Offerings Off the Wall: "RECONCILIATION"
"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting our trespasses against us, and entrusting the message of reconciliation TO us."
(2 Corinthians 5:18-19 -- taking some license with the pronouns)
LENT is a season during which people think they ought to just give up a personal bad habit - for 6 weeks anyway. But Lent is so much more than that. It is meant to be a time of self-reflection and reconciliation.
Reconciliation is an interesting word. Secular synonyms are "understanding, reunion, compromise, resolution, settlement, appeasement, cease-fire" (I like that one best). The Greek word which Paul uses in his letter to the Corinthians above is καταλλαγή --pronounced - katal-la-gay. Its first definition, in Thayer's Greek Dictionary, refers to reconciliation as belonging to the business of money changers. It is about exchanging equivalent values. The second definition refers to an adjustment of a difference, a restoration to favor. Reconciliation involves the
restoration of God's favor to sinners who repent and put their trust in the atoning death of Christ. For Paul, Katallagé (reconciliation) is about restoring
relationships. This is exactly what Mark's Jesus was saying when he proclaimed from the first: "The kingdom of God has come near; repent (turn to God--turn back to God) and believe in the Good News (or believe in the gospel)."
In 2011 we proclaimed to all the world that we were a Reconciling Congregation, and we were proud of that declaration. Our intention was to be a fully inclusive congregation inviting LGBTQ brothers and sisters from all walks of life, sexual orientations and identities to be openly part of this body of Christ. The unspoken part of that declaration was our willing and public apology as a body of Christ for having excluded our LGBTQ brothers and sisters from recognition, and full inclusion in the body.
I know many have argued, and will continue to argue, that ignoring a person's, color, age, orientation, identity, ability or infirmity is a way of respecting their privacy. But do humans really come to worship in a church in order to be invisible? The whole world was grateful to Bob Hope for making fun of his large proboscis (nose) and the same went for Phyllis Diller's self-deprecating humor over her quirky looks and hair. During her Oscar performance Lady Gaga revealed a whole new self to the world as she sang, so beautifully, songs from the Sound of Music, to standing applause, and even more importantly, the delight of Julie Andrews.
The bottom line of this rambling article is this: God has entrusted the message of reconciliation to us. If we cannot mend relationships between ourselves how can we be messengers of reconciliation to a broken and hurting world.
Please take what is left of this Lenten season to work on your relationships with each other. Let go of your pride, your sense of personal insult or injury over things that are relatively small given the brokenness of our world. Further, if you feel dismissed, discounted by me or any other brother or sister in the church, seek to be reconciled with me or them, please.
People who needed Jesus' help came to him. They walked miles bearing their need, whether it was for personal healing, or assistance in settling disputes between siblings, or learning how to pray. They called out to him from the roadside; they followed him into barren places; they ran after him in the streets, and sought him out at dinner parties, because they felt they had need of him. If Jesus had a cell phone, he would have needed one of those "Mophies" just to keep it charged.
The role of the church pastor involves preaching, teaching, pastoral care, administration and evangelism. It is hard on one individual, in a growing church, to keep up with the demands of each of these pastoral duties. If you have a need, I ask you to call me. I will make time to come and see you, to be with you, to pray with you, and for you, and bring you communion if that is your desire. I will make time to meet with you at the office, if you prefer that. If you need help urgently, right now, I will do my utmost to respond in a timely manner. If you need help being reconciled with a member of the church, I want to be of help, but I cannot help if I don't know your need. If you think I ought to reach out to you on a weekly basis, let me know, and I will schedule regular phone calls to you, just let me know when. There are 211 souls, give or take, in my charge, and my radar -- although pretty strong -- cannot read people's thoughts.
During this Lenten season let us all invest ourselves in being reconciled to each other. CALL ME!!
Blessings,
Rev. Amanda
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