Namaste: I honour the Holy one who lives in you.

Good Friday service at Church was reflective and moving. I've been thinking about reconciliation since then. Following is what I've heard, looked up, thought about...
This is what reconcile means according to Dictionary.com. I wanted to be sure I understood what I was reading and understood reconciliation. The further I read and the closer I began to look at the scriptures the more I realized that I am a part of a great ministry, but also a challenging one. I can love God and be close to him, but what am I doing as a part of the ministry? How am I creating harmony and helping others?

Reconcile:

1)To reestablish a close relationship with
2)To settle or resolve
3)To bring oneself to accept
4)To make compatible or consistent
5)To cause to be friendly again; to conciliate anew; to restore to friendship; to bring back to harmony

I then read the Litany and know that I am part of the group who has sinned and I definitely fall short of the glory of God, but he still loves me and offers me grace everyday. I am truly thankful and prayerful about my place and his plans.

Litany of Reconciliation

All have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God.

The hatred which divides
nation from nation,
race from race,
gender from gender,
and class from class.

Father forgive.

The covetous desires of
people and nations to possess
what is not their own.

Father forgive.

The greed which exploits the
work of human hands and
lays waste the earth.

Father forgive

Our envy of the welfare and
happiness of others.

Father forgive

Our indifference to the plight
of the imprisoned, the
homeless and the refugees.

Father forgive

The lust which dishonours
the bodies of men, women and
children.

Father forgive

Be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one
another as God in Christ
forgave you.

Eternal God
You have come among us
in Christ to reconcile the world
to yourself, and have entrusted
us with the ministry of reconciliation.

Strengthen all who work
for the healing of conflict and
pain amongst your human family.

Bless all those in many places
who bear witness to
the grace and truth of
your crucified and risen son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 (New International Version)

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 (The Message)

^16-20Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.

What brought it all together is when I read The Message version of 2 Corinthians 5. God gave us Jesus so he could reconcile the relationship between us and him and then he "called us to settle our relationships with each other." We...I am to reconcile with others to share the love and grace God has given to me so that others can be a part of it as well. I am "Christ's representative" and speak for Christ. As I continue my journey I pray:

Strengthen all who work
for the healing of conflict and
pain amongst your human family.

Bless all those in many places
who bear witness to
the grace and truth of
your crucified and risen son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen

Namaste