This is a series of seven short written reflections on Reconciliation from May 2022.
The Community of Christ the Healer is committed to Reconciliation as one of the ways Jesus reveals Himself as our Saviour and Healer. “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the ministry of reconciliation” 2 Cor 5:19
Reconciliation brings Healing – Reflection 1/7
One of the most profound ailments of the soul, is alienation from someone we love or care about deeply – or from someone whose presence we need in our lives.
Parents, siblings and relatives spring to mind first – for these are relationships we are born into. Friends we have chosen are also powerful relationships for in the act of choosing, we reflect God’s choosing us. A husband or wife, once chosen, become both family and friend – and so fall in both categories.
When these relationships hurt, we hurt to the core. Jesus, grant us the courage to hope for healing and reconciliation, for we know that you have reconciled the irreconcilable in yourself on Your Holy Cross.
Healing is Reconciliation – Reflection 2/7
The first healing we receive, is Reconciliation with God our Father. We may be touched by His Grace by having some other ailment healed beforehand, but it is akin to the Father in the parable of the Prodigal Son putting clothes and shoes on the returning son, before restoring the personal and relational connection at the Feast that night.
Sometimes those we need to be reconciled with are hurting acutely somewhere, and we can’t sit down to share a meal before there is some balm put on that wound.
Holy Spirit, give us the imagination to see how we can give that measure of grace and dignity to open the door to reconnection. Amen
We are Agents of Reconciliation – Reflection 3/7
By God’s grace we are agents of Reconciliation. For ourselves, and for others. That does not mean that we live in perfect harmony, though we strive to “…not repay anyone evil for evil. […] If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”
When relationships DO break down to some degree, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. Sometimes preserving peace means setting boundaries in place so that the relationship doesn’t deteriorate further, but can begin to heal.
Even God does this; ever since the fall of Adam, God has put a limit to the span of human lives so that the harm we cause each other will not go on forever; then He redeems and saves us so that, as forgiven and glorified, we will live forever with Jesus.
Father, help us to trust in Your care for our relationships, and receive the wisdom your Holy Spirit wipers beneath the noise of anger.
Reconciliation is Risky – Reflection 4/7
Pursuing Reconciliation means taking the first step. Over and over and over if need be. “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
In some circumstances of abuse or violence, some boundary is needed first to prevent the hurt to continue; nobody will reconcile while the bullets are still flying overhead. But most of the relationships, where we can pursue reconciliation, are not inherently abusive: let’s start there.
Jesus, be our saviour and healer; show us how to overcome evil with good, like you did while you walked this earth; turning situations around from darkness to point to the light of God.
Reconciliation and Self-awareness – Reflection 5/7
We tell ourselves persuasive stories to make ourselves feel better about the things that we feel bad about – how it was all someone else’s fault – or we make up a rationale for how we were justified to do what we did.
And that’s the way this world works; it’s understandable. But when we live Jesus’ life, we live differently. We just don’t see that behaviour in Jesus. On the contrary, “[F]rom now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view … [a]ll this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation”
Holy Spirit, help us to face ourselves: to see not only where we fall short of Your love in our relationships, but also where we judge both ourselves and others. Give us the grace to lay our judgment in Jesus’ hands, and receive hope for a future with Peace.
The Cost of Reconciliation – Reflection 6/7
We may not find the reconciliation we strive for. Jesus Himself was rejected by many and even His closest friends betrayed and/or abandoned Him. But if we do not see it in this life, we hope and pray we will find it in the Kingdom of God, where we are at last perfectly united with each other in Jesus Christ.
Don’t get me wrong, I long for reconciliation here and now – and out of the 12 disciples who left Jesus to die alone, 11 came back and were restored to a deeper trust, a deeper relationship, a truer vision of the Other.
With Jesus, the same can happen in our relationships.
Jesus, when we are betrayed or abandoned, help us to pray like you pray: “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”. And give us the Grace to pray also: “Father, forgive me, for I do not even know what I am doing to myself and to others”.
The Joy of Reconciliation – Reflection 7/7
“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you” With the Resurrection of Jesus, everything changes. Not even the death of a relationship can withstand the power of His Resurrection.
Sharing His Resurrection life, we still bear our scars – but instead of hobbling us the scars themselves become beacons of Healing, like Jesus’ nail-marked hands and pierced side.
If our relationships are healed, Glory to God. If we are healed in the middle of our broken relationships, Glory to God. Reconciliation is His work, which happens in His way. When God redeems our brokenness in Jesus, He does not undo the evil that happens, but transforms it by going through it – just as the greatest evil ever to be committed in history, the killing of the Son of God, is celebrated as the Greatest Good of all eternity because of the Empty Tomb.
Holy Spirit, give me the hope to hope for reconciliation and the restoration of relationships and to live as though reconciliation is always the most normal outcome – for Jesus’ sake, our saviour, healer and redeemer.
The Community of Christ the Healer is committed to Reconciliation as one of the ways Jesus reveals Himself as our Saviour and Healer. Read more on: https://www.christthehealer.org.za/teaching.
“In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the ministry of reconciliation” 2 Cor 5:19