reconciliation and the cosmos

“I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

I think these are quite possibly the hardest combination of 5 words for any human being to utter. Is it any wonder that they have such power once spoken?

I’ve been thinking about the whole idea of forgiveness and reconciliation lately for a couple reasons. One, it’s just a couple days before the Christian liturgical season of Lent, which is all about repentance and recognizing our weaknesses and our need for God’s grace. Two, a recent speaker at my church shared some incredible stories of emotional healing that took place during her Reconciliation Walk (wherein Christians walked the path of the Crusaders and apologized to the people for their ancestor’s actions and the devastation caused in the name of Christ). Three, the myriad of reading I have been doing for Food for the Hungry has reinforced a critical idea about Christ’s purpose that I have long believed but seldom heard affirmed in my Christian education; namely, that Christ came to restore and reconcile the entire cosmos.

Yes, a central part of that means restoring individual relationships with God, but in addition (and no less importantly), it means that Christ came to restore our relationships with one another, with creation, and with ourselves. In order for that kind of comprehensive redemption to occur in the world, it will take more than individuals “accepting Christ into their heart” and “receiving salvation”. It will take a collective approach to redemption as well, wherein our communities become places where the divine realities of forgiveness and mercy are embraced as “operational principles” in the common life of communities of disciples; in addition, it will require a recognition that the physical realm (including the earth itself) is in need of as much healing and restoration as the spiritual realm.

The very necessity of identifying these two realms separately reveals the degree to which our society has lost its appreciation for the ancient Hebrew concept of shalom. “A society of shalom, is an order of life characterized by joy and justice, piety and plenty, kindness and caring.” [See the source of this quote]

The creation of that kind of society will require more than right beliefs. It will require right action. If only we would turn more of our attention to the latter, we might see a fuller restoration of the world than we ever imagined.