Our special offering will be taken on September 26, 2021, and October 3, 2021.  Your advocacy and financial support are much appreciated. 50% of your gift to Reconciliation Ministry returns to the Region to support grants, education, and our reconciling ministry.

Resources

A Parallel Journey
Disciples Peace Interns Launch a “Parallel Journey” Anti-Racism Bible Study Resource in Collaboration with Reconciliation Ministry

21 Days of Prayer

Books Published by Chalice Press

Reconciliation Ministry Website

In 1996, the Reconciliation Ministry’s initiative was conceived based on a vision for the church as a place “where brothers and sisters of all races, languages, and cultures will grow towards God’s glorious realm, where all have a place at the table, and none shall be turned away.”

Yet here we are 25 years later, experiencing the rise of white nationalism where the color of one’s skin defines who one is and how one is to be treated.  In addition, we seem to have lost the skill to love our neighbor as ourselves by deeming our right to expose ourselves and others to the COVID virus as more important than life itself.

After hearing such news, I recently found myself thinking back to Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning. It is a short work starting with the description of his personal experience as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. The book is well worth the read. Frankl observed that Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible. The same truth applies to women. How am I responding to the realities of our world, and what responsibilities am I taking to address the patterns in our society that are taking us down paths that are not in keeping with the one I have chosen following Christ’s teachings and example?  What are we doing collectively as Christ’s followers to work toward a world ruled by love?

I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. –Viktor Frankl

The last Sunday in September and the first Sunday in October are designated as dates in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to take a special offering to support the Reconciliation Ministry. I encourage your congregation to follow this practice. More importantly, I challenge each of us individually and all of us within our fellowship of faith to assess our communities for opportunities to meet the vision of the Reconciliation Ministry quoted above. That may call you to share a meal with other communions of diverse backgrounds in your area to increase understanding. Your group may want to tutor children at the local schools who slipped behind when resources were lacking during COVID. You may already be initiating such actions or doing even more creative work to provide reconciliation. We would love for you to share them with us.  Send your stories/pictures/videos to [Michael where shall they send them]. We will share them on the Faith in Action web page. In the spring we will open an opportunity for any Disciples congregation interested to apply for grants in support of Reconciliation work provided through the proceeds of the Reconciliation Offering.

Yours in Christ,

Marilynn Knott, Chair
Faith in Action Commission