Ephesians 2.11-22 from left-field

This is from my weekly bulletin comment

A friend sent me a postcard from Germany in 1989 of an unbelievable sight...
the hated wall of Berlin being sat upon by a jubilant group of people from all over the world; and another photo showing the wall being vigorously demolished by a young man with a huge sledgehammer. It marked the beginning of the end for a reality that been a part of my, then, 42 years on this planet - a divided Germany, symbolising a divided Europe; further symbolising a divided generation. “The Iron Curtain”, the “bamboo curtain”, the Berlin Wall, the generation gap.
Some walls remain and divide us, even define us because it’s easier to say what we don’t believe or what we’re against than to take the risk of saying what or who we’re for. We gather behind them, or even in front of them shouting “hurray for our side!”
Even in the church we do it - you might be liberal and I KNOW that I’m orthodox, or one might be charismatic and another traditional, or one is for Calvinism and another is for “free will”. In actually making the walls and describing, proscribing the differences we imply right and wrong around choices and preferences. What we joke about or ridicule we are implying to be without the same value that we experience for our own opinion or pressure group. We need to look again at the Cross where all barriers were demolished by the Prince of Peace and all the interesting disparity of humanity is brought together as the image of God in the Temple of God...the body of Christ in the midst of the the dying world.

yay for our side! errr...

Left a little staggered and, I admit it, somewhat grieved, by the bloodthirsty embrace of the news that an old and nasty enemy has been slaughtered. How does this work? It's not okay to be violent towards your kids, or your aged parents, or opposing political parties (no matter how much a good thrashing seems like a good idea) and yet it's okay to torture and destroy like a rabid dog those who have terrorised us (albeit from a sincere held view that this is a noble religious deed). Tonight on the news it looked like a summary execution in the so-called field of battle and seemed to be justified as such. Shame on us for enjoying it! Shame on us for finding a way to justify any kind of killing! Shame on us who enjoy the benefits of the once-for-all violent death of our Saving God for seeking the destruction of another life to satisfy our angry blood-lust!
How far have we really come? Are we all that civilised after all? Are we any better than the regal savages of England's crown who once used the beautiful Tower as a symbol of horrific consequences for any boat rocker? I remember as a teenager being disgusted at the horrendous torture visited upon the victims of Nazi Germany's race-hatred and more recently the unrestrained injustices visited upon the suffering believers of China; we universally deplored such behaviour, and perhaps naively imagined our side would never do such a thing.
Are we now proven to be poor deluded saps for believing that a nation supposedly carrying the banner for Christian faith should find in it's corrupted, vengeful heart reason why they can flout all that is civil and peace-loving and grace-displaying.
Come Lord Jesus - awaken salutary shame and humble repentance in our hearts that would so readily return to war to assert the fitness of our ways and our culture.