The Practice of Reconciliation
Call to Worship
Here we engage in the spiritual practice of reconciliation. You might be more familiar with this practice if I use the name “confession” or “confession and forgiveness.” I prefer the word reconciliation because the word because it communicates more than listing off the ways we have hurt God and one another. Additionally, I fear that forgiveness is something of a weakened concept today. Many of us equate forgiveness with “I forgive you but a will not forget what you did to me,” which is far removed from the image of forgiveness that God offers us. God offers us complete and total reconciliation––a fully restored relationship with God and with others. So this evening we will explore this multi-faceted practice.
The grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Let us pray.
Holy God, out of your great love for the world, your Word became flesh to live among us and to reconcile us to you and to one another. Rekindle among us the gift of your Spirit that we might live as one new humanity in Christ, dismantling the walls that divide, ending the hostility between us, and proclaiming peace to all people; through Christ Jesus, in whom we all have access in the one Spirit to you, both now and forever. Amen.
Confession
Our first exercise in reconciliation is the order for confession and forgiveness found in the church’s liturgy. I am using the wording that is likely most familiar to you. I have broken up the liturgy by sentence and will show it on your screen. You are all muted, but you can read along with me. There will be a minute or two of silence in which you can reflect on concrete examples from your life that correlate with that particular part of the confession. Engage in this time with open hearts and minds.
Most merciful God,
we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.
We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.
God, who is rich in mercy, loved us even when we were dead in sin, and made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. In the name of +Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Almighty God strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, that Christ may live in your hearts through faith. Amen.
Word
A reading from the gospel of Matthew:
“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder'; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, "You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser….” (Matthew 5:21-37)
Practice of Reconciliation
Earlier I mentioned that another term for the practice of reconciliation is “confession and forgiveness.” There is yet another term that addresses this practice, that is “salvation.” It might make Lutherans a little uneasy to think of salvation as a spiritual practice because we’re inclined to think of salvation as something that takes place entirely on God’s side of things. It is by faith that God saves us; we are not saved by our actions. That is absolutely true. And yet, because the restoration of all things is God’s ultimate goal––because that is what God promises and offers to us––then there is a particular way that we are to act in response to that gift. Certainly you can see the fault in the logic of thinking, “Since God has saved me, I do not have to forgive that person who wronged me (nor do I have to seek forgiveness from that person I wronged).”
I have drawn a lot from the writing of Richard Foster as I have learned about the spiritual disciplines and he says this, “The Bible views salvation as both an event and a process….[it is a discipline] because there are things we must do. It is a consciously chosen course of action that brings us under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Celebration of Discipline, 145).
Practicing the discipline of reconciliation reorients us to float along with the divine current of God’s work in the world, rather than swimming upstream in pursuit of our own ego-driven desires.
One more word of background before we engage in another exercise. I recently read a book on the topic of spiritual healing. This book put me well beyond my comfort zone and I am still wrestling with a lot of what the author had to say; but I want to convey one idea to you because you might find it informative.
To put it simply, the author, Agnes Samford, suggests we think about healing along the lines of an electric current. The energy flow starts with God, flows through you in prayer, and is received by the one for whom you are praying. The electrical energy from God is always on and dependable. We are to make sure that our switch is flipped to the “on” position so that it can flow to the subject of our prayer. If our switch is turned off, we disrupt the flow of God’s energy. If you are praying for healing for someone in your life, the most important thing you can do is to remove any barrier that would block God’s energy. The clearest example would be praying that someone would be healed without actually believing God will heal that person. Perhaps this is what’s behind Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 5 to be reconciled with your brother or sister before offering your gift at the altar. Withholding your forgiveness of another, as well as not accepting God’s forgiveness of you, makes it impossible to cooperate with God’s ongoing work of restoration and reconciliation in the world.
The stakes are very high; so let’s practice. Take a moment now to think of someone whom you need to forgive. This person, knowingly or unknowingly, hurt you on a deep level and you have not yet mustered up the energy to forgive him or her. Picture this person. Get as detailed as you can. This might prove to be the hardest step of the exercise because one technique we use to cling to our condemnation of another is to not think of the offender as an actual person. The more real they become in our minds, the easier it is to see them as human and worth receiving your forgiveness.
While holding this image of the offender, identify where in your body you feel the pain of his or her offense. If the offender said you were stupid, think of your brain. If the offender said you have a character deficiency, think of your heart. If the offender physically hurt you, think of that physical location on your body.
Now imagine that place on your body being filled with light––the kind of radiant light equivalent to staring at the sun, yet there is no pain when you look at this light. It is a light that permeates everything, leaving no shadows or dark corners. It grows from that one place on your body until your whole body is filled with light and feels warm. Now see that light shine from you towards the one whom you need to forgive. See this person filled with the same light, warmth, and divine energy. See this person as God sees this person: a beloved image-bearer of the divine––a child of the light.
God seeks to be reconciled with you. God seeks you to be reconciled with that person. This is only possible when we invite God’s light, energy, and power to work through us, in spite of our reservations, fears, or doubts.
A Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy;
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
