Unity in Diversity
“Reconciliation has to do with our personal relationship with God and that this is connected to relationships with others” (De Gruchy, 2002:19)
De Gruchy askes in Reconciliation: Restoring Justice whether one must primarily be reconciled with God, irrespective of reconciliation with the alienated ‘other’, or if the latter is an essential element in reconciling with God? (2002:19). But what I’d like to add is reconciliation with oneself. This element of reconciliation should never be undervalued.
This past week we spent some time in Worcester where a bomb blast in 1996 brought annihilation of lives and I’ve found that many people still tussle, after reconciling with others, to reconcile with themselves. On the other side of the media lens people still live un-reconciled and without restitution in Worcester. This is because reconciliation is a lifelong process. It’s forgiving each morning. Hoping each morning. Sometimes being fuming again each morning. Having harmony each morning. Loving yourself each morning. Forgiving God each morning, for some.
One morning we visited a school for multi-disabled kids.
There she lay.
Blind.
Deaf.
She didn’t even know we entered nor left the room even though we touched her back. She didn’t know us. See us. Hear us. Didn’t know I am white. Doesn’t know she is black.
Hope is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words.
And never stops—at all—
And sweetest in the Gale is heard.
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land
And on the strangest Sea
Yet never in Extremity
It asked a crumb for me. – Emily Dickinson’s Poem
(Greer, 2001:9)
Where is this hope which Dickinson declares ‘sings’, is ‘heard’ and askes for ‘a crumb’ in the little blind-deaf girls life? What is reconciliation for her? What is restitution for her?
I really don’t know. I don’t understand the differences between these different reconciliations where one is the life of a blind-deaf girl and the other is the restitution for the apartheid years.
I am torn between these questions surrounding reconciliation. I sit with these many questions seeing none of them answered. What I did see though is that the family I stayed with forgave the bomb planters despite their pain. In the midst of their pain they still decided, made the choice, to forgive. Forgiveness is a necessity for them if they want their lives to ever continue.
In my life I have hurt many people. Just last week I broke a heart. Just last week I told good family of mine that they are immature. Just last week I betrayed Jesus three times. Just last week I walked away from a blind-deaf girl and went on with my life like nothing changed.
This week it is my choice to forgive and to except forgiveness.
I don’t know what to do with all this rumbling in my heart, but what I do know is that I have a choice to make, a hard one. I can choose to see our nations differences. Or I can choose to see that we are more the same than different. To see our diversity. A rainbow with many colours but one bow.
Unity in our diversity.
I don’t really know or care if we should first be reconciled with God or the alienated ‘other’, but what I do quite strongly believe is that reconciliation, whether with the past politics, our alienated ‘other’, the church or ourselves is necessary. It is a necessity to forgive. It is a necessity to love our neighbour. It is a necessity to love who is not our neighbour. It is a necessity to hear the story from the other side. It is a necessity to try again again. It is a necessity to reconcile. It is a necessity to reconcile with other. With yourself. With God.
It is a necessity to hope.
Bronne
De Gruchy, J.W. 2002.Reconciliation: Restoring justice. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Greer, R.A. 2001. Christian hope and Christian life. New York: Crossroad Publishers.