The Anatomy of Reconciliation

A group of folks assembled at St. Gregory's to watch & reflect on a conference all the way across the country.  Trinity-Wall Street's annual conference this year is called the anatomy of reconciliation: from violence to healing, exploring the meaning of reconciliation under the pressing circumstances that surround us.

I was able to catch the webcast of the talk by James Alison (see my notes below), someone who many folks have recommended to me.  He was provocative, framing reconciliation as the chance to live our Resurrection, rather than a win-win way to bridge difference.  In small groups afterwards, we spent some time reflecting on Alison's message.  One thread that came thru in so many voices was how vital reconciliation is to our calling as followers of Jesus.

Christianity is about bringing people out of the hole

Re-imagining the world: being ex-lynchers stop scapegoating

 

Reconciliation falls short if we do not begin with a sense of grace & luck (majority view vs. minority view)

• Presentation      at the temple (Luke

  2:21

  -40):      God arrives in ways that majority did not expect; Simeon & Anna were      not blind-sided

 

Paul: Something Has Happened

• 2 Cor

  5:11

  – after transformation, center of      gravity/our axis shifts; what appears to be the least solid, becomes the      most
  • God       appeared to Paul not simply as Yahweh (who Paul persecuted), but as Jesus       (in flesh)
  • Paul       is shocked by the real thing taking place
• Everything      had changed, yet nothing had changed
• Jesus:      not a puppet-master, but surrenders to a concrete human action
  • Jesus       occupies place of suffering deliberately & creatively, transforming       it into new life
    • Victim        says: I know you had to do, that these are the rules of the game, but        Jesus subverted the stage
    • Stepped        into our peripheral and shifted the center
• We      have started to become a new creation

 

Relativizes identity based on being set against one another, the empire of being set against one another

• The only      way to be is to be part of
• Reconciliation      is the manner in which xians are called to be part of
  • Constantly       beseeching one another to be reconciled
• First &      root meaning of reconciliation is not moral realm, but in resurrected      Christ
  • Re-orders       what we consider what is real, ordered & stable

 

Original sin (self-fulfilling enclosure) can re-examined in the context of a reconciling Christ

• Examine      the victim that we allowed to be killed, how much we share with that      victim

 

Normality & reality must be re-defined in this context

• Only can      be seen thru the gift of faith

 

Reconciliation: starts from the experience of being forgiven, rather than the desire to being good

• Forgiveness      is the shape of being inducted into the real, not a moral thing

 

In current world, the goal is to win (and losers); reconciliation can be seen as plan B

• Reconciliation      is the way we bridge the difference (rather than defeat) or the way in      which losers are included

 

What shape does reconciliation take ?

• Taking      the place of
• A noticeable      change
• Conversion      as a re-structuring of our interior desire

 

How does the Holy Spirit transform the place of shame into a space for reconciliation

• Holy      Spirit is the creator spirit, luring us to something much richer &      unseen
  • Inflamed       by other fires, with the belief that we can both be much more

 

Reconciliation: a generosity that incites an understanding that a victory limits all

• A way      in being created happens in us
• The way      in which Jesus allowed for co-creation

 

Tumbling into the luck, happening upon a generous space

Comments

[Sobeexhs]

Replica Rolex
[url=http://www.freewebs.com/replicaro]Replica Rolex[/url]
Gift Certificate
[url=http://www.freewebs.com/giftc]Gift Certificate[/url]
Garden Decoration
[url=http://www.freewebs.com/gardende]Garden Decoration[/url]

[concert artist]

Awsome site !! keep up the good work. really liked it . check out concert artist Review site, it has music artist review along with dates of concerts in future. James Blunt Review Death Cab For cutie Review ALice cooper Review fiona Apple Review | Panic at the DiscoReview | Beach Boys Review | Goo Goo dolls Review | Alan Jackson Review | ARctic monkeys Review | Fall out Boy Review | Bob dylan Review | Michael Buble Review | Sheryl Crow Review | Avenged sevenfold Review | Brooks and dunn Review | George Michael Review | Joe satriani Review | Andrea Bocelli Review | Alkaline Trio Review | Kid rockReview | RAscal Flatts Review | All american Rejects Review | Angels and Airwaves Review | Aretha Franklin Review | Barbra streisand Review | Ben Harper Review | Celine Dion Review | George Strait Review | Gretchen wilson Review | James Brown Review | Kelly Clarkson Review | Lynyrd skynyrd Review | Mindless self indulgence Review | Pearl Jam Review | Red Hot chilli pepper tickets Review | THe Fray Review | Alice in Chains Review American Idol Review | Anthony Hamilton Review | Ashlee Simpson Review | Barry Manilow Review | Black Eyed Peas Review| Brad Paisley Review | Dave Matthews BandReview | Elton John Review | Gavin De Graw Review | Godsmack Review | Guns N Roses Review | Jimmy Buffett Review | Kenny Chesney Review | Madonna Review | Ozzfest Tickets Review | Radiohead Review | Jon Bon jovi Review | Depeche Mode Shakira Review | Willie Nelson Review |

[Chuck]

Thanks for the heads-up. Looks like all the presentations can be viewed now over the web. I'm really looking forward to listening to Sr. Helen Prejean - I heard her speak at a conference in memory of Teilhard de Chardin last year at St. John the Divine in NYC - it was breathtaking, and I've been hoping to hear her once again.

[John Wilkins]

love James Alison. Thanks for the notes. much obliged. I think he's got desire pegged and has really figured something out. oddly, I think he's the Episcopalian theologian of the day, and he's not even one.