Happy Tuesday Marion Church Family,
This week as we continue our series on community and we will be taking a look at forgiveness and reconciliation.
It is important to recognize that forgiveness and reconciliation are not the same. They’re related, they’re connected, but they’re not identical.
Forgiveness is to release people from the ways they have hurt us. Forgiveness is not dependent on the other person recognizing or acknowledging the offense.
Reconciliation is the process where both people or groups work toward rebuilding trust and restoring broken relationships.
The joy of living in community and engaging in our mission is often eroded by hurt feelings, offensive conversations, gossip and withdrawal. Hurt people tend to hurt others. Personal differences can gradually develop into a silent or a not-so silent conflict.
C.S. Lewis once said, “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive”.
As Jesus Followers, aren’t we called to the hard work of forgiveness?
If you spend enough time in community, you know a story of people who don’t get along. There was a misunderstanding that was never addressed. There is a wound or a hurt that never healed. There was an offense that was never addressed.
Unfortunately, this is happening in church communities and every week, we as the body of Christ come to church and sing songs about love and unity. We recite the Lord’s prayer. But we still go home nursing our grievances.
Forgiveness and Reconciliation are never easy, they can be difficult and costly, but if history and current events teach us anything, they teach us that using power to coerce, force, or manipulate others to do what we want, an inability to forgive, or seeking revenge don’t produce a positive result or outcome.
There’s also no escaping the painful truth that there can be no reconciliation unless all the parties involved want it and are willing to do the hard work that reconciliation requires.
Reconciliation is hard work; it is painful and, if undertaken seriously, can expose some really raw emotions but it must always be worth the effort, no matter what the personal cost to our ego or pride.
Jesus has some things to say about forgiveness.
What stands out to you?
The entire Biblical narrative is a story of reconciliation.
In what ways do you relate to needing reconciliation?
How can we be a community that practices both radical forgiveness and wise reconciliation?
Let’s talk about it on Sunday.
~ Pastor Dustin
