[This is Week 2 of a 4-week preaching series on Ephesians.]

Week 2 (July 23, 2017)

Preaching text: Ephesians 2:11-22; accompanying text: Matthew 28:16-20

Think of the perennial hot spots around the globe, or the places of enduring tribal violence, or the generation-to-generation legacy of racial tension in the United States. Then read Ephesians 2:14, “He is our peace.” We often speak of Christ creating peace between humanity and God, but in this reading, the peace that Christ brings is between one group of human beings and another as much as it is related to humanity’s standing before God. Hostility between us is overcome (v. 14) and reconciliation with God is also made real (v. 16).

From people on the opposite side of culture wars, to that nemesis at work or the bully at school, most of us have an enemy who is not entirely an abstraction. Many of us may also be “the enemy” of someone else. As a way of making horizontal reconciliation vivid, we might try praying for enemies as part of the worship service where this ...