Confrontation, Conversation and Healing

Children of Peace

“Peace from above” - Amani ya Juu

Keep your tongue from evil

    and your lips from telling lies.

Turn from evil and do good;

    seek peace and pursue it.

Psalm 34: 13-14 (NIV)

But let justice roll on like a river,

    righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Amos 5:24 (NIV)

It has been a tragic couple of weeks of deadly confrontation.  We have been drawn into debates with complicated choices.  What do we all want?  Where is the common ground?  Where is the path of healing?  The answers are unclear from our media driven culture.  The answers are unclear in our violent responses. 

If we believe the psalmist, it starts within each of us speaking the truth that moves us to “seeking”!  We have seen examples of this reconciliation in the context of truth telling.  We have come to understand our interconnectedness in the concept of “Ubuntu”!  We have been forgiven and have a mission of healing that comes from our deepest beliefs and longings for peace and justice.

Today, let us look for those “connections” that are the basis of conversation and see our conversation as an opportunity and a gift.  We can have healing, if we live generously out of those relationships.  It is a divine promise!

Shalom,

Marvin

References 

Battle, M. (2009). Ubuntu: I in you and you in me. Seabury Books.

Hage, M. L. (2012). Healing and Violence. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/12/healing-and-violence.html

Tutu, D., & Tutu, M. (2014). The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World. HarperOne

Telling the Story

Come and hear, all you who fear God;

    let me tell you what he has done for me.

Psalm 66:16 (NIV)

I have read two wonderful books, Endurance and Deep, Dark, Down that describe survival of two very different groups of men.  The stories are true, complicated and instructive to all of our ordinary lives!

What is similar in both reports is the importance of being able to tell the story.   These very talented authors have been able to listen and read the accounts to craft a story of healing and salvation.  Both authors describe the critical importance of leadership and  the importance of “others” in the task of survival.  Both describe the miracles of faith and hope.

Like the authors, we have the wonderful privilege to listen and tell the stories of healing and with that opportunity we also find meaning and healing in our own lives!

Marvin

References

Lansing, A. (2014). Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage (Anniversary Edition ed.). Basic Books

Tobar, H. (2014). Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Hage, M. L. (2010). An International Healer Parable. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2010/10/international-healing-parable.html

Hage, M. L. (2011). Pilgrimage and Healing. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2011/02/pilgrimage-and-healing.html

Hage, M. L. (2012). God, Trials and Fears. Retrieved from http://healingagents.blogspot.com/2012/04/god-trials-and-fears.html