Reconciliation Series Pt. 1

It is still much in order to express celebratory tones of congratulations to Jamaica, the place that I have made my home since 1998 and had always admired from my primary school days on her Jubilee independence anniversary. 

When the noise of the proposed celebrations began to increase in decibels earlier this year two things jumped out at me like a compressed spring suddenly released. One was the question of the extent to which the church in Jamaica would find in this year's celebration an occasion to connect the dots of history for her youth members and adherents in a context where everything about the way their world is ordered elevates the here and now.  The other was the palpable silence of the church on the usage of the term jubilee and the attendant mass ignorance of her constituents to the depth and superlative implications for life in community that this Hebrew concept and practice implied.

It was therefore with intense joy that I learned of the plans and subsequently shared in the execution of the Jubilee Pastoral Retreat at the Jamaica Theological Seminary. That joy was escalated with the profound treatise by Rev. Garnett Roper on the year of Jubilee and the ways in which we as a people can ensure that indeed and in fact 2012 can be made to be the year of Jubilee for Jamaicans.  That the sermon series on said subject is recorded both in audio and print for posterity should not be taken lightly. I wish to publicly express deep appreciation to this servant of God who ensured that the church in Jamaica had a voice, an able voice, and perhaps escaped without much egg on her face as a result of her not leading the way to bring the nation to grapple with the matters arising from using the term jubilee to caption her 50th independence celebrations.

In painting clearly for us the requirements of Jubilee we were confronted by Scripture with the need for debt free loans, debt forgiveness and the release of prisoners.  The values of liberty, equality and fraternity were also shown to be at the heart of sustainable community life.  Given the touchstone impact that the just concluded Jubilee series has had on me and the immense practical relevance to Jamaica and the region it seems prudent for me to raise with us for further consideration a matter arising: The dire need for reconciliation. 

The overarching text  for this series will be 2 Cor. 5: 14- 21:

2: Cor. 5: 14 The love of the Messiah controls us, for we are convinced of this: that one person died for all people; therefore, all people have died. 15 He died for all people, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the one who died and rose for them.
 16 So then, from now on we do not think of anyone from a human point of view. Even if we did think of the Messiah from a human point of view, we don't think of him that way anymore. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in the Messiah, he is a new creation. Old things have disappeared, and-look!-all things have become new!
 18 All of this comes from God, who has reconciled us to himself through the Messiah and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 for through the Messiah, God was reconciling the world to himself by not counting their sins against them. He has committed his message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are the Messiah's representatives, as though God were pleading through us. We plead on the Messiah's behalf: "Be reconciled to God!" 21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that God's righteousness would be produced in us.

Ours is a broken world. Conflicts, wars, feuds, disagreements are part of the landscape. An estimated 35 - 40 million casualties of war are recorded for the 20th century alone.  This results from the alienation which plagues mankind. We're alienated from God, from ourselves and from each other.  Without reconciliation there is no hope for us. Despite God not needing to be reconciled to us He took the initiative to reconcile us unto Himself for our sake.  In the emphatic, triumphant declaration on the cross, "It is Finished" Jesus makes it possible for us to be reconciled to God and thus to ourselves and others.  All other religions says 'get to work,' the Christ of the Christians says 'It is finished.'  Over the next three weeks we will examine the need for reconciliation with God, The barriers to human relations that Jesus broken down and the need to be reconciled with each other.  Today we start with the foundation, the need to be reconciled with God.