Reconciliation …
This Friday, May 27, is the beginning of "National Reconciliation Week” (27 May – 3 June). It’s an annual celebration that builds upon the respectful relationships shared by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples of all cultures in these lands now called Australia. (from the common grace website)
You can find a lot more information on what this week is about here (which is where much information in this post has been taken from).
On Sunday, we will seek to devote a small portion of our gatherings to this moment. But why is this something to talk about at church, on Sunday? One simple answer is found in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21:
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5 that the gospel of Jesus is all about reconciliation: about reconciling people with God. Throughout Paul's letters to the Corinthian church, he is dealing with conflicts between people - arguments, disagreements, and ungodly attitudes. In chapter 5 of his second letter, he turns to the hostility of humanity towards God, showing us that we worship a God of reconciliation, a God of peace. We worship a God who loves to see relationships healed - between us and other people, and between people and God.
In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us to be peacemakers (verse 9), to hunger and thirst for righteousness (verse 6), and to be merciful (verse 7). We are to seek an end to hostilities. We are to nurture reconciliation between all people, imitating our Lord Jesus who came to bring reconciliation between us and God.
This is why it’s good to be invested in weeks like this. Reconciliation is our heart language as disciples of Jesus. And as a nation, Australia has a chequered history in the way indigenous peoples have been treated.
There are some landmark dates to remember as Australians:
· May 26 is National Sorry Day
· May 27 marks the 1967 referendum when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were finally counted as Australian citizens.
· June 3, the end of reconciliation week, marks the anniversary of the famous ‘Mabo’ case in the High Court, which overturned the myth of “terra nullius”and declared Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to be the Traditional Owners of the land.
These dates remind us that there are times, even in our not-too-distant past, when we have not been active in defending those who were in need and in speaking for those who had no voice.
To be people of reconciliation means that we are serious about dealing with matters that cause hostility between people, and between people and God. It means that we are serious about seeing healing in broken relationships. We should be seeking this in our own personal lives, in our own families, and in all our relationships. And we should be seeking it as people of this nation.
Its weeks like this that ought to drive us to prayer. This week, may we be driven to prayer for our nation's first peoples. And may we be driven to think about the many other groups within our society who have been marginalised, abused, forgotten, or neglected. How good would it be for our community to see us as people who care about people in vulnerable situations, as peacemakers, and as ambassadors for the God of reconciliation. It’s good for us to think about where these touchpoints or points of vulnerability are, in order to connect with them. May our efforts culminate in drawing people closer to the God who bridges the greatest divide for sinful humanity through his death on the cross.