We have arrived at the final Sunday of the exploration we have been on for the last six weeks digging into three core values of Anabaptism as set forth by theologian Palmer Becker. We have been doing this as one of the ways we prepare to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism in January of next year.

The core values we have been exploring are these:

1. Jesus is the center of our faith
2. Community is the center of our life
3. Reconciliation is the center of our work

As we have recognized, these statements do not fully encompass the anabaptist experience, however, they are ways of trying to get at what it is that is foundational and unique about anabaptist expressions of faith. They have invited us into contemplation about what it is we do believe and live out and why in terms of our faith practices. I am curious how these statements are sitting with you all as we explore them – curious if you are finding connection with them – or if you have questions and hesitations. I welcome your reflections either during sharing time or in conversation after church or via email/phone later this week.

For this series we have set aside two weeks to explore each of these statements and today we are wrapping the whole thing up with our second Sunday focusing on reconciliation as the center of our work.

To explore this statement it seems helpful to begin by considering the word reconciliation. What does reconciliation mean? What is it about? What makes it so important that it would be the center of our work – something that is the center of our work means something that we are significantly tending to, putting energy into, caring for. What is it about reconciliation that draws us towards it? Reconciliation when we break it down is re – a word meaning: again, and conciliation – a word meaning to bring into agreement, to make friendly, or the action of stopping someone from being angry. So we might consider the work of reconciliation to be the work of drawing things into alignment again.

Last night our family went to a Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performance. The BSO was celebrating the work of composer extraordinaire John Williams. We love John Williams for his iconic and unforgettable scores for movies such as Superman, Jaws, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars! As we listened, I was mesmerized by the runs of notes flowing together to create spaces of intense emotion – joy, wonder, and terror made possible through a soundscape of notes in relationship with each other.

Now, I think it is important for me to state that I am not a formally musically trained person. Cindy and Eric, and many of you, have much more nuanced understandings about how music theory works, how it comes to life in the playing of the notes on the page. So I can’t speak to the hows and whys of the magic of music. What I can speak to is my experience of it. How those multitude of notes had the capacity to engage my being. I was especially transfixed by a piece from the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Written to set the stage for a story about the tensions, mysteries, and interactions between humans and unknown alien entities, the notes in the score are intense. They moved in and out of alignment creating tension in my spirit as I encountered discordant moments that held me wrapped in suspense, discomfort even, filling me with a desire and anticipation of transformation, for something to shift. Followed by release, the relief of resolution, as the notes shifted, realigning and finding spaces of harmony with each other.

It was like an embodied time-lapse reminder of the journey of reconciliation. Of the realities and impact of the presence of discord, brokenness, and injustice – the discomfort, tensions, and struggles that interrupt, challenge, and sometimes even suspend the capacity of life to thrive. The intensity and desperation of those spaces alongside a deep desire, hope, and need for change, for realignment, for the possibility of reconciliation, of healing.

Healing is at the heart of reconciliation.

I’ve been thinking a lot about healing in the past few months, instigated in part by attending a book talk by Prentis Hemphill, an embodiment facilitator, political organizer, therapist, and author of the book: What It Takes To Heal; How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World. I’m still making my way through the content of the book itself, and have already been moved, inspired, and encouraged by what I heard them share at the book talk and by what I am encountering in the insights and invitation to action that Hemphill offers.

Some of what I am reflecting on is Hemphill’s acknowledgement that, in addition to the many spaces of injustices and brokenness in need of repair and reconciliation in our communities and systems, each of us have spaces in need of healing within our own selves – and that healing is critical for our own selves if we are to heal the communities and systems we are a part of. Reconciliation is work that can happen on many levels, it is work to do with and for ourselves, with and for each other, and with and for the world.

Another reminder that Hemphill offers is that healing is not a thing we do and then it is done. Healing is an ongoing process of being in the world, a way of living in relationship with the world around us that prioritizes justice, freedom, and reconciliation. It is an orientation – a direction we point ourselves towards, seeking it, following it, and basking in it in the moments we find ourselves in its presence. And then taking the journey again and again whenever we encounter spaces of discord in need of healing and reconciliation.

I have been praying this simple refrain every day for over a month now: May I be rooted in love and oriented towards healing. May I be rooted in love and oriented towards healing. I’m still uncovering the impact of it in my daily life, however, one of the things I began to notice immediately was a sense of accountability towards love and healing that the practice has invited me into. Each day brings moments of harmony and discord. In the moments of harmony I can celebrate the love and healing flowing in and around me. And in the moments of discord, in hard moments, in moments of big feelings, when I am at a loss for what to do or say in response to the world, I find myself having a more persistent reminder that I have roots of love to tap into filling me with courage, compassion, and grace and inviting me to choose to orient myself towards healing as a way of helping me discern what path to take from moment to moment. And in those inevitable moments when I don’t make the best choice and end up creating new discord, the grace of love and healing circle back and surround me again creating space for reconciliation within me and the opportunity to join in the work of inviting, seeking, creating spaces of reconciliation in the world.

In the framework of Anabaptism the idea of reconciliation as the center of our work isn’t simply reconciliation for the sake of reconciliation. The work of reconciliation in this context is about connection to God. It is about justice, freedom, healing, and love. Reconciliation is one of the ways we seek, extend, and are invited to participate in the living out of God’s love in the world. Palmer Becker sees this as three fold work for anabaptists: reconciling people to God, reconciling people to each other, and serving as ambassadors of reconciliation to the world.

We can learn how to participate in the work of reconciliation by remembering core value number one: Jesus as the center of our faith. Jesus’ life and ministry is a model for us in how to live God’s love into the world. Healing and reconciliation were at the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry. We can turn towards Jesus’ example as we join in the work of healing and reconciliation – just as the early followers of the way turned towards Jesus’ example as they were trying to follow the path he opened up for them.

In the Ephesians text we heard today we encounter bits of wisdom for how to live in God’s love – to prioritize peace, forgiveness and reconciliation. And while there are tangible bits of wisdom within the text, the point of this text is not only about those pieces of advice – as helpful as they are – they are also examples pointing us back towards the verses that come right before this passage that speak of the impact of the transformation that happens when we are reconciled with God and live that renewed reconciliation into the world. It transforms how we live in relationship, how we treat ourselves, each other, and the world.

Reconciliation makes space for harmony and healing. And the work persists because reconciliation doesn’t always end in perfect harmony – sometimes it results in us reconciling ourselves to the discord that is, to contradictions that do exist and persist. Contradictions that remind us and invite us to continue to be about the work of reconciliation as witnesses of hope and in efforts that move us ever towards justice, freedom, healing and life for all of God’s beloveds. In this ongoing work of reconciliation, we are invited to be imitators of God, walking in love as Christ loved us. Living life in the way of Jesus, in connection with God through the Spirit transforms how we engage in the world. It roots us in love and orients us towards healing for ourselves, each other, and creation.