Our teaching text tonight comes from Ephesians chapter 2 verses 11 through 22.

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision,

which is done in the body by human hands. Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ,

excluded from citizenship in Israel,

and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ,

for he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the

barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands

and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making

peace and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the

cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far

away and peace to those who are near, for through him we both have access to the Father by one's

spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers but fellow citizens with God's

people and also members of his household built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him, the whole building is joined together

and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him, you two are being built together

to become a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. This is the word of the Lord.

Every few years, a major crisis happens in the United States that radically shakes the way we interact

with one another.

We recently celebrated, we recently acknowledged, sorry, the memorial of 9-11.

This was a tragedy here in the city.

9-11 was an event where everybody asked the question, what does it mean to come together

...