when it was a communist country) as a college student. When I was in college, one of the classes I took was a European Study course where we spent 6 weeks mostly in West Germany. It was a wonderful experience staying in hostels and with host families. I learned a lot about other people’s cultures. As part of the trip, a day excursion into communist East Germany was arranged. The bus stopped at the boarder and the West German guards were friendly and waived us through. On the other side, our driver was replaced, a party representative got on the bus and two guards with machine guns boarded the bus to visually look for problems. To say we were intimidated would be an understatement.
We had been in Germany for a few weeks and had seen several beautiful churches on the West German side by then (in fact, we had started joking about how these beautiful churches were starting to get boring to see). On our day trip, we toured the church of St. Nicolas and were able to spend a few hours in the town before we were scheduled to leave. The St. Nicolas church was much plainer and less ornate than the churches we had seen before then. In fact, my recollection was that the whole town reminded me of the transition in the Wizard of Oz where Auntie Em’s house was black and white and plain while Oz was colorful and ornate (West Germany being the colorful and ornate area).
We were told that the official exchange rate was 1:1 and the party guide would be happy to exchange money for us. We knew that the real exchange rate was much higher (seems I remember 10:1) but more importantly, the shop owners would likely welcome being paid in West German marks. I stopped in a book store and being the geek I am, picked a German math book. I paid the listed price in West German marks. You would have thought I did something fantastically nice by the look on their face. It wasn’t until a later discussion we realized that they could take our West German marks to the duty-free stores and buys things (you know like toilet paper) that may not be available otherwise. I still have the book to remind me of the experience.
Back to the devotion I read this morning…the border guard was going through their things, making ridiculous comments (like they weren’t US citizens), to see their reaction when he saw a Bi- ble among their belongings. He ordered her to open it to Ephesians 2:19
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” - Ephesians 2:13-22 ESV
This world is not our home. We should act with love towards each other being the light God wants us to be.
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” - 2 Corinthians 5:1, 6-10
