One obstacle to reconciliation is our need to be right. We think we are right because we have the right facts, information, and interpretation. The problem is that there are people who have the same information and facts and yet think the opposite way, and are just as sure they are “right.”
We both are searching for the “truth,” so when we believe we have found it, we engage in a tug-of-war with those who claim they own the “truth.” Problem is — “truth” is not owned by anyone but God.
In our faith communities, we all claim to own the “truth”, yet since post the time of Christ ownership of the truth was and is a constant source of conflict — a conflict that continues on to this very day. Even in Jesus’s days the Pharisees had rules for everything. People who conformed to those truths were considered holy, those who did not were impure. Yet, Jesus broke rule after rule shifting the ground of truth from being right to loving one’s neighbor. Other great religious leaders over time have shifted the discussion from being right to loving.
In our search for truth — nothing wrong with that in fact it is one of our callings — we must not forget we have a counselor and comforter in God. He calls us all to search for the truth together, no matter how much we disagree and how irreconcilable our differences may be. Love is the common theme of this reconciliation.
Today, each of us stand at the moment of decision — do we seek the truth with the old strategy of dealing with disagreement, including gridlock, conflict and separation? Or do we choose love at the foundation of our truth search, favoring reconciliation over being right. We search together, even in the midst of deep difference, and will be comforted and counseled by God.
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