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Introduction:
Ministry in a Divided Society
Ruth Hutchinson
Comment:
Conscientious Objector
Adam Turkington
From
the Director
David Porter
Christian
Perspectives on Reconciliation
Norman Taggart
Ministry in a divided society
1. Pastor John Dickinson
2. Priest Ken Clarke
The
Laughing Minister
Graham Cheesman
Forgetting
to Remember
Peter Stevenson
Ministry in a divided society
3. Prophet Derek Poole
4. Peacemaker David Porter
Review:
A New Start
Heather Morris
CHRISTIAN
PERSPECTIVE ON RECONCILIATION
On Saturday 15 August 1998, the town centre of Omagh in Northern Ireland
was ripped apart by a dreadful bomb explosion caused by 'the Real IRA'.
Twenty-nine people lost their lives, including a mother pregnant with
twins, her daughter of eight years and her mother. The dead included young
people from both parts of Ireland and from Spain. Other people lost limbs...
Six days later I addressed a meeting in the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Peace Prospects in Ireland Today. People from different Christian churches and from other faiths attended the meeting. After I had finished speaking, the first question from the floor was about the role of the Orange Order in the conflict in Ireland. A month later, in the space of four days, over 1,700 combatants were reported killed in an upsurge of fighting between the Tamil Tigers and the security forces of Sri Lanka. A similar number was wounded. Here are chilling reminders of the need for peace and reconciliation in Ireland and in other parts of the world.
Reconciliation — secular or religious — is seldom out of the news. The Dublin government's Forum for Peace and Reconciliation held its meetings from 1994 to 1996 and in South Africa the Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported in1998. In Northern Ireland the multi-party negotiations led to the Belfast Agreement on Good Friday 1998, hopefully a significant step towards reconciliation. As the opening page of the Agreement declares, 'we firmly dedicate ourselves to the achievement of reconciliation, tolerance, and mutual trust'; and 'we will endeavour to strive in every practical way towards reconciliation and rapprochement within the framework of democratic and agreed arrangements.'
But what is reconciliation? Is it achievable, or is it an elusive dream? Is 'the politics of reconciliation' as it has been called, the only realistic form of politics, the only road to a peaceful future? [1]
Reconciliation is multi-faceted. It is a response to alienation, and is sought in different ways and at different levels. Reconciliation is finding a way of relating positively to those who are different. It is restoring broken relationships. It is wanting the other person or group to be included, not wanting to ignore them, separate from them, dominate them or destroy them. Reconciliation is taking 'the other' seriously, entering into communication, being willing to share power, responsibilities and resources. Allowing people to tell their stories and listening to them, is a vital part of the process of reconciliation. Reconciliation is being able to go beyond the 'rights' or 'wrongs' of a situation, clearing a space so that attempts can be made to grow into new, sensitive and creative relationships.
Politically, reconciliation is not a way of damping down a situation to avoid real change. It is not papering over the cracks in a divided and unjust society, crying 'peace' when the causes of conflict have not been examined. Personally and politically, the road to reconciliation is likely to be hard and demanding. It is a long journey in which, however, each step is important. Reconciliation requires that risks are taken and efforts are made to face realities, to take account of hurts, to heal wounds and to reach agreements.
From a Christian point of view, reconciliation involves the naming and confessing of wrongs. It also requires repentance, forgiveness, and a willingness and determination to put things right. It is not, as some suggest, a secondary issue, a diversion for example from the task of evangelism. Working for reconciliation — finding ways of living together in difference — is central, not peripheral, to our work and witness as Christians. Reconciliation is Christ's will for a relationship or a society under stress. It is a way of regarding and experiencing salvation.
In the Bible, reconciliation is wide-ranging. It is primarily about persons. People are reconciled not problems, though problems which cause alienation are taken seriously. God graciously removes the enmity and alienation caused by sin. Grace is the basis of reconciliation, between us and God and between us and others. Through the death of his Son, God first puts sinners right with himself (Rom 5:10). Reconciliation has, second, a horizontal dimension. The hostility between Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female, is destroyed (Gal 3:28, Eph 2:14-16, Col 3:11). There is, third, a cosmic dimension to reconciliation. God acts in response to the disorder in creation as a whole, to reconcile 'all things' on earth or in heaven to himself, through Jesus' death on the cross (Col 1:19-20, Rom 8:19-22). God is the author of reconciliation; Christ is its agent (2 Cor 5:18-19). The Holy Spirit provides limitless resources for reconciliation, reversing the divisive effects of Babel. 'The fellowship of the Holy Spirit' is not cosy, but radical and revolutionary. By it the stubborn barriers that separate — barriers such as age, culture and language — are broken. A new humanity is created in Christ (Gen 11:1-9, Acts 2:1-12). Followers of Christ are entrusted with a ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19-20). The gospel makes it a priority to reach out to people who are different from us and to seek reconciliation with our enemies.
There is great attractiveness in ‘the spirituality of reconciliation’, as outlined for example by Michael Hurley, S J [2]. A state of estrangement and alienation is seen as unacceptable and unchristian. Attempts to impose one-sided solutions are rejected. People are encouraged to communicate with one another, and to take a broader, less partial view of things. There is an endeavour to engage in genuine dialogue, which goes right to the heart of problems. ‘Reconciliation’, Hurley argues, 'is not cheap; it is no soft option; it does not mean peace at any price, unity at any cost' [3].
Hurley's conclusions are relevant to major issues still confronting us in Northern Ireland. Some of these issues are deeply divisive, including the care of victims, whether forgiveness follows or precedes repentance, and the early release of prisoners. Among his conclusions are the following. First, that reconciliation at the social as well as the personal level requires justice from offenders and forgiveness from victims. Second, that the offer of forgiveness by victims encourages repentance and the making of amends by offenders. Third, that forgiveness is vital in the whole process of reconciliation from a Christian point of view. Each party is called to recognise three things: its own failings, the sacredness of the other, and the primacy of love. Christ's forgiveness prompts our repentance and enables us to forgive one another. Through Christ, we forgive those who have wronged us and make amends to those whom we have wronged[4].
How do our performance and practice measure up? Gains have been made. We are, for example, now more civil towards one another within the mainline churches and we have been blessed by the emergence of centres and communities of reconciliation. Much remains to be done within the churches, however, in areas such as the mutual recognition of ministers, inter-communion, and united witness in an increasingly secular society. For many, the Roman Catholic document, One Bread One Body [5], came as a deep disappointment particularly as it affects partners in mixed marriages.
In the wider community the churches share responsibility with others for resisting evil and working for the good of society. The healing of community divisions, hurts, hostility and bitterness, and the creation of healthy community life, are essentially spiritual tasks.
Here too substantial gains have been made, for example in the acceptance by political parties of the principle of consent and the denial of legitimacy to violence. Major tasks still confront us, however, including the need to make progress on decommissioning and to combat sectarianism in all its forms. Put positively, our essential task is to promote a culture of tolerance and respect for life throughout society.
Grace and sectarianism are incompatible. More than that, grace can blaze forth against a backdrop of sectarian hate as against no other. Christians in Northern Ireland, claims Graham Cheesman (Principal of Belfast Bible College), have been placed on a stage with the world as their audience. They have the potential to bring the house down to the glory of God. All they have to do is show grace [6].
The Belfast Agreement refers specifically to the need to facilitate and encourage integrated education. This ought to be promoted positively by the churches as one option, an element in the vital process of encouraging respect both for difference and for shared values.
The challenge, which will continue into the next millennium, is to encourage people:
to celebrate diversity
to affirm the value of others
to build trust
to broaden views of peace
to keep hope alive
to prepare for change, and
to share visions of what Ireland, north and south , can become.
Our greatest weakness as churches lies in our insensitivity towards one another, our lack of boldness for Christ, and our failure to take seriously the radical nature of Christian love. The 1936 version of the Methodist Covenant Service expresses this failure movingly. These words are spoken by the minister leading the service:
Forgive us that we have been unwilling
to overcome evil with good,
that we have drawn back from the cross....
Forgive us that so little of Thy love
Has reached others through us,
And that we have borne so lightly
Wrongs and sufferings that were not our own.
Forgive us wherein we have cherished
The things that divide us from others,
And wherein we have made it hard for them to live with us,
And wherein we have been thoughtless in our judgements,
Hasty in condemnation, grudging in forgiveness....
If we have made no ventures in fellowship;
If we have kept in our heart a grievance against another; If we have not sought reconciliation;
If we have been eager for the punishment of wrong-doers,
And slow to seek their redemption....
To which the response in the service is the prayer:
Have mercy upon us and forgive us, O Lord.
The evangelical appeal to the world is, “We implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). The Biblical appeal to all believers is to live lives worthy of our calling. We are to “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph 4:1 and 3).
Norman Taggart - minister of Coleraine and Ballymoney Methodist Churches. He was President of the Methodist Church in Ireland from 1997 to 1998.
References
1. Interchurch Group on Faith and Politics, Living the Kingdom 1989, p.12.
2. Michael Hurley, SJ (ed.), Reconciliation in Religion and Society 1994,
pp.2-4.
3. Ibid. p.3.
4. Michael Hurley, S J, Christian Unity: an Ecumenical Second Spring?
1998, pp.54-77.
5. Issued jointly by the Catholic Bishops' Conferences of England &
Wales, Ireland, and Scotland 1998.
6. Lion and Lamb, ECONI publication, autumn 1998, pp9-10
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