Claiming our Reconciliation

How do we work for reconciliation? First and foremost by claiming for ourselves that God through Christ has reconciled us to God. It is not enough to believe this with our heads. We have to let the truth of this reconciliation permeate every part of our beings. As long as we are not fully and thoroughly convinced that we have been reconciled with God, that we are forgiven, that we have received new hearts, new spirits, new eyes to see, and new ears to hear, we continue to create divisions among people because we expect from them a healing power they do not possess.

Only when we fully trust that we belong to God and can find in our relationship with God all that we need for our minds, hearts, and souls, can we be truly free in this world and be ministers of reconciliation. This is not easy; we readily fall back into self-doubt and self-rejection. We need to be constantly reminded through God’s Word, the sacraments, and the love of our neighbours that we are indeed reconciled.

– Henri Nouwen

* * *

It’s so easy to fall back into self-doubts and self-rejection. There are few voices that we could consider affirming to those who are involved in the work for reconciliation. There are times when even the inner voice we can hear is no longer hopeful.  We wonder whether it’s worth all the fuss after so long.

These are the inner battles many of us face on and off.  Sometimes in short spurts, other times a longer dark night. 

I find myself reevaluating the value as well as the limits of words and concepts these days.  I’m reexamining the kind of life I’m trying to embody as well as what I see through others. 

Disappointments abound. Glimmers of hope are scattered.  The excitement of sophistication is replaced by the stillness of simplicity. In short, I’m sick and tired of “Bull.S**t” . Especially, when what we offer is sincerity and what is returned is the same old self-centered rubbish.  Our behavior sadly merely contributes to more divisions because at the end of the day whatever we do, who we are and how we relate people old and new shows what we truly believe.

I’ve valued honesty in my own quest for authentic humanity and spirituality. And a good dose of honesty tells me that so much of our talk is empty, so much of our so called deep thinking is often intellectual masturbation! Forgive me for the graphic language here.  Saying we’re not perfect is meant to be a confession, not an excuse.  The last time, I remember, confessions leads to absolution, and transformation.  Excuses are mere escape mechanisms, and after  a while we go beyond being empty talkers to empty people.  What a tragedy, especially when some of us had good beginnings and great potential.

All these years what I believe is important is “new hearts, new spirits, new eyes to see, and new ears to hear”, and this has been my guiding center in all my pursuits. And at the core of all that, I return again and again to “claiming for ourselves that God through Christ has reconciled us to God.”

This is not a claim of superiority, on the contrary, it’s a humble confession.  It’s not some mumbo jumbo “evangelical” talk, it’s good news in the best sense of the word “evangelical” and “evangelism” (which sadly in many quarters has lost it’s meaning or even abused! Can I reclaim these good words?)

Reconciliation to God? Belonging to God? I’m not talking about hypocritical religion here.  I’m referring to the REAL stuff, the stuff of genuine faith and practice.  Maybe it’s just me, others might have a different take.  But, I seem to be coming back to this center again and again. Enough of games, whether it’s church related or not.