" Reconciliation "
By Michael Browder Ph.D.
February 2, 2010

In my Bible there is a picture. (I love pictures. Don’t you? They make books so much easier to read.) The picture in my Bible shows two men. One man is a dark man. He has the rough features of a laborer. You can tell that he has had to work hard every day of his life. Many times he has been at the mercy of the managers, and the bankers, and the fast-talking salesmen of this world. At times, he has been cheated, or ended up on the short end, when he should have known better. At times he has acted without thinking, or he has only thought about a little pleasure now, when he should have thought about the consequences down the road. But, he is a survivor. And he has made is way in this world by the sweat of his brow, “the school of hard knocks”.

The other man is light skinned. He has lived by his wits rather than by physical labor. He has gotten the breaks in life. He has succeeded by being clever.

He knows how to manage most anything. He knows how to manipulate people. He is a smooth talker. True, his guile and willingness to take risks have caused him to lose everything at times. But he too is a survivor. He knows how to start over. And he can always get by on his wits.

In my Bible, in the picture, these two men, the dark laborer and the fair entrepreneur, are surrounded by a great crowd of women, and children, and sheep and goats and camels. And these two big, grown men are locked in a hug, in a powerful embrace.

The names of these two men are: Jacob and Esau. We know their story. We remember all the ways they have hurt each other. But, in this moment, all the hurt is forgotten. Only their love for each other is remembered. They are, at the same time, repentant and forgiving. This picture in my Bible is a picture of reconciliation.

Our psalmist today does a good job in describing reconciliation. Let me read Psalm 133 again.

One of the purposes of my trip to Central America was to learn about the culture in our sister countries. One thing I learned was that, in just about all the countries in Latin America, there are deep political divisions between far left wing and far right wing political parties. In most cases, the country experienced a civil war in which thousands of innocent people were killed.

During our time in El Salvador, the United Methodist ministers from Virginia went with the Methodist pastors from El Salvador on a special trip. There are only about 10 pastors in the whole Methodist Conference of El Salvador. Together with us 10 Virginians, and the pastor we at FUMCH sponsored from our sister church in Colombia, all 21 or so of us went to visit the church where Father Oscar Romero was martyred.

Oscar Romero was a priest who had been made a Monsignor and a bishop. Several of his fellow priests had been assassinated because of their work to stand up for the rights of the poor. Their deaths inspired Monsignor Romero to stand up for the poor as well. His work angered the people who were in power. One Sunday, while Father Romero was celebrating the mass of Holy Communion, he was gunned down in the middle of the church. Shot in cold blood, in the presence of his congregation.

This event had a profound effect on the nation of El Salvador. Monsignor Romero had once said, “If I am killed, I will be raised up again in the life of the people.” After his death, the nation was forced to give more consideration to the rights of the poor. The right wing army and the leftist guerillas both laid down their arms and transferred their debate to the political arena. They agreed to use voting booths rather than guns.

Still, even today, there are scars left. The younger generation doesn’t remember these events of the 1970’s and ’80’s so well. But I heard one of the older pastors talking about her young niece, whom she loved so well, being killed as one of the innocent victims of the war. At times, whole villages were slaughtered as a show of force. This was a very sobering fact for us Americans when we heard it, because we realize that the U.S. government supported and armed the conservative troops in an attempt to keep labor costs down and maintain low prices on products going to the United States.

Though these nations, such as El Salvador, and Guatemala, and Colombia, have come a long way, there is still a big problem of trust. The scars go very deep. But still, reconciliation is growing.

As I heard about these things, do you know what I thought about? I remem-bered that our nation also fought a Civil War. It was not just about the poor, it was about people, in this country, who were actually slaves.

Now, my Browder family has been Virginians since the 1600’s. And I realize that we like to claim that the Civil War was not about slavery. But I know better. Consider that maybe one third of the people in the South were slaves themselves. To them, the war was definitely about slavery.

I have also heard people, even in my own family say, “The life of a slave wasn’t all that bad.” I have never heard a more ridiculous statement in my life. To understand the seriousness of the problem, all you have to do is to ask yourself, “Would I be willing to be a slave?” Of course, the answer is “No! I would never be willing to be a slave.” And on a given day, you might add, “And we Americans bow to no one!” As long as slavery existed, there were Americans bowing to other people. In fact, they were treated as property, like animals belonging to their masters.

These problems did not end with the Civil War. On the one hand, white southerners were mistreated by Reconstruction occupation troops. On the other hand Blacks were the victims of lynchings and mob violence. Then, segregation laws lasted well into my lifetime. Racism is still an issue. One of the powerful moments of our discussions, during our meetings with the pastors in El Salvador, was when our Hispanic United Methodist pastors from Virginia talked about what it is like to experience racism as a Spanish person in America. And these are well educated pastors, who are U.S. citizens!

So, there are still problems of racism in our community. There are scars. There are issues of trust.

When I was a pastor in Farmville, I lived in a community that had closed its public schools rather than to allow black children to go to school with white children. Talk about a community that still has some serious scars.

Several of us in Farmville, on both sides of the fence, decided that we were going to work for reconciliation. It is a long process, and it is still going on. Two things I learned were: (1) The people who need to repent, need to repent whether or not anyone forgives them. They can’t say, “I’m not going to repent until you are willing to forgive me.” And (2) People who need to forgive, need to forgive whether anyone repents or not. You can’t say, “I’m not going to forgive until they admit they were wrong.” This is a grudge, not forgiveness.

Here is another way to look at it:

There is no Gospel, no salvation of Jesus Christ without love.

There is no love without reconciliation.

There is no reconciliation without forgiveness.

There is no forgiveness without repentance.

And most important: Repentance begins with me.

Would you repeat that with me? Repentance begins with me!

Repentance begins with me, Mike Browder. I need to get busy repenting. And I want to do it, because the eternal fate of my soul depends on it. Repentance begins with me.

The Bible says that Christ has given us a ministry of reconciliation. That’s why Jesus died on the Cross. That’s what we remember at Holy Communion. Because Jesus died on the cross, when we repent of our sins and come to him, we are no longer sinners destined for hell. We are reconciled with God, and given a fresh start.

Because, by grace, we have been given salvation and reconciliation with God, Christ now calls us to share that love and reconciliation with others.

Where do you need reconciliation in your life? Do you need to be reconciled with God? Is there something that is holding you back and keeping you from belonging to the Lord? Are you estranged from another person? Is there somebody you need to forgive? Is there something you need to ask forgiveness for? Something you need to repent of? Do you struggle with prejudice, or racism?

Do you need to improve on your relationship with other people? Do you need to repent? I know I sure do. Repentance begins with me. The Bible says, “Now is the time. Today is the day.” We are coming to receive Holy Communion. We come to repent of our sins, and to be washed clean by the blood of Jesus Christ, and to be made completely new again. Pray about these things as you come to receive Holy Communion. Let this be the moment when you are set right with God. Let this be the time when you are reconciled with other people. Amen.