Walls can offer support and protection, but the kind of walls this issue of the Journal addresses are those that faith seeks to knock down. Walls of racial and religious hatred. Poverty. Tragedy. The emphasis here isn't on the horror of the walls, but on the power that brings them down — sometimes almost imperceptibly, day by day, century by century.
Last November, the editor and publisher of Christian Century, John M. Buchanan, wrote movingly about a wall that faith comes up against regularly. He spoke about his struggle over many years with the "theological puzzle" of" 'special providence' — that is, God's miraculous intercession in human affairs in response to prayer." He described a scene many people of faith can relate to — one in which a pastor, in obedience to Jesus' urging "Ask, and it shall be given you," Matt, 7:7. prays for a terminally ill child. Mr. Buchanan wrote, "And so we pray for healing and wholeness, covering ourselves theologically with the phrase, 'if it be your will,' as if the healing of a little girl could possibly not be God's will." Christian Century, November 22-29, 2000 .
Jesus proved that God's will to save was invariable.
