Introduction: Peace, Justice & Reconciliation
Derek Poole

Comment
Lesley Macaulay

From the Director
David Porter

Now and Not Yet
Stephen Williams

Grace: An Attribute of Reconciliation
Graham Cheesman

Reflections on ECONI
Ken Wilson & Brian Moore

Stanley Who?
Alwyn Thomson

Justice
Billy Mitchell

Peace
Ethel White

Reconciliation
Brian Cruise

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PEACE, JUSTICE & RECONCILIATION
There is a theological influence in Protestant spirituality that has reduced the biblical concept of the Kingdom of God to a purely internal and spiritual experience. This has had a profound effect on our political thinking and spiritual expectations. Not least it has tended to nurture an instinct that dismisses the hope that peace, justice and reconciliation might be realisable. This attitude has not only helped to accelerate the privatisation of faith, it has also normalised a cynicism that doesn't really expect any change in the order of this world.

However, Jesus proclaims that the Kingdom of God is near (Mk 1:15; Mt 4:17) and that it is a present reality that demands our response (Mt 3:2; 4:23; 5:3; Lk 10:9; 11:20; 17:21). For, like the Incarnation, the ethics and values of the Kingdom of God are to be manifest in history. This is the meaning of hopeful obedience – the belief that the love and justice of God are not some formalistic ideal but a concrete reality that impinges on our lives and relationships.

Of course, we can agree that issues like peace and justice will never be fully realised in this profoundly broken world, and that our hope is in a new and transcendent future expressed in the doctrine of Christ's Second Coming. However, what gives authenticity to that hope is our commitment to the ethics of that coming Kingdom – now. For God's future promises are not given to anaesthetise us with utopian dreams but to inspire us with passionate conviction and present obedience.

Peace, justice and reconciliation are expressions of the politics of love, which is God's covenant concern for human life in the full, social, economic and political reality of our existence. To engage in these expressions of hope and healing, no matter how precarious and limited that might be, is to take seriously God's promise of a 'new heaven and a new earth' (Rev 21:1).

On the tenth anniversary of ECONI it is appropriate that Lion & Lamb once again considers the biblical imperatives of peace, justice and reconciliation; reminding ourselves that God's redemptive love embraces the totality of human affairs.

ECONI WELCOMES the submission of unsolicited articles, but does not guarantee publication, and manuscripts cannot be returned. Opinions expressed in the magazine are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECONI. Permission to reprint any original article in Lion & Lamb should be sought from the Editor.

Editor   Derek Poole
Asst Editor   Ruth Hutchinson
Design   Colin Maguire
Cover   Spring Graphics