|
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation [or, creature]. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
(II Corinthians 5.17-19, ESV)
A Master called in his disciple. “Friend,” spoke the Master, “you seem to be going around correcting everyone who does not agree with you.” “Master, that is my moral duty,” replied the disciple. “No,” affirmed the Master, “your moral duty is to love them. And, until you are ready to do that, you have no right to correct them.”
A young man asked to have a meeting with me. I met him in Gainesville, FL, where I was serving a church as pastor. The man is homosexual. We had a good discussion. Months later, I was standing in the dark outside the church sanctuary, as I prayed in preparation to lead a Holy Week worship service. This young man walked up, and he told me that he had come to worship. I welcomed him joyfully.
After the Holy Week worship meeting, everyone left but that man. He walked up the center aisle toward me. We spoke. Before he left, I reach out and hugged him.
Why did I hug this young man? I did it as both a sign and symbol. I was saying to him, “There are those in the Church who love you as you are, accept you as you are.” I wanted him to know there is another side to the Church than the one often presented in the media.
Most of all, I hugged him for I want to be like Christ. Christ touched the untouchables, as decided upon by the religious establishment of that day. Jesus was not interested in being and acting from where most persons are comfortable. Jesus made the comfortable the uncomfortable. Jesus lived on the cutting edge; while respecting past tradition, he did not believe the Father is confined with the past tradition.
Jesus’ life, then and now, shows us that Christ’s ministry, then and now, is a ministry of reconciliation. Reconciliation entails our entering into that ministry of Christ, and it means going where many of our Christian friends will not dare go. Reconciliation is not toleration or permissiveness; reconciliation is a radical, lived statement of God’s Love, one which embodies the truth that apparent opposites can converge in Christ, forming a unity that can encompass differences through Grace.
|
|
Reformed theologian Shirley C. Guthrie, Jr. addresses this reconciliation ministry, appealing to Scripture:
The point … is simply that to believe that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” means inevitably and inescapably to take the initiative to do what is necessary to achieve genuine reconciliation in all human relationships in which we live—reconciliation between children and parents, husbands and wives, women and men in the church and society, homosexual and heterosexual people, Christians and non-Christians, people of all races, classes, and national heritages. (Christian Doctrine, Rev. Ed.)
“If you love God … remember that … true zeal is only the flame of love…. … Let your heart burn with love to all mankind, to friends and enemies, neighbors and strangers; to Christians, Heathens, Jews, Turks, Papists, heretics; to every soul which God hath made.”
—John Wesley, “Letter to a Protestant”
What kinds of persons do you find it difficult to accept? What does Wesley mean by “true zeal” being the “flame of love”? Have you seen persons who, in the name of Christ, seemed to manifest a zeal that did not evidence love?
Prayer of Confession
Heavenly Father, I confess that I have not always loved those you love. I have allowed my own fears to turn away from persons unlike me. I have judged persons by appearance. Also, I confess that the Church, over the centuries, has allowed prejudices, lack of understanding, peer pressure, and church politics to lead it away from serving the minorities. We have often chosen the easy path of conformity in such matters as love, rather than the more difficult path of compassion to all. Have Mercy, Father. Have Mercy, Christ. Have Mercy, Holy Spirit. Remove from us the cowardice that keeps us from standing up for those esteemed unclean by the religionists of our day. Through our loving them, even at personal cost, may you love them and reconcile them to yourself. In Christ’s Name, Amen.
OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spiritual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net.
|
