Madeleine L’Engle has written,

“Sometimes the very walls of our churches separate us from God and each other. In our various naves and sanctuaries we are safely separated from those outside, from other denominations, other religions, separated from the poor, the ugly, the dying….The house of God is not a safe place. It is a cross where time and eternity meet, and where we are – or should be – challenged to live more vulnerably, more interdependently.”  (From: “A Stone for a Pillow”)

Are L’Engle’s words too harsh?

When have you found the church a “safe place” in the best sense of the word and when have you found it a hiding place?

What walls can you name that separate us from others as L’Engle describes?

How do we build those walls and how do we dismantle them?