Amidst the rush of a Saturday in the busy pre-Christmas season, we are invited to stay in touch with our longing for reconciliation—within ourselves, at home, in neighborhoods and nations. We long to experience the “turning back” of “the hearts of parents toward their children” and we long for the re-establishment of a world governed by the saving compassion of God. In my experience reconciliation begins with my own turning toward God’s compassionate face. Here I see the depth of God’s care for the imperfect and the sinful. Experiencing that care is what opens me to gratitude and moves me out on my own journey of compassion and active longing for a reconciled world. This longing can take many shapes. In some circumstances it may just be a prayer that I will, someday, become willing to forgive. Sometimes it is a simple determination not to shut down but to remain aware of the many needs of our deeply divided world, touching them where we can. Sometimes reconciliation waits until we can name and renounce the harm that has been done to us. At other times it is awaiting our opening toward God’s ever present offer of love. “O God, let us see your face and we shall be saved.” |