Reinventing Reconciliation

Helping a church in conflict has served to remind me how difficult and misunderstood reconciliation is. Some people seem to believe that reconciliation is a weak, cowardly response to whatever wrongdoing is at hand. Instead of addressing the wrong, they believe that reconciliation is a cop-out:  “Don’t worry about it! It’s all good. Let’s just be friends.”  Therefore they fight against reconciliation, or at least stand idly by hoping for it to pass. Others view reconciliation as a one-sided venture. “Well, the way I see it that person did me wrong. I hope that some day they come here to reconcile with me.”