Truth and Reconciliation

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

(Romans 12:18, NIV)

When walking through a personal experience of broken relationship / of rejection, a counsellor offered this verse to me. It has been incredibly helpful as it both clarifies the ownership and responsibility I carry in these situations while also giving freedom to accept the other person’s handling of it (even if their response is not what I hoped).

As followers of Christ, we have experienced undeserved redemption; through the Father’s sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, on the cross, He made a way for us to be in right, honest, and safe relationship with Him. Repentance is not an easy step to redemption but is our part in confessing our failures before God and committing to aligning our life more with His. It is through our repentance that we can step into and experience the forgiveness and reconciliation that God offers and has made possible.

By our personal experience with Christ, we also offer honesty and forgiveness to one another in our faith family. We do the work of having honest conversations, of caring enough to work through offences (rather than avoiding them), and being a place / a people where others feel safe and accepted as they are.

We recognize Truth and Reconciliation Day as an opportunity to reflect upon our immediate relationships but also upon our history. Are we living open to and relationally with our friends and neighbours? More specifically, are we living open to and relationally with our First Nations neighbours? Are we doing everything we can to live both honestly and at peace with those around us?