It’s all very well for the Lord to say in Matthew 5:22-24 that we should be reconciled to each other but I’m reasonably certain that his expectation was that we would therefore learn how to reconcile.
Being reconciled with your brother and sisters is hard
But let’s face it, Christians don’t, at least not nowadays. I don’t mean to suggest that Christians don’t try to be reconciled to each other, I just mean that on the whole, most churches make no attempt to learn how to go about it. Because if they did, churches would not be struggling with just that.
I remember when I was younger, our church had a constitution that actually quoted the Matthew verses, saying that everybody who joined the church, was expected to follow that as their rule. Our current one says nothing like that and it is probably fair enough. I mean just because it is written doesn’t mean that it will be followed.
I think that it is kind of interesting, that worldwide industries and organizations have spent huge sums of money learning how to put in place conflict resolution policy which is essentially the same thing and we as the church just struggle along.
Not that these policies make a lot of difference, they must make some difference or they would not continue to spend money on it; but it is impressive to see them recognize the need and do something about it. It caused me to wonder whether we as the church need such training.
How To Reconcile
One organization that I follow have written these articles:
- Fullpower Boundaries for Adults with People We Know
- Create Emotional Safety ~ Be a Powerful Positive Adult Leader
- Conscious Apologies
- Confessions of a Recovering Perfectionist
Most of these suggestions are really worthwhile and would make our fulfilment of the Matthew directive so much easier. Would it not be a wonderful thing to try and put this information into a different context? One that has or should have a chance of making it work: is the church.
