Reconciliation and Relationships

I've been having some great conversations with the North Way East End staff this week about our church's role as reconcilers in our city. Most of our discussions have focused on how we can build authentic, transformational relationships that transcend ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural boundaries that are so strong in our society. As humans, our relationships are often damaged because we are broken people. Yet, as we grow in relationship with God, our relationships with one another grow as well. We become supernaturally reconciled to one another if we will follow the lead of the Holy Spirit.

Robert J Schreiter suggests that "reconciliation is not a skill to be mastered; rather it is something that is discovered: the power of God's grace welling up in one's life. Reconciliation becomes more of an attitude than an acquired skill; more of a spirituality than a strategy." At North Way East End, we are starting to experience the power of God's grace welling up in us. God is changing hearts and drawing people closer to one another.

As a pastor and a leader in my city, my prayer is that God will continue to open my eyes to be able to discover where he is at work in reconciling relationships. I am committed to putting everything on the line, living in the tension that so often comes in bringing others together, so that I might be able to experience the fullness of the human experience. There is great joy to be discovered in seeing people being reconciled with God and with one another.