Living Reconciliation

Phil Groves, Philip groves

• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780281072262
• eBook ISBN: 9780281072279
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Théologie chrétienne

This book is intended as a platform to enable people to engage with and understand the Archbishop of Canterburys thinking on and methodology for reconciliation. Emerging from the Anglican Communion in collaboration with the Lambeth staff, the book has a strong focus on the indaba process which marked the 2008 Lambeth conference, on drawing lessons from practical stories from around the Communion, and on tying the process to the Bible at every point.

1

Living Reconciliation

In 2003 the Black Eyed Peas were a struggling Los Angeles-based hip-hop act seeking a hit. They had a core following and wanted to get into the mainstream. They had been working on a song for over a year and had a melody and a theme, but they wanted a hook and they wanted a superstar to front it. The theme was a universal one, but a brave choice. Most successful pop songs are about young love, but some mega hits rise above the ordinary to tap into deep social themes. The song the Black Eyed Peas were working on was a reflection on violence and injustice in America and around the world. They gave the song to international superstar Justin Timberlake and he loved it. He added a chorus and sang the key question – in a world of pain, ‘Where is the love?’

The Peas had their song and they had their superstar guarantee of success, but Timberlake was about to release an album and his record company refused permission for his name to be on a record that was so risky. It must have been a real slap in the face to the Peas. He was a co-writer, but not credited, he sang the chorus and his face was not on the record cover. Remarkably, the record still sold. It was their first true hit and it sold because it spoke into the hearts of those who heard it, not because of an endorsement. It did not pull its punches, and most interestingly of all asked the question: are you willing ‘to practice what you preach’?

The story of the song, as much as the lyrics, is a great place to begin this book. We all have times when we look out into the world around us and ask the question ‘Where is the love?’ We are tempted to place our hope in a global superstar, but we need to have confidence in ourselves. We need to join our voices with those superstars and see that the power for change is in the millions of people around the world who respond to the message. The question the song asks is the question asked by this book: Are you willing to be love in the world?

A common reaction to the violence and pain in all our societies is to think ‘this isn’t my problem’, to assume that the way we live cannot make an impact on the world. Instead we long for mighty heroes of peace to swoop in and solve the conflicts that scar our world and bring about peace by the force of their personalities and the power of their words. The truth is that the world is changed by ordinary people living in a new way. Healthy, vibrant communities are created by the people who live in them. They are maintained by people constantly paying attention to the needs of one another. It is hard work and it demands commitment and requires perseverance.

There are heroes of peace and reconciliation, people like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, and Aung San Suu Kyi. These people are global superstars, the people all politicians, rock stars and sports people want to be associated with. We honour them and rejoice when they win the Nobel Peace Prize. We want their long walks to freedom, their years of incarceration and their suffering to redeem our lives. Our participation in their struggle may only be feeling the emotion surging through us as we watch documentaries about them, or attend rock concerts in their honour.

These heroes of peace know that the struggle they have been on is only of value if all participate. When the committee awarded the 2004 prize to Kenyan environmental and political activist Wangari Maathai they said they did so because she represented ‘an example and a source of inspiration for everyone in Africa fighting for sustainable development, democracy and peace’. The greatest of the Nobel Peace Laureates stand for movements of ordinary people; they may be the figureheads, but the work is shared and they strive to inspire generations of people.

As Desmond Tutu said in his 1984 Nobel lecture:

God calls us to be fellow workers with Him, so that we can extend His Kingdom of Shalom, of justice, of goodness, of compassion, of caring, of sharing, of laughter, joy and reconciliation, so that the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. Amen.¹

A task for all

Peace prize winners are faced with a dilemma. We hold them up as heroes of peace and we want to watch as they bring it about; they know from painful experience that peace is only achieved by all being involved. We want them to fix the world and end conflict; they know that they can do nothing without all of us playing our part.

This is not a new problem. It was precisely the problem that faced Jesus at the beginning of his ministry. Following his baptism, Jesus went alone to the desert where he was confronted with three temptations. In each of the three, Jesus is challenged by Satan to fix something or to take overall control. The first temptation offers Jesus the opportunity to make bread out of stone, thereby fixing the problem of hunger. The second temptation challenges Jesus to display his power by throwing himself off a building and come away unharmed, thereby demonstrating his miraculous power and superhuman abilities. This would elevate him to a place where he could exert dominating power over people. The third temptation is much more blatant in that he is offered the chance to rule. Who could argue with that? The all-loving Jesus ruling over all.

This interpretation was brought to life in the ‘Parable of the Grand Inquisitor’, which is an essential part of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov. In the novel the rationalist Ivan Karamazov challenges his religious brother Aloysha through the recounting of a tale. It is set in Seville in the time of the Spanish Inquisition and in it Christ has returned and has been imprisoned. The Grand Inquisitor himself confronts Jesus and berates him for offering freedom when people want food, certainty and to be told what to do. Jesus rejects the charge and again refuses the Inquisitor’s offer of release and instead kisses him, recalling the kiss between Judas and Jesus.

When Jesus leaves the desert he has chosen to reject the possibilities of dominating power. He rejects the power to weigh in and impose change, to fix things. Instead, the first thing Jesus does is to find people who will walk with him. Throughout his ministry, and in particular during the last few weeks of his life, Jesus encountered the expectation of those around him that as Messiah he would fix things, call upon an army of angels and just make everything all right. Jesus rejected that temptation. In his life, teachings, death and resurrection he invites his followers into a new way of being.

Throughout this book we are going to consider Living Reconciliation as a task entrusted to each and every one of us – not just to special people. It is not only for those interested in justice and peace; it is integral to the Christian message. Paul is emphatic about this:

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

(2 Corinthians 5.17–19)

We invite you to explore with us what Living Reconciliation as a follower of Jesus Christ means for all of us. This is not a book about reconciliation; it is aimed at enabling us to live a life of reconciliation.

We know that this is challenging. While we celebrate the lives of those who brought peace and reconciled nations, we also know that at times we all avoid conflict, distrust diversity and seek out those who agree with us. We ask you to take up the challenge to be constantly asking and responding to the question ‘Where is the love?’ as you Live Reconciliation.

What is reconciliation?

Reconciliation is impossible to define, but it can be described by the stories of people who live it. Throughout this book you will be asked to enter into some stories that will help you Live Reconciliation. So we will begin with a story.

Imagine a school playground fight. When the playground erupts to the shouts of ‘Fight! Fight!’ the teachers’ primary goal is to break up the spat, disperse the crowd and find out who started it. They assert their authority to separate the children and then seek to gain a common account of the dispute. They then issue punishments to those who were the ring leaders. They may also use rewards to ensure the children behave well in the future. Power is deferred to the adult in authority and the immediate problem is solved. However, if the teacher does not address the reason for the fight, lingering tensions and divisions remain. Reconciliation occurs when the children say sorry and forgive one another and the whole group of children return to playing with one another. The immediate conflict might be resolved by punishment, but it is not the end in itself. Reconciliation here is marked by the children laughing together, not by the cold administration of justice. Conflict transformation happens when the teacher acts as a facilitator of reconciliation rather than an arbiter of justice.

The pattern of fight, forced separation, judgement and reconciliation is played out in every community around the world. Talking of children fighting in the playground might sound very simplistic in the light of the conflicts blighting our world today, but it highlights the issues at the heart of conflict resolution and transformation.

In November 1940, the beautiful medieval sandstone cathedral in the city of Coventry was burnt to the ground as the incendiary devices dropped from German bombers ignited the ancient spars of the wooden frame of the roof. Across the United Kingdom the blitz evoked emotions of anger and revenge that expressed itself towards the end of the war in the destruction of the beautiful German city of Dresden. In stark contrast to the mood of the era, Provost Dick Howard made a commitment not to revenge, but to forgive. The words ‘Father Forgive’ were inscribed on the wall of the ruined chancel as a confession of the common human need for God’s mercy. He resisted all attempts to insert the word ‘them’ at the end of the statement.

The words were matched by simple acts of deep symbolism. Two charred beams had fallen in the shape of a cross and these were placed behind an altar of rubble. Three large medieval nails were formed into a cross. Such symbols define reconciliation as clearly as any words. The death of the cathedral was linked to a sign of hope, the empty cross: the symbol not only of the death of Christ but also of his resurrection. The cross was an extreme instrument of torture that in its association with Christ became a sign of blessing. The challenge was, and is, how can a destroyed building be part of that same story?

The Cross of Nails is central to the reconciliation ministry associated with Coventry Cathedral. Replicas of the nails are placed in a piece of actual stone from the bombed cathedral and sent to churches and chapels around the world as a focal point for communities committed to Living Reconciliation. Those who display the cross share a common commitment to work and pray for peace, justice and reconciliation through:

• healing the wounds of history;
• learning to live with difference and celebrate diversity;
• building a culture of peace.

These Coventry commitments are not a definition of reconciliation: they are a mandate for action. Those who Live Reconciliation never stop learning more about it. Living Reconciliation is painful, risky, difficult work that makes all who participate vulnerable. Ever since 1940 the Community of Coventry Cathedral has been on a journey exploring the implications of the commitment to reconciliation. Since 1974 they have been joined by people throughout the world in the Community of the Cross of Nails. On every step of the way they are reminded that reconciliation is the heart of the gospel. Reconciliation is not an aspect of Christian living, for a few enthusiasts – it is the gospel.

There are texts such as 2 Corinthians 5.17–19 and Colossians 1.19–20 that are often quoted in support of the idea that reconciliation is at the heart of the gospel. However, reconciliation runs through the entire Bible. The story of the Bible is the story of reconciliation.

Reconciliation is more than ending conflict. For Paul, reconciliation is breaking down the barriers that separate us from God and from one another, and living in community once those barriers are removed. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul celebrates Jesus reconciling humanity to God not through exploiting his divinity but through humility and death:

[Jesus] emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death –

even death on a cross.

(Philippians 2.7–8)

The barrier between God and humanity was then broken. In Romans 8 Paul describes Jesus’ resurrection as a declaration of victory of the law of life over the law of sin and death (verse 2). It is this victory that gives Paul the courage to declare:

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Romans 8.38–39)

This victory was confirmed when the Holy Spirit came with power, enlivening the people of God and breaking down the barriers separating peoples from one another. On the day of Pentecost each one heard the good news in their own language. There was no longer one special people with one language who were set aside. God is God of the whole world, of Jew and Gentile, men and women, slave and free. The Holy Spirit did not destroy diversity but challenged the Church to embrace it.

In the world in which we live, societies construct barriers that separate us from one another. We live behind walls of language, culture, economics, personality, age and gender. The destruction of these barriers enables us to form friendships and to live as a community of diversity while retaining our distinct identities in the body of Christ. This means reconciliation does not end; it is a journey of exploration and learning, and requires listening and speaking. It requires us to trust one another and God.

But we keep on erecting barriers. We sometimes do so for the best of motives. Just like the teacher separating children on a playground, barriers are erected to contain people and ensure they do not fight one another. Peace-keeping can be the act of erecting barriers, so that a vulnerable group feels safe. Mediation may be the way to negotiate across those barriers. Reconciliation happens when the barriers are removed and people can speak to one another face to face, encounter difference and live with healthy conflict. It requires repentance and forgiveness on a lifelong journey in community.

Reconciliation is not an action: it is a way of being. It is a life into which we are called, not something we achieve and then move on. We celebrate this week by week in the Eucharist. Eucharistic worship begins with confession and forgiveness, leads to reconciliation with one anothe...

Table of contents

• Cover page
• Praise for the book
• Title page
• Imprint
• Table of contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. Living Reconciliation
• 2. Journey into uncertainty
• 3. Companions
• 4. Encounter with power
• 5. Transforming conflict
• 6. Risk
• 7. New way of being
• 8. Sharing the vision
• Glossary
• Notes