Tear This Wall Down?

White House Photo, Public domain

  "Tear down this wall," President Ronald Reagan famously challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev with reference to the Berlin Wall.  Later the wall, indeed, did come down. But while that physical wall being torn down was a good thing, Paul warns us not to tear down the spiritual walls that we are as the church of Christ.  
  In the successor to the farming analogy that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 3, he compares disciples of Jesus to a building with Christ as the foundation (vv. 10-17).  We are the building blocks forming the walls standing on the foundation of Jesus Christ.  As such, we are the temple and no one should tear us down.
  Paul wasn't speaking of outsiders tearing down the church when he wrote these words.  He was speaking of the fellow members who were tearing each other down with their words, berating and accusing one another.  We should not trash each other.  Yet often that is what we church members do with our gossip, babble and criticism.
  Let us rather, as St. Paul so often exhorts us, build one another up, encourage one another, and pray for our leaders.
  For Reflection:  How have I spoken of others/the pastor in my church?  How have I encouraged them?
  Let us pray.  Jesus, help me to repair the reputations of those I have trashed.  And help me to hold my tongue when a thought is better left unsaid.  I want to pray for the people I know rather than criticize them.

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