Learning More About Reconciliation.

This will be a fairly short post, because—well—I'm tired after a nearly 12 hour day in conference here in St. Louis, MO. I'm here training with a couple organizations called Ambassadors of Reconciliation and Peacemaker ministries. Since I am on the clergy roster of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, I was asked to assist individuals, churches and clergy in the process of reconciliation one with another. Like Christians of all denominations, we too still struggle with the power of sin in our lives.

A word about peacemakers. This is a quote from a small brochure adapted from The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict by Ken Sande.

"Peacemakers are people who breathe grace. Inspired by the gospel, they draw continually on the goodness and power of Jesus Christ, and then breathe out his love, mercy, forgiveness and wisdom to dissipate anger, improve understanding, promote justice and model repentance and reconciliation."

We are being reminded that we all need reconciliation since we all stand condemned before the Judge of all. As the Apostle said, no one is righteous, no not one (see Romans 3:11-18). That's why we should not be surprised when conflicts arise, even among us Christians. Here are some reasons:

•  We are misunderstood and we misunderstand one another. Our teacher told about an airplane pilot who got off the plane after it landed, only to find a blind man with his dog waiting to board. When he asked the blind man if his dog needed to be walked, the man said yes. So when the pilot started to walk the seeing-eye dog several of the would-be passengers ran for the exits. Misunderstanding. 
• We have different values, goals, interests, etc. 
• We're involved in conflict because of competition over limited resources. 
• And, of course, we're sinners, with sinful thoughts, attitudes and ideas. We covet, fight, quarrel, become envious, etc. 

So this week we're involved in gathering together some valuable tools to help us use God's Word and the power of Christ's reconciling to bring reconciliation and peace to people and churches. 

More on this as the week proceeds.