Ever had a disagreement with a family member or a friend?
Sure you have; it’s a part of the human condition.
The real question is, how did you move forward once the argument was over? Or more specifically, how do you heal, especially if things said were particularly hurtful?
Regardless of the outcome of our country’s mid-term elections, the question I hope all of us are asking—whatever our political leanings—is how we heal. Many have chosen to follow in the Way of Love as our Presiding Bishop is calling us to do, which reminds us that we are called first and foremost to the ministry of reconciliation.
From the Book of Common Prayer:
Q. What is the mission of the Church?
A. The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.
Q. How does the Church pursue its mission?
A. The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace, and love.
(An Outline of the Faith, commonly called the Catechism)
Contrary to ads that continue to promote division and the denigration of others, we are called to unify God’s children into the Beloved Community. This will only happen if we respectfully reach out to one other and invite all to the table to share their story. We have to be the catalyst for reconciliation. We have been blessed in our various faith communities to experience Beloved Community. Now more than ever we are called to bring the love and healing that we have experienced out to our neighbors and neighborhoods that so desperately need it. One open hand, one conversation, one Beloved Community.
Source: Bishop Brian Prior – One Beloved Community