A church without walls

There is something that the Lord has placed in my heart that I want to share with you and it is something that is very recent in my heart, it is something that I have been inspired -as they say, this weekend- to share this word. And believe me that it is not a message that is not spiritual, I think that this message is super spiritual, but perhaps I am not going to hear many "amens" or many "hallelujahs", but I do hope that each one of your minds, your hearts and their spirits leave here with a different conviction.

It is my hope that you can walk away today with a sense of being more open to what God is doing in your midst. As we have heard a lot in the last few months, this prophetic Word is being talked about that God wants to do something in our midst, that God is going to bring a new move here to the New England area. And whenever we hear that word we say “Amen”, right? Can we say amen to that? What do we want to see a move of God in our midst? A movement that covers children, that covers young people, that covers adults; but also a move that will undoubtedly cover the entire church with a capital "I" so to speak. The body of Christ wherever it gathers on the face of the Earth.

This weekend here in the city of Boston there was a conference called "Ethnical American Summit" that was taking place here in Boston. And this conference is a conference where different multicultural ministries from all over the nation came together here in Boston. There were different people who were speaking, who were sharing their experiences, their perspectives on what it means to have a multicultural ministry in their places of ministry.

And I participated in this conference on Friday. I know that there were different people from here from the Church who were also there. I know that my sister Patricia, my sister Damaris were well involved in the combination of this event. I know that our brother Eldie Villafañe was also there. But there was something that I took away from that conference that I feel a responsibility before God to be able to share with you as my Church as well.

I believe that it is a tangible revelation of what God is doing in our midst. There are times when we speak of revelation that you have been sleeping and had a dream and saw this vision like this. But what I am going to share with you was a literally tangible vision, live and in full color. Something that could be touched, something that could be experienced. And this conference was based on the text found in Zechariah Chapter 2. Did I say God? [Laughs] Well, that chapter is new. Well all the chapters have God there in the heart. Zechariah Chapter 2, sorry. I don't know if you have met Zacarías Piedras del Río but that is not the Zacarías I am talking about here now.

OK. They didn't get the joke, did they? "You would take stones out of the river" Ah! Now! [Laughter] Book of Zechariah in the Old Testament in Chapter 2. I'm going to start reading at verse 1, I'm going to read the first 5 verses, nothing else. It says: “So I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man had a measuring line in his hand. And I said to him 'Where are you going?' and he answered me 'I am going to measure Jerusalem to see how wide it is and how long it is. And behold, the angel who was talking to me came out and another angel met him and that other angel said to him “Run, speak to this young man and tell him that Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls or without walls Jerusalem will be inhabited because of the crowds of men and cattle in the midst of it."

"I will be for her, says the Lord, a wall of fire around her, and for glory I will be in the midst of her." If I were to paraphrase this verse, what this verse is saying is that Jerusalem is going to be a city without walls, without walls. That God is going to be protecting this city as if it were a wall of fire around it and that the Glory of God would be living right in the middle of that city. Three very important points here in this passage. Now let me put you in context of why I want to share this with you today.

On Friday I had the opportunity to share a workshop at this multi-ethnic Ministries conference where they asked me to talk about my pastoral perspective and our experience as a León de Judá Congregation in what our challenges have been in trying to build a Ministry. multicultural and how from a pastoral perspective we have managed to deal with those challenges in some way or another. For me that was a challenge. I said to myself “Wow! I think that Pastor Greg can speak better than me or perhaps Pastor Roberto Miranda”. But obviously Pastor Miranda is in Puerto Rico and Pastor Greg had a conference that same day as well. So I said to myself, “Well, I'm going to get the fleece. So let's prepare for that."

The thing is that when I got to my room and they told me that maybe I was going to have a group of about 15 people. Well, I prepare for a group of 15 people and when I see that the room starts to fill up and I end up with 35 people in my room. And I begin to notice the people that I have in the room. I have an Anglican Pastor who comes from Castleberry, what is that city called over there in Amsterdam if I'm not mistaken? It comes from there but it is located here in New England. I had another Pastor who came from India also to be at that conference, I had a young couple – maybe they were in their mid-twenties – who came from Hawaii. He had like our dear Pastor Greg, he had two confused gringos there too. Well, two gringos and two confused gringos who were there who understood Spanish very well and spoke it very well.

One of them was from San Francisco, California; another came from Arizona and there was also an original Pastor from Mexico who is ministering in Texas now. So, there was, of course, there were about four African-American people in the room. So, look at the amalgamation of people that I had in the middle of this room. And of course I am a Puerto Rican in the midst of all of them. When I find myself in front of all these people, I said to myself "Lord help me". Because I know that the topic I have to talk about is very difficult and I am facing people who have totally different experiences and perspectives than the ones I bring to the table. So I only ask you to put me in grace to be able to communicate what I have to talk about.

Look my brothers, when I started talking... I always like interaction and thank God, from the beginning people began to interact. But there was a moment when I knew there was a comment that I was going to say that at some point or another I was going to open a Pandora's box and that's how it happened. Because I was talking at one point about the relationships that often exist between Hispanics and Afro-Americans that at times we believe that we have many things in common and we do. But they are things in common that are experienced with totally different stories.

For example, the comment I was talking about had to do with the time of slavery. And when I brought this comment out to the African-American people who were there, I know I hit a nerve with them. And even though these people reacted and kind of raised their hands and made a comment and I was like, “Wow! Let me see how I fix this now." But eventually these people came up to me and we started to dig a little deeper into the comment that I had made. They understood that I did not do it with any intent to offend but if what happened was something that I understand was miraculous. Because in that conversation an understanding was carried out that if I had not said that comment, we would never have been able to understand each other.

And perhaps you are saying to yourself, 'But Pastor Omar, what did you say?' Obviously I am not going to go into details but in a nutshell what I said was: “There are times that I – because I was talking I can sense that when we try to do combined ministry efforts with these two particular groups there are times when our histories get in the way of us being able to do effective and productive ministry. Because we are always with that prejudice: 'Okay, if I get involved with you, what am I going to get out of it?' 'What am I going to get out of this?'

And it's like it comes from a prejudice already of the types of history that we have. But it wasn't until I spoke with these people that they began to tell me: "Look, you have to understand that this is a story that is very close to our hearts, which is very close to our experience." I understood it that way too. But at the same time they gave me permission to say that if we want to achieve a type of ministry that is productive, fruitful and in accordance with what God wants and what God intends, we have to learn to look beyond those stories. no matter how painful they may be. To truly make connections between our groups, for us to truly define that our ethnicity is measured by the values of the Kingdom of God and not just by the cultural groups we come from.

For us to be able to recognize that our nationality is in Heaven and not just here on Earth, although it is a very real nationality. But if we belong to the Kingdom of God and want to see the Kingdom of God established here on Earth, then we have to think with that mentality. Because if I keep judging things with what I have in front of me, the scope that I can do will be very limited. Because there will always be a prejudice through which I will be looking at these types of experiences. And that is not what God intends and I have left this conference well convinced of that. I was convinced before but now even more.

Look at some points that I want to share with you. When I read that text that says "Jerusalem is going to be a city without walls, that God is going to be around it like a wall of fire and that his own glory is going to be living in our midst..." look at some of the points that I managed to get out of this entire conference and from reading or interpreting this text. This text, believe me this weekend has been evaluated in many ways, theologians have talked about this text, pastors have talked about this text, lay leaders have talked about this text; so I just want to share with you today the portion that I got: one of your pastors sharing this with you.

But the first point I took from Doctor Al Padilla when in his presentation on Friday morning he was saying that being part of a city without walls- and for this record, we are going to make a change here- being part of a church without walls. I'm going to say it like this. Being part of a church without walls means or implies a new learning that all of us have to face. A new learning to which all of us have to submit in some way or another. Why a new apprenticeship? Imagine if you live in a fortified city that has walls around it and within those walls there is a system of government. A social system through which everyone is governed and everyone is used to living that way, those walls provide a sense of protection, they provide a sense of security. Everyone is comfortable with their own little corner and everyone lives that way.

Now if we remove those walls, things are totally different. Because what is understood to be the sense of protection, what was safe is no longer and we have to start dealing with the fact that we are a totally open community, that anyone can get to where we are. If I give you a biblical example, the prophet Isaiah spoke about this at one point. Isaiah in chapter 54 verses from 14 onwards. Look at some words that he says inspired by God. He says “With justice –speaking of Jerusalem- you will be adorned and you will be far from oppression because you will not fear and far from fear because they will not come near you.

If anyone conspires against you, they will do it without me. And whoever conspires against you in front of you will fall. No weapon formed against you will prosper and you will condemn every tongue that rises up against you in judgment. This is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and their salvation will come from me,” said the Lord. Here God is talking about that dynamic of Him being that wall of fire that protects the city. That He is the one who protects from any influence that tries to come from outside to destroy what is happening inside. Now if I read later in chapter 60 verse 1. Look at this, how interesting.

It says: "Rise and shine because your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you because behold, darkness will cover the Earth and darkness the nations, but the Lord will dawn upon you and His glory will be seen over you." Verse 3, here's the key. “And nations will walk in Your light and kings in the splendor of Your birth. Lift your eyes around and see. All of these have come together and come to you. Your sons will come from afar and your daughters will be carried in arms”. Obviously Isaiah is talking about a time of exile where he is saying that all the people of Jerusalem are going to be gathered once more but at the same time when he talks about nations and kings coming to this new light that has dawned on Israel, he is speaking precisely of that new plan that God is establishing with this nation.

That it will be a nation where other nations will come to explore, to enjoy, to learn from what is happening in the midst of that nation. Now, when we see this in the light of the Church, when we see this in the light of what God is wanting to do here in the middle of New England, it has many implications my brothers. Because that means that when we pray and ask that God bring revival here in this place, that God bring revival in this meeting or in this region and we say “Amen” to that, right? Whenever we hear that word it's like “Yes, amen! Let revival come!" and everything goes to party when we say that. But it is very important to understand, my brothers, that God's revival does not come to a local church only. What God wants to do is not just with a local church. What God wants to do is with a bigger body. What God intends encompasses much more than the Lion of Judah is.

León de Judá is only a thousandth part of what God wants to do in an even greater region. And that has big implications for us as a church. Because that implies that in order for us to be part of that larger plan, we first have to understand how that idea of being a church without walls is applied. From being a church whose system is open to total revolution and renewal from God for us to learn what it means to live within that system. And this is something very difficult because it comes natural to none of us to adjust to those changes. It comes naturally to none of us to expose ourselves to people we don't know. People of different skin color, people with a different accent in their voice, people who smell like gardenia and people who smell like garbage.

It is very difficult for us to adjust to all these dynamics. However, if we are a church without walls, we are going to be exposed to that. Somehow or another, people are going to come here to this place that God is going to bring them, my brothers, I have to say it that way, God is going to bring them. In some way or another those people are going to start arriving here and we as a church have to be ready and prepared to know how to deal with these new multitudes that will arrive here.

Look, I give you an example. This is just out of the oven. How do you want the bread? Do you want it French, do you want it Italian? What flavor do you want? Check this out. I throw them and you put butter or jelly as you want. Look at this, I share this, my brothers not because I want to kick them out, but I share this because I believe it was an immediate response from God to what I preached this morning. When I get off the altar I go upstairs and I start to eat my banana or my banana, as best you understand. I go there and suddenly this sister comes running to my office: “Pastor, we have a boy down there who needs help, who needs to take a taxi and he has no money. Let's see if you can come down and help him." And I “Wow! Okay” and when I go down with her like this, she tells me: “It seems that the boy was hit, someone hit him, the boy doesn't look very well”. And I imagined maybe he had a tajito or something, the boy.

So when I get here to the stairs I find a boy whose eye was totally black out, a cut here on the forehead, blood from his nose, blood from his ear, and he only had a blue plastic hospital gown. And he was sitting there. When I approached him and touched him, the boy was freaking out because he was crazy out there trying to get a bus and the bus wouldn't let him in. He was trying to get a taxi but nobody was helping him to get a taxi. And this girl from the church saw him out there kind of disoriented and that's what she did: "Let me bring him to the church to see if someone can help him." And who is the first that the girl found? Pastor Omar.

Here then, look, this was very curious to me, the girl tells me "Pastor, I'll leave you there then so you can practice what you preached today." [Laughter and applause]. Isn't it Fabio? Look how interesting this is, my brothers, I believe that God has a sense of humor and so do people. I love my people, definitely. [laughs]. The thing is, I was talking to Bruce then and I was like, “Bruce, do you have the money to help this guy? Let's see if we make a saw between you and me”. I had about eight dollars and Bruce gave me a 20 and I gave him the 8 and I took the 20 and I go down there to talk to the boy [Laughter].

When we are there when I get closer, I don't know, there was something that pricked my heart. I start talking to this boy, I ask him his name is called César, so pray for César. I'm there talking to him and I start asking him “César, what happened to you?” And he explained to me that last night after he left work he went out with some friends to have a couple of beers and when a bargain came out he fell on him and they beat him up and left him lying in the street and after that he didn't remember what else happened . So, he was here trying to catch a taxi because he was really tired, really sore and he wanted to get home. I told him "Okay, let's see, how do I get a taxi?" I look for a number and start talking and all of a sudden he put me on Fabio and I say “Fabio, help me see if we can get someone who lives in East Boston who can take him there”.

So in the meantime, I take the boy and bring him here to the anteroom and I keep talking to him, I keep talking to him and I realize that the boy was shivering from the cold. Obviously, imagine a hospital shirt, like this made of thin plastic. And I suddenly go “Wow! Lord, what can I do with this boy now?" And I had, the ones you remember this morning, I had a green sweater over this shirt, and it's one of my most favorite sweaters. It was, it was one of my favorite sweaters. I have to stress that. Was. [laughs]. Someone is enjoying it now. But, my brothers, it was that for real. I honestly, I am going to make this confession. From the first time I saw the boy, this crossed my mind: "Pass him your sweater" and I "No." Do you know why I said no? Because that had already happened to me here in this church before when I started.

In my first year here at the church I remember my wife giving me a pretty cool rain jacket. Sporty as I like. And I remember that there was a day when the second service ended and a person arrived, a person from outside the street and I know he was drunk and he started to get kind of violent. And the guy came up to me and looked at my jacket and said, "Hey, I like that jacket." And I "Oh! Do you like it? Take". I took it off and gave it to him and later regretted it. [laughs]. About three days later I see the boy out there on the street walking with my jacket covering himself. And I "Lord, look, Lord, that I enjoy it."

But the thing was that when I met César here the same thing happened to me, my brothers. And I want you to understand what I'm saying because I felt uncomfortable. There was a part of me that felt uncomfortable. I knew that it was God who was worrying me about being able to do that with a person who needed it. And he was saying "Either I give him the sweater or I give him the jacket, which of the two is going to work better for him?" Look, ask Fabio. Fabio was with me. "Look, take the jacket." We put it on, we help him because he could barely move his hands, we dress them, we bring him a bucket. As my brother Solomon arrived then, look how the body of Christ works, he offered to take it there. He took him there, to East Boston. [Applause]. But look how it works. Look how this message works that I am communicating right now with each one of us my brothers.

That the things that God wants to do, is not necessarily a spiritual revival of “Ah! It feels so good! And the hairs shuffle and one speaks with tongues over there, and the other prophesies over there, and one is healed over here and suddenly a miracle is heard over there. Amen. Glory to God for this to happen." But the supernatural things that God also wants to do is precisely what happened this morning. That people arrive in pain, that people damaged by society arrive. People who have suffered injustices from society and who come here and who can find some kind of refuge and find a man or a woman who is willing to take off their shirt and give it to them or who is willing to miss part of the service for taking the boy back to East Boston and back again. That is what it is about what God wants to do in our midst. Now I'm talking about the Hispanic context nothing more. But what God wants to do transcends cultures. It transcends ethnic groups.

And this is where I also understand that many times it gets difficult for us. When we talk about revival, God wants to revive his church. God wants to revive Hispanics, God wants to revive African-Americans, God wants to revive Asians, Brazilians, and Spaniards. God wants to revive all the nations and cultures represented around the entire world. And for that we as a church have to be prepared. Because that is not going to come to us, like that, too easy. You know what? These injustices is one of the prejudices that we also have to overcome. Because many times, although we are talking about minority groups, we ourselves have had gatherings or mishaps with those same Hispanic groups. Particularly in the younger community. There are times, Hispanic youth who are in fights with African-American youth or Asian youth who are also in fights with African-American youth.

And many times in order to try to build those bridges, it is necessary to heal the wounds that the injustices have caused throughout each and every one of those groups. And that is not easy, my brothers. When we talk about new learning, it means just that. As it happened to me in that workshop on Friday. That we can have difficult conversations with those who perhaps have hurt us or perhaps we have hurt and be able to try to clarify those misunderstandings so that we can then identify ourselves as an ethnic group, with the same meaning, with the same value, which is the value of the Kingdom. of God.

It is possible to get there but it is going to require sacrifice from both parties or all parties. Because if this is not something that is in the communal vision of us as a body, of us as a church, then we are not going to be able to get very far. Check this out. This is another point that I want to tell you. Part of living as a church that has no walls and the glory of God living in the midst of it, we then have to depend even more than ever on that nutrition, on that nutrition that we receive from the power of God. If that glory of God is living in us, that same glory of God is what teaches us to know how to live with each other within these four walls. And look, that is also necessary.

Because if we want to seek unity with other ethnic and cultural groups we have to learn what unity is within ourselves as a church. And that is something that is well-intentioned my brothers. It is useless for us to spend effort and energy seeking unity with other groups, with other churches if we here as a church do not learn what it means to live in unity. And perhaps you say “But Pastor that happens here in the church. Look". Yes it happens in the church, yes it happens in the church. But if they are a ministry fighting with another, who do they give more attention to than who? Or if a new person arrives and you start to defend your territory when it really isn't your territory. But it's like “Wow! Watch out, wait, this person is going to take my job now. Watch out now, then.” And you kind of start acting like that defensively.

Or if the one who didn't greet me and believes that it is a church of much love and peace and… Hey! Not even Walter Mercado does that. But look my brothers, it is very important that we understand that this spirit of unity has to be very active and very genuine in us first of all so that we can nurture that same movement with other groups around us. Let me continue to put another thing here in context. Another of the people who spoke this Friday was Pastor Bishop William Thompson who is the Senior Pastor of Jubile Church. How many of you know the Jubile church here? Do you know her right? A predominantly African American church but it is a multicultural church as well.

The point is that while he was talking precisely about this passage from Zechariah, one of the things he got out of there is that for us to be a city without walls, governed and protected by the Lord and where the glory of the Lord is manifested in Through it we have to learn how to share common needs that a group have with the other. I explain myself and I'm going to do it biblically. Do they remember each other? Since we have been preaching from the Book of Acts. In the Book of Acts, chapter 2. One of the things mentioned in verse 44 says: "And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common." That is key: 'they had all things in common'.

"They sold their properties and goods and distributed them to all according to the need that each one had." A little later. Chapter 4, verse 32. It says: “And the multitude of those who had believed were of one heart and of one soul. And none of them claimed anything of what they owned, except that they had all things in common. Once again, you are emphasizing the fact that everyone had all things in common. When I am listening to Pastor Thompson speak and he says that we as churches have to learn how to meet our needs. Those needs that are in common with each other. He mentioned a few. And the first one that he mentioned is how we as a church can help reduce what youth violence is on our streets. The streets of our neighborhoods.

That many times we limit ourselves to praying and praying and praying here inside the church but we do very little when we go out there and try to get more involved with the community to find a way to reduce those cases of violence that occur between our youth and our Hispanic youth with youth from other cultural groups, as well. Another point that he also mentioned is how together we can work on the mere fact of being able to impact the political systems of this nation so that there can be laws that are much more just, that can reach an immigrant population that continues to grow, grow and grow in middle of this nation.

Minority immigrants who are divided into different cultural groups. Now that does not imply that when we get involved with other churches, with other groups and ministries, that does not imply or mean that we stop being the type of church that we are. That we, then, neglect the Hispanic group only to serve other groups. No no no! I understand that God's purpose is for us to be a Hispanic church and that we can attend to the needs of our Hispanic community. But I also understand that God is moving us to do a little more than that and we can recognize that we are part of a larger group that is out there. And it's not just any group. We are talking about what the church is. And God wants us to work with those other parts of the body of Christ, too.

That they may be of a different color, that they may have a different tone of voice than yours, that perhaps one is taller, another is shorter. But you know what? We have that here right now so we've had a good practice in being able to connect with those other groups. I understand, my brothers, and I am totally convinced of this: that today more than ever God is calling the church. So that we can learn to tighten our ties even more. I was saying this morning, I was sharing with the group this morning, where I live in Randolph on my street. It is very interesting because in front of me I have a policeman from the city of Hamilton who is Anglo, he is totally white. He likes to go hunting, obviously he's a policeman. Every so often he tells me "I'm going to go to my cabin in Maine and I'm going to climb a tree to wait for a deer to pass by."

He tells me that he spends hours climbing that tree waiting for a deer to pass and sometimes none does. That is my neighbor who is right in front of me. A little further on I have an Afro-American family that I also have there, next to me I have a Colombian family that we have established very good ties with them. We love you very much. There it goes for the Colombians. So behind me I have a Puerto Rican family. Alla de Mallagüé, of the jibaros of Mallagüé and in the summer the truth is interesting because they turn on the radio, they welcome him with salsa and I have salsa there for free. And there are times when I tell myself, it's not that I don't like salsa but you know "listen to your music there and I listen to mine here, short, here... each one" but those are my neighbors in the back.

On the other side, I have an Asian family that I think are Korean and I don't know but when the United States was celebrating the 4th of July, Independence Day, three weeks later they started celebrating the independence of Korea. And suddenly at 9 at night I hear fireworks going off and I “Damn, the world is over. Christ came and I stayed”. And when I go out and look in the back I had this family of Asians that literally had like 100 people in that patio back there. And they were shooting off fireworks and there was a little dragon running around, and so many things. And all I could say was "Lord, don't let Lucas get up, please."

And a little further down as well, I have a family of Jamaicans that when they get into having parties, they throw the party with all the turkeys. They even rent a Moon Walking and put it there and that's music with loudspeakers, it's not a radio, it's music with loudspeakers. So that's a description of my neighborhood. Do you know what once crossed my mind? How interesting it would be to ask the city of Randolph for a permit to close the street and have a barbecue among all those people. [Applause] It sounds really romantic, I know that sounds really romantic but you know how hard it would be to be able to do that? It would be something beautiful and beautiful, but do you know what it is like for everyone to contribute something to the plate, to the barbecue? That the Jamaicans bring something, that the African Americans bring something, the Puerto Ricans bring something, the Colombians, the Americans that bring a piece of deer and put it on the barbecue.

It would be something very interesting, my brothers. But look, I am saying all this because again, my brothers, I see more and more that we want to receive this move of God in the middle of this region. If we truly want to see the hand of God at work we have to learn not only how to live ourselves as a local church but learn how to live as a local church in relation to other churches. I think Martin Luther King was the one who said – I'm not going to say 'I have a dream' now, I'm not going to say that – but who knows I also have a dream. But Martin Luther King in one of his speeches, he once said that Sunday morning at 11 am is the time when the body of Christ is most segregated. Look at that. That hurts, my brothers, that hurts. I hear a phrase like that and it pricks my heart so to speak.

Because if the body of Christ truly wants to be unified, it has to do just that. The word segregation cannot fit into the vocabulary of the body of Christ. And again I come back and say: although each cultural group has the call to minister to its particular group, I believe that God calls each cultural group here in the midst of this nation to that because it also functions as a refuge for us, too. that we are here Our shared experiences, we can be ministered within this body. But at the same time the vision and the plan that God has surpasses all those things. For us to be able to learn to work with other parts of the body. We have preached it here, First Corinthians 12, when we are talking about how neither part of the body can say to the other “I don't need you” or “you are not part of the body”. No! We are all part of the body. No matter how big or small it is.

No matter how important or insignificant its function is, it is all part of the body and we need each other. It is the same with the church, the body of Christ here in the Massachusetts region, in New England, and also around the nation and even around the world. And those other parts of the body of Christ, my brothers, have colors and smells and flavors that perhaps we are not going to like. But I know that God calls us to be able to work, interact with those colors, with those flavors and with those smells.

If we truly want to see God move in our midst, we have to open our horizons to those dimensions as well. By being able to recognize the gifts that God has in Jubile and that we are no more than them, by being able to recognize the gifts that are in the Boston Chinese Evangelical Church, Boston Chinese Evangelical Church, that I can see the gifts and talents that God has placed in them and how those gifts and talents complement each other to bring that move of God in our midst and that then together we can move in whatever God wants to do in the midst of this region. I don't know about you but I say a big "Amen" to that.

Let me close with this, my brothers, I am going to close with this: I believe that the most beautiful and most beautiful part of all this, although there is a part that is very difficult, of course, the mere fact of having to deal with that discomfort of the moment, of the process; but that discomfort brings hope and hope is never ashamed, as the word of God says. And what this hope makes me understand is that as we learn to do that, we learn to live with other cultural groups, with other churches, we learn to rub shoulders with them, we learn to adore. with them. I'm not saying worship like them, I'm saying learn to worship with them. Because it doesn't mean that now my Hispanic brothers start acting like African-Americans or that African-Americans start acting like Koreans.

I am not saying that. What I am saying is that we learn to recognize who we are but at the same time see that what God wants for us surpasses each of those things. And we learn to live that, you know what? It gives us a glimpse of what we are going to experience in Heaven. Do you remember the Word of Revelation book 7 verse 9? I'm going to close here. It says: “After this I looked and behold, a great multitude which no one could count from all the nations and tribes and peoples and languages that stood before the Throne and in the presence of the Lamb dressed in white robes and with palms in their hands cried out. with a loud voice saying: 'salvation belongs to our God who is sitting on the Throne and the lamb'.

How beautiful and precious that moment in Heaven will be when all of us find ourselves together with that crowd cheering, blessing and adoring that King of kings and Lord of Lords! How cute it will be, right?! But why wait for Heaven when we can do it here. Why don't we bring a little song from Heaven and make it present here with us? I will close with this: I have a dream, so to speak. I still have. But a few months ago, we Pastors here went to participate in a Pastors Prayer Summit, a call for prayer that takes place every year from different pastors from here in the region. Anglo, African American, Hispanic, Asian, young and old pastors. There were, I don't know, about 80 almost 100 people who arrived there more or less.

There was that group and the thing is that I am sitting there and I begin to pay attention to the sentences that they are saying. And they begin to pray very intensely saying “Lord bring revival to the New England region, bring revival to our churches, bring revival to our young people, to our elderly. Oh! May our elders have dreams and our youth visions." But the thing is that in the middle of all these prayers I am sitting like this in the back and I receive this impression, this word that tells me "Look what my Father is asking for, I want to give it, but they are not ready to receive it." . Because they're not together." Once a year they take time to come meet and pray, but after that each one goes their own way again.

How can I bring what I really want to do if that cohesion is not yet there, that fusion of all those energies in a very genuine and constant way that can be maintained? That it is not something for a mere event of one day nothing more and then the rest of the year each one for their corners. And while I was kind of reflecting on that word, suddenly something else like that came to my mind that told me: Imagine a day – and I share this with you – Imagine a day where all the temples are empty but the church is full. did you understand? A day where all the temples, buildings, are empty but the church is full, gathered, unanimous in one place. Listen, I don't know about you, but that's like reliving that moment when Martin Luther King managed to gather all those people from all those places with that same speech saying "I have a dream."

Where all men and women, regardless of their skin color or cultural background, can be considered as one. I began to think, Lord, the Kiddy Garden can't stand me, it can't stand that church. The Gillette Stadium What capacity does it have? 60-odd thousand people, you can't hold that church. The Boston Common, maybe. But they are going to have to close a couple of streets to be able to put up with the Church. I don't know about you my brothers, but I desire and long to see that day when God truly pours out all his power because his church is truly united, prepared to receive what He has.

That moment is coming. I am sure that moment is closer now than ever. But we have to raise awareness in a much more intentional and much deeper way to truly be able to see through those life paradigms that have often separated us from each other for too long. And ask God to give us the grace to know how to heal the wounds of the injustices that have been caused throughout all these groups and to be able to minister with the peace that only God gives. That we do not look at each other according to the life stories that we have had, but that we see each one of us in the light of the story that God is making with each one of us.

That story carries far more weight than any other. And it is clear that I am not detracting from the individual stories of each one, but the story of God is given above each one of them. I encourage you, I exhort you that when you leave here, perhaps you do not leave today with your hair messy or you do not leave here hopping on one leg, but I want you to leave here with a sense of conviction. That when you leave here, pray asking the Lord: “Lord, teach us how to be the type of church that You want us to be. Teach me how I can intentionally connect better with my neighbor as You ask. It doesn't matter the color of your skin, or the music you listen to or the food you eat. But that I can find a way to connect with them in a more intentional and direct way.

Help me Lord so that when someone like this appears in front of me who is in need, who is hurt, who is literally bleeding, help me not to throw my hand back. But to be able to give and contribute to that need. Help us to be that type of church that when You move us to make joint efforts with other churches with other groups, see that we are not left behind like 'Ah! But that's a lot. No, there is a lot of traffic, there will be no parking. Look over those things and see the possibilities of what God can do. I believe it my brothers, that God is on the verge of doing something great but we have to put our batteries together. Not just getting our act together on a personal level, about how we can respond to God's call in our lives, that we kind of have to adjust. There has to be an internal learning of how God's values and principles are cemented in us.

But there also has to be a transfer of each of those things to our exterior and how God calls us to connect with those other people that we have around us. May God enlighten us, my brothers, to know how to have difficult conversations with others. Even with the same homosexual community, because this is at the heart of it. That there are times that we treat them like, Oh out with those people! But look, may God help us to have the grace and wisdom to know how to sit at a table and not necessarily back down from our principles, but rather to know how Jesus sat down with a plunder, who let a prostitute wash his clothes. feet with tears and dried them with her hair and he was still Jesus.

May He teach us how to do that. That we can sit with others who are different, who think differently from us. Not lowering ourselves from the principles and values that dominate us. Those values of the Kingdom of God but learning to share a meal with them. Learning how to have a conversation, learning that the most likely thing is that there has to be a moment where I have to be silent in order to listen to the other's story, the other's perspective and also asking God for the grace where that other side will go. having to shut up and be able to listen to my perspective and my story. So that at the end of all things, my brothers, we can live in the light of the story that God is making with each one of us.

We are going to stand up and we are going to pray. Oh Lord Jesus we give you glory and honor only to you Father! I thank you for your word, I thank you for what you are doing in the middle of this region, Lord. I thank you for this church, León de Judá Congregation, for such beautiful and beautiful things. What you have done, what you are doing and what you will continue to do in our midst. But at the same time, Lord, now together with each one of my brothers and sisters, we beg you, Jesus, that you teach us to be that church without walls. Teach us to be that church where You are the one who protects us like a wall of fire around us.

Help us to be that church where Your glory is so active and tangible in our midst that we can then connect with those other people around us who will come to this light. That they will come to experience this glory Jesus. It is not a glory that You have limited for us only, but it is a glory that You want to invest on Your church, Your body, Lord. Over this city, over this state, over this region, over this nation, and even around the entire world where that same body is gathered, Lord.

Father, it fills me with great joy to be able to know that at the same time that we are praying there are other people, there are other churches in other parts of the world that are praying for the same thing, Lord. Right at this very moment, Lord. That they are praying for us in Australia, that they are praying for us in Italy, that they are praying for us in South Africa or in India, or in Korea and likewise we are praying for each one of those parts of the body there in those other places. Stop teach us, open our eyes, help us to become aware of how you want us to live. That if we can foster unity among ourselves even more and that You open our eyes to see the moments that we are being unfair to each other.

To be able to forgive each other, my God, and to be able to embrace each other so that we can continue working together in the call that you have for us as a church. As a local church and at the same time, help us, Lord, give us the discernment to also know how to heal those injustices that have occurred with other cultural groups, with other minority groups to know then how to see ourselves in the light of the values of your Kingdom, Mister. That we can measure our history with the history that You are making in our midst, Lord. O Father! We want to see your glory manifest here in this region, Lord. May your glory manifest in all areas, Lord, of our lives, of our families, of us as a church. Teach us Jesus to respond to your call. To be a city, to be a nation, to be a body without walls covered, protected and anointed by You, Lord.

We bless our sister churches here in this community, here in this city, Lord. Whatever color they are, whatever background they are, and we ask that your grace and power be manifested in each of them as well. Teach us to live together in harmony as You intend for this time, Lord. In your name Jesus we pray and we bless you and we give all the glory and all the honor only to you, Lord. Amen and amen.