GOD’S INDESCRIBABLE GIFT

A meditation by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

November 27, 2002

Text: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)

First Reading: Psalm 65

Second Reading 2 Corinthians 9:6-1

Thomas Friedman, in his article in The Sun yesterday gave a vision of what would truly be God’s indescribable gift. He writes from “Observation Post Dora” in South Korea. The post is, of course, in the DMZ, which has been largely void of any human activity for the past 50 years. As a result the area is called the “green wall, because its forests and rivers have become one of the world’s richest nature preserves, full of deer, bald eagles and butterflies.” The South Koreans pay little attention to is, since they no longer consider North Korea a major military threat and have, instead, concentrated their attention on building industrial alliances with the rest of the world. Indeed, there is a major four lane highway that leads up to the green wall, just waiting for the North Koreans to come to their senses and realize that military conquest is not in their best interest, whereas trade with the world would enhance their impoverished nation.

Friedman than concentrates his attention on the Berlin Wall as an example of what a people can do when they get fed up with superimposed separation of family, heritage and common culture. The Berlin Wall was taken down by individuals on both sides of the wall and, today, what remains is nothing but a gray brick path snaking through a united Berlin. “Today, Berlin, rather than being defined by the wall, is defined by the free spirit of those who destroyed it—manifested in its new architecture, museums, and parks.”

Of course, all of this leads up to what is Friedman’s favorite topic of conversation and that is the Arab wall of hostility. He writes, “While the South Koreans have not let war or the DMZ define them, that is exactly what the Arabs and Palestinians have done for so long. They had a Gorbachev, Anwar Sadat, who tried to take down the wall of hostility with Israel when he declared: ‘No more war’—let’s go onto something else.’ But too many Arabs refused to embrace Mr. Sadat’s message…Today, Israeli-Palestinian relations have turned into a killing field—with no DMZ. Israelis are now trying to protect themselves by building a real wall of concrete—but a wall without a border, accepted by both sides, will never protect.” (The Sun, Nov. 26, 2002. Page 15A)

I mention Friedman’s article for two reasons: the first is that he provides us with three models of what reconciliation could look like and the second, many families who’ll gather together for Thanksgiving are still fractured because there has been no reconciliation. The first model is, of course, the Berlin Wall, where members from each side of the wall saw to it that it came down. Both sides agreed that it had kept them apart for far too long and they had suffered enough. Recently I did a funeral for a family that had recently reconciled and what a blessing it was, because the father could die peacefully knowing that what had kept them apart for so long was now no longer an issue. In this case it was siblings who hadn’t talked to one another for years. When they realized that the father was terminally ill they put their differences behind them and agreed to break down the walls of hostility that had kept them apart. It was as though the father waited for it to happen before he could let go.

The second model is South Korea’s “green wall.” Here the South Koreans have built the four-lane road in anticipation that one day it will continue into North Korea. You see this model at work with people who’ve done all they can to bring about reconciliation. Like the South Koreans they have gone on about their lives. They haven’t let the hostility consume them, but have chosen to work around it and occupy their time with more fruitful endeavors. In the meantime, they have made it possible once the other party finally comes around for there to be reconciliation.

The third model is the Arab-Israeli confrontation, which shows no signs of making any foreseeable progress. The other day I got a phone call from a person who wanted me to intervene with one of their relatives. When I asked why they couldn’t do it the person told me that he hadn’t talked to this relative in over twenty years and had no intention of doing so. They reason he wanted me to intervene was there was a legal matter that had to be reconciled and would I be willing to mediate on his behalf? People on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict have been willing to mediate, yet the principals have no intention of talking to one another.

So, with Thanksgiving upon us and Advent soon to begin it’s time we considered once again God’s indescribable gift in the birth of God’s son, Jesus the Christ. And what is it in our family, be it our nuclear family, our extended family, or our church family that keeps us from accepting this gift of God’s love? Could we remove whatever bricks there are by common agreement? Or, have we done all that is possible in building our own four-lane highway in anticipation? Or, have we tried all the mediation possible and still there’s silence on both sides? Whatever, it is, wouldn’t Thanksgiving Day be that much more blessed if we could look forward to celebrating God’s indescribable gift as the family God’s called us to be?

Thanks be to God,

Amen