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Passionate Reconciliation

Your goal is to "ignite a passion for reconciliation." What do women in leadership need to understand about this?

Women especially ought to take racial reconciliation seriously because we've got sisters all around the world for whom reconciliation is not an option.

What do you mean?

Wherever there has been violence, war, genocide, and atrocities the men have been dragged off, killed in war, and wounded in battle. Sons have been taken from families and left far away from homes in ditches and left for dead. The people who are left to put back the pieces, often after having survived trauma themselves of being raped and having seen their family members killed, are women.

It's true in South America; it's true in South Africa. It's the mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters who have gone to find the dead, who are there who are left behind to rebuild the community, who's there to say, "Let's stop the violence; let's stop the fighting; let's stop the killing. Let's forgive; let's extend grace; let's get on with life." It's those women who bear new children and keep a hope alive.

Wow. So how are they able to do this?

It's amazing the strength of women, and it's amazing what God is doing with women. I want to ignite a passion because while we may see ourselves as the weaker vessels or perhaps as lesser, I'm telling you, God uses women.

Look at the Bible: The first person to come to the tomb is Mary. It's a same kind of a notion that where the dead was buried, she was able to ask, "What really happened? What's the real story?" She was willing to look at it, willing to face it. I think that that's the kind of strength that I'm experiencing as I learn about women around the world. And it is igniting a passion in me.

So what's a woman to do with her ignited passion?

Well, if we're going to have credibility in the earth, it has to because we're thinking people, not just passionate people. That passion has to be fueled by being well informed. And it's not just being emotionally driven. That's what I want people to know about reconciliation. It's not just something that is the flavor of the month or something that I just happen to have a fire about.

It's really something that's rooted in what we understand about God. We need to slow down enough to hear God and to study Scripture, because we are motivated by what the Word of God calls us to. And I think we've got to figure out if God calls us to reconciliation. Is the kingdom of God really made up of people who are different from each other, but they still get along? Is that what the kingdom is supposed to be about? And have we really been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation? And if we have, what does that mean? And what does it look like?

Because many of us really don't think it's something that we're supposed to do. It feels like it's something that we'll get to after we take care of youth ministry or worship and evangelism and missions. And then if we had a special interest category maybe we'll deal with reconciliation. Like an elective.

That's a good point. And reconciliation is basically the essence of Christianity. You know? Christ came so we could be reconciled.

Exactly. And so the way we've made it palatable to us is that we only talk about one type of reconciliation being reconciled to God. And so we preach about that - and we're real clear about that, but we don't really understand that that's only one axis of the truth. That we've been reconciled to God is the "vertical axis" of that truth. But in the same act of crucifixion and resurrection, we were also reconciled to each other. And it's that horizontal access that causes us to become people of the cross.

October02, 2007 at 12:43 PM

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