January 25, 2021
Sharing from the congregation – David Petty
And I said to him, “Run, say to that young man: Jerusalem shall be inhabited like villages without walls because of the multitude of people that inhabit it. For I will be a wall of fire around it, says the Lord, and I will be the glory within it. — Zechariah 2:4-5
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
Among all the headlines about politics, the pandemic, wars or rumors of wars, and celebrity scandals, one subject that keeps bobbing up like a cork is Wall Street. Wall Street, of course is a term used to symbolize the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and related institutions in the area around that street, that constitute the financial center of New York City and to some extent of the world. So I thought it would be interesting to think about the street itself.
Wall Street extends for eight blocks (less than half a mile) across the southern end of Manhattan island. Some historians believe it was named for the Walloons, an ethnic group from southern Holland that settled in the area. More likely, however, is that it was named for a wall that was initially constructed along what would become the street’s north side in the 1650’s, in an attempt to keep out hostile Indians as well as pirates and perhaps the British.
Human-built walls don’t always work. How well this wall worked is unclear; the marshy terrain of the island at that time would probably have made it easy to gain access to the city by another route. In any event, the British had already taken over the city before the wall was completed and the street was surveyed. Within a few decades a securities and exchange business, and unfortunately a slave market, were thriving on the street.
Walls have been built for all sorts of reasons over the centuries— think of the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, and even the wall under construction (as of this writing) along the U. S. border. Some walls are to keep out the elements (for example, sea walls), some to keep people out (the Great Wall) and some to keep people in (the Berlin Wall.) So it should not be surprising that the Bible uses the word to express different things. God is a wall that protects us, but Gods tears down walls as well.
In these times, as in Old Testament times, we often need the reassurance that God protects us, standing as straight and firm as a well-built wall. Perhaps if our fears center on a pandemic rather than a physical enemy, a wall may not be the symbol that first comes to mind. If our biggest enemies are our own sins — pride, greed, and so on — perhaps a wall is not the most obvious symbol. But the point is the same.
Yet there is a time, as Paul reminds us, for breaking down some walls. For walls can be bad as well as good. I think another passage in Isaiah, 60:18, resolves the contrast nicely: “Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders, you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.” It is salvation that protects us from all real harm, and that brings us together with all God’s people.
Gracefully submitted,
David Petty