Bridges

"For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us."  --Ephesians 2:14, New Revised Standard Version

Tomorrow, I have been invited to participate in the dedication of the new bridge that will connect people and communities across the Missouri River at Washington, Missouri.  I will offer an invocation as part of the ceremony.  It is an honor to have been asked.  I will join with Father Joseph Wormek of St. Francis Borgia Catholic Parish, who will bless the bridge.  Our presence together on the bridge signals a coming together of religious communities that were once estranged.  The community where we serve places a high value on coming together and working through issues that divided past generations.  It is important that we serve together.  There is so much more that we can do together than we can do when we are divided.

In that regard, I think of the Harvest Table, which is a community ministry that is housed at St. Peter's United Church of Christ.  This is not the ministry of one church or even that of the ecumenical Church in Washington.  This ministry belongs to the community and is a testimony to the care that comes when different groups work together for the common good.  When bridges are built, the hungry and those who need others to share a table of respect and dignity with them are fed.  I am grateful for the generosity of civic groups, local businesses, gardeners, and a multitude of volunteers who make this ministry possible.  We can do more together than we can do when we are divided.

Sometimes we take the bridges for granted.  I have never stopped to count how many bridges are necessary when I travel to and from St. Louis.  There are rivers, creeks, and ravines all around us that need to be bridged for a safe trip.  I think of Pastor Herman Garlichs of Femme Osage, who made the trip across the Missouri River by boat to found the church in which I now serve.  There was adversity and danger in crossing to the other side of the river to create there a community of faith.  We take so much for granted.

The author of Ephesians reminds us that Christ is our peace.  Christ is our bridge, who spans the hostility between Jews and Gentiles.  Christ is our bridge, who brings disparate peoples together as one and unites them in a common purpose.  Christ is the bridge that unites the races and religions of the world.  Christ is our bridge, who creates a new community where there is unity, peace, and justice for all.  How we need that bridge in these days!  

I heard a report yesterday that was startling.  The life expectancy rate in the United States has dropped because of suicides and drug overdoses.  William Dietz, a disease expert at George Washington University, diagnoses the underlying disease as hopelessness.  We must bridge the hopelessness and the fear and the hostility that lead to premature death.  Christ is our bridge to life.

Tomorrow, I will pray for those who will travel across the Missouri River bridge in this generation and those yet to come.  As I do that, I will be thinking, too, of other places that need to be spanned in our society.  It is high time for us to attend to the bridges that still need to be built to create a world where enmity and fear are overcome.  We need more bridges to bring peoples together for a good and prosperous life.  Will you join me in the construction project of a lifetime?  Let's build a bridge together.