Introduction
As I mentioned last week I want to explore for a few days reconciliation. Luis and my friend Charlie have already sent me some things to think about, and I’m sure there suggestions will find their way into our discussion. I want to encourage all of you to weigh in either by sending me your thoughts by email or commenting on the website at www.thehubbellpew.com.
Today’s Meditation:
Love has no limitations. It makes for larger circles.
Last week I introduced our conversation by saying reconciliation begins and ends with Love. We all have different beliefs — Christian, Jewish, Sufi, Buddhist, Muslim, and there are many subsets as well, but the one thing each has in common is each religion believes it is right. Once we have found where the light shines brightest for each of us, we too believe we are right, and that it is a lot easier to be righteous than reconciled.
Yet, we also realize to love is what we are each called to do. Jesus told us to be in love with God and to love one another. Love is not about being right. Love is about being in a relationship with God and our neighbors, and to love requires reconciliation no matter hard that is.
So how do we begin?
It seems to me that one way is to recognize that we all in the same boat. We all have our failings and are wrong at times, and thus reconciliation begins when we stop setting ourselves apart and judging. Another person’s beliefs, actions, and values may be abhorrent to us, just as ours may be abhorrent to him. God tells us to leave the judging to him, and not withdraw. Separating from our neighbors, condemning one another, and hurting one another is not an option. We must remain in a relationship with all, and once we recognize our commonality we can begin to reconcile.
Conclussion
As I said this is a multiple part series. Think about not about what I say, but what you believe and feel, and let me hear from you.
How do we deal with the ISIS killings? What type of reconciliation could we possible consider in these horrific actions? What possible relationship with God do these humans have? I am so struggling with this.
Another comment from a reader:
Having read your post on reconciliation this morning it was opportune that I came across an article by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, reporting on his miles and miles of travels to visit the various members of the Anglican communion. I would like to extract just a small portion of his observations. He speaks of the incredible diversity within the nations, then remarks,
“At the same time there is a profound unity in many ways. Not in all ways, but having said what I have about diversity, which includes diversity on all sorts of matters including sexuality, marriage and its nature, the use of money, the relations between men and women, the environment, war and peace, distribution of wealth and food, and a million other things, underpinning us is a unity imposed by the Spirit of God on those who name Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. This diversity is both gift and challenge, to be accepted and embraced, as we seek to witness in truth and love to the good news of Jesus Christ…….the potential of the Communion under God is beyond anything we can imagine or think about. We need to hold on to that, there is a prize, the quest for which it is worth almost anything to achieve. The prize is visible unity in Christ despite functional diversity.”
Webb, one of the many things I love about you is your willingness to always draw the circle wide and include all of the world’s many religions in your post when speaking of reconciliation. Then, when I read the Archbishop’s narrower focus on our Anglican brethren and the huge issues we face, it occurred to me that reconciliation has to begin at home. How can we begin to reconcile with our Sunni brothers and sisters if we can’t do so within our own families, or in our home Parish, or in our beloved Episcopal Church, much less in the Archbishop’s worldwide Anglican Communion?
From another reader:
Praying a prayer of his in A New Zealand Prayer Book
A litany for peace of his is found in A New Zealand Prayer Book He
Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa (page 163). The Oxford Book of Prayer
(pages 306-7) dates this litany to 1976. Here it is as found in the
Prayer Book:
Let us be at peace within ourselves.
Silence
Let us accept that we are profoundly loved
and need never be afraid.
Silence
Let us be aware of the source of being
that is common to us all
and to all living creatures.
Silence
Let us be filled with the presence of the great compassion
towards ourselves and towards all living beings.
Silence
Realising that we are all nourished
from the same source of life,
may we so live that others be not deprived
of air, food, water, shelter, or the chance to live.
Silence
Let us pray that we ourselves cease to be
a cause of suffering to one another.
Silence
With humility let us pray for the establishment
of peace in our hearts and on earth