Thursday, 24 July, 2003

We continue a brief walk with some material on reconciliation by Walter Wink.



Wink writes,

…I led a workshop on nonviolence with a group of South African church leaders, half of them black. Every black person there had been tortured, and all had forgiven their torturers. One reason they might have done so is admittedly pragmatic. Hatred destroys the soul, and no matter how deserving of revenge the enemy may be, to continue to carry the desire for vengeance is simply to roast in your own fire. Forgiveness lifted a huge burden off their souls. It freed them from the crushing weight of a rage that could destroy them. For their own sakes they needed to forgive, so that their souls could soar free of the power of the past to consume them, beyond the power of the torturer to continue to dominate their minds.



“Hatred destroys the soul.” When you think about it, someone who has been wronged is wronged in a double fashion when hatred continues to rule in that person’s life. For now, hatred takes life away from the victim and there can be no resurrection for we stay locked in the tomb and forget about God’s power to raise the dead and bring about a whole new life. Now, as you might expect, letting go of hatred is not an easy life task. To make our souls – the very core of our being – soar takes the power of our God. Resurrection does not happen just by willing it. We are liberated from the power of death by the one who has destroyed death. Therefore we must continue to pray for the establishment of peace even when there is no peace – and to pray for such a thing demand the Spirit’s presence in the first place.



Connection: Before the “crushing weight of a rage destroys you” pray for the Lord of the Resurrection to bring what is promised – life.



By your power to make all things new, O Lord, liberate us from the power of death and hatred. We are so fragile that pain makes us want to inflict pain upon those we see as perpetrators in our lives. Deliver us from this pain that leads us into darkness so that we may rise to the new life you have promised for all your beloved children. Amen.