On April 18th, a few Tab members attended a presentation by Chris Rice, Co-Director of the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. Titled Bridges of Hope: A Community Conversation on Reconciliation, the workshop explored the significance of reconciliation. Chris Rice has recently co-authored a book, Reconciling All Things, that explores this topic in greater detail. Here, David Kingsworthy outlines some of the key points from that discussion.
Chris Rice is currently part of the staff at Duke Divinity’s Center for Reconciliation. He grew up in Korea in a missionary family, only returning to America for university. Inspired by John Perkins, a pioneer in re-thinking urban ministries, Chris moved to Mississippi to participate in reconciliationprojects. One result of those efforts was the establishment of Antioch, a racially & economicallydiverse community centered around the church. In subsequent years Chris and his fellow Antiochians endured and enjoyed many struggles, shortcomings, and blessings. Many of these have been distilled into a set of concepts & principles that can be applied in other communities.
The first concept Chris discussed is listening - not with any agendas or pre-conceived notions about either the subject matter or the backgrounds of the speakers, but with open hearts & minds. The listening must be respectful and as free from judgment and assimilation (hearing what we want to hear) as possible. When we truly listen to people, families, or communities that are damaged, we find that our previous ideas & assumptions are often wrong; that those who we think need “help” can do much to help themselves (and indeed “us” as well); and that we aren’t all that different from one another, in our hopes, fears, pain & joy.
Another concept is lament. A lament is a distressed cry – like David in the Psalms, or Jesus on the cross. Lament is “seeing the depth of the brokenness” and refusing to be consoled. It’s being bothered by something and speaking out about it, because God wants to hear our cries. In Durham, a “soccer mom” refused to be quiet about frequent drive-by shootings in a neighborhoodacross town; years later her candlelight vigils have drawn powerful people into the effort to find solutions.
Lament is related to restlessness. When we accept or become comfortable with something, we often lose our desire to change it. We develop callousness toward bad news. But we should never accept conditions the way they are, if they are intolerable for others in our community. Restlessness – a refusal to be satisfied – helps us to be awake to the truth and alert to ways in which we can participate in reconciliation.
Reconciliation is the main concept in this discussion, but perhaps not in the ways one might think.
Reconciliation is not synonymous with “forgive & forget.” Forgiveness is the bedrock foundation of reconciliation – it must include our worst enemy – but we must never forget. Forgetting history is foolish, not to mention impossible in some cases; but remembering an injustice does not require retribution. Among the amazing fruits of South Africa’s transition away from white rule in the 1990’s was not its commitment to justice, but its commitment to mercy.
Reconciliation is not an event. Bringing people together in a one-time event can be useful in healing differences, but the results cannot hold forever. As things change, one-time events fade in the memory and lose their power, to be replaced by the old hatreds & arguments. There must be regularity to reconciliation discussions; there must be relationships.
Relationships are the currency of reconciliation. The more relationships we have, the richer is our dialog. Investing in relationships binds all parties to the effort. They help us to overcome prejudices & misconceptions and give us greater understanding of the lives of “others”. Among the many failures of past urban assistance programs (even past urban ministries) has been the lack of relationships; people come to a neighborhood as saviors, fix up some houses, spend some time overseeing a program or two, then depart the scene when some other commitment arises. Relationships prevent us from devising quick-fixes or throwing money at problems,because they invest us in the place, and help us discern where we can truly help.
Reconciliation is holistic. It can use anything and everything to achieve its goals. Politics/government, economics, education – any and all people & institutions can be tools forreconciliation, separately or simultaneously. As Chris said: Every day, every way, everyone.
Reconciliation is a journey…..not knowing the destination, but having faith that God will show the steps to take. We’ll make discoveries along the way and will not be the same as when we started.
The key to reconciliation is God’s love for us. Christ enables all things to be reconciled to God.
- Defining a church’s communities is also important – whether by geography, politics, education or economic background.
- God love sinners and sent Jesus to show it; if He loved the sinners, that means He loves me; that also means He’ll give me the strength to love my neighbor.
The Antioch community in Mississippi is described at http://www.reconciliationnetwork.com/documents/Antioch%20Newletter5.pdf
Information about Duke University’s Center for Reconcilation is at http://www.divinity.duke.edu/reconciliation/index.html
