Last week I was involved, with others, in helping our third-year curates to prepare for the process of moving on from curacy by doing some practice interviews with them. It’s always a day I thoroughly enjoy – not least because Judith Knight and I get to unleash our repressed theatrical careers by acting out a ‘how to’ and ‘how not to’ scenario. It’s not quite Shakespeare, but it’s fun!
One of the questions we sometimes ask candidates being interviewed for clergy posts in the Diocese runs along the lines of ‘What, for you, is the heart of the good news of the Gospel, and is there a Bible verse that is central to this?’. Like most good interview questions, there isn’t a ‘right answer’ but I am always struck by the range of responses and find myself reflecting on what my answer would be. I think I might turn to a verse in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, where Paul reminds Christians in Corinth that ‘… All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation’. The Gospel is about being reconciled and then exercising a shared ministry of reconciliation.
It seems to me that reconciliation is a complex and sometimes misunderstood word. To my mind it is about finding a way to overcome alienation and disconnection between two parties, about finding peace, but I don’t think (as some suggest when they dismiss it) it’s just about going back to how things were and pretending neither side was wronged. It is always costly, complicated and hard work. It requires courage and vulnerability. It is a gift that is often undeserved. It is the gift of being set free.
As I look around the world at the number of places torn apart by the fear and hatred of war – not least the unfolding horror in Israel and Gaza – it seems to me that what our world needs more than ever is people who are prepared to exercise this difficult and complex and often misunderstood ministry of reconciliation. That’s true on the world stage but it’s also true much closer to home, including within our own Christian communities. If I’m honest, it’s true in some of my attitudes and relationships. Perhaps if I, if we, took Jesus’ command in Matthew 5 to ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ more seriously, we might find reconciliation follows and begins to spread further than we could begin to imagine.
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Hi Phil ,
I happy i’m not one of your third year curates !! but hay oh compassion justice peace and love will always prevail in our our ministry of reconciliation to one another and to the father .
Keith ,
Verger St Peters Stratton.
Thank you ArchdeaconPhil for your thoughtful and helpful reflections – perhaps the key thing is about the transformation that comes about following reconciliation when change is liberated by forgiveness once we allow that change and transformation in our lives, something which can tdd as kevyime and when we recognise thst bothers may need more time to “get it” and to allow and make changes in their own situation which may facilitate transformation. I recall lessons learned in a charity for which I was once a trustee when a sport-focused intervention as lowed young people from opposing gangs to belong to the same team in a competition allowing( almost requiring) them to build connections which led to them exploring at their own spread why they had previously fought with each other! These transformative experiences offered potential for reconciliation to take place!