Reconciliation by bullets

The Episcopal church has in recent years and months focused more and more on promoting and talking and doing something about reconciliation. Yay! It was a big part of our missionary training, and I doubt anyone can sincerely state that it is unnecessary at this point in history.  In fact, it's been important at every point in history, but with recent media and events coverage I feel, like many, that this could indeed be a big tipping point. So I am very glad that the Episcopal church has been developing and offering resources on reconciliation for years now. There is already a whole host of resources here with info aplenty on racial reconciliation, a most critical issue in current US society.  Great resources and great people, all of which aid us as individuals, congregations, and dioceses to better educate ourselves to improve the future.

But in my time in Brazil, and especially at the GEMN conference back in May, I have been forced to confront the fact that there is not just one type of reconciliation to be talked about. In fact, by my count, there are 9, two of which have been an unavoidable reality for me this year.

DETOUR!
So back in elementary school, my class was taught about the basic literary conflict options, known as "The Big Five".  These are:

1. Man vs. Man: having a conflict with another, separate, human being
2. Man vs. Nature: for example, finding your way home on Florida interstates during a hurricane.
3. Man vs. Society: this covers struggles with any "-ism" ususally (racism, sexism, classism, etc)
4. Man vs. Self: an internal struggle, usually between what is right and what is easy
5. Man vs. Technology: the kind where the robots are coming to eat us, or you have an essay due and the lab printer runs out of ink...whatever

Back to the point!

So, as I pondered to myself about reconciliation, and this little school tidbit came to mind, I decided to use it for a frame of reference for RACHEL'S RECONCILIATION....types...drat, wanted to start that with an "R" for some wonderful alliteration. So here, as I see it, are the types of reconciliation the church, and all Christians, should be working toward:

• World to Christ: I think we even have a song about this one....
• World to the Church: lets become a church that everyone knows is about loving God and loving our neighbors
• Church to Church: if you've been Anglican/Episcopalian and awake in the last decade or so...duh
• Church to groups: especially those groups who are often overlooked, un-cared-for, outcast, or despised. In my model, this is where we would put the "-isms"  
•  Church to individuals: if people outside our church don't know we love them and God loves them, we've failed. It's as simple as that.
• Groups to groups: so even within churches there are almost always divides and/or cliques, so this is about fixing that in and beyond the church ("-isms" can fall into this category as well)
• Individuals to individuals: we all know the struggle, but they're still your neighbor, so we still gotta want to reconcile it all
• Individual to Christ: I figure this one is basically the essence of faith.  You have to know God, and you have to be working to be what God wants and made you to be, in God's image.
• Individual to self: dun dun duuuuunnnnn.  Pretty much anyone could have guessed that the one above this would be a biggie during a year of mission service, but this one...I did not see this one coming, and there's no way I would have guessed how much it is needed to facilitate the others.

So yes, while the last 2 have been big points for me this year, I've been truly astonished by the final one.  I started this confrontation well before I ever came to Brazil (proof here and here) but reconciliation is a process, not a goal, in my opinion.  Some of the things I wrote back then, I wouldn't say are as true now, but it is an evolutionary sort of thing. 

But here's the gist of it: there are millions billions of people on the face of our Earth who are dissatisfied with their physical form. This relates to gender, height, weight, shape, color, abilities, age, health, and probably more that I've forgotten at the moment.  I've personally struggled (read: AM STILL STRUGGLING REGULARLY) with every single one of those things.  So I highly doubt I'm alone in this. 

However, I do know these things:

• My physical self was fearfully and wonderfully made
• I can't switch it out...darn
• It was given to me as a gift and a blessing (and isn't it usually considered rude to despise a gift?)
• There are divine purposes laid out for us all, and we are gonna have to get them done in the bodies we currently possess.
• Life gets a lot easier if you don't spend it all hating yourself, and it gets a lot easier to love others too.

So we know, biblically, that we are made in the image of God.  We also know what God told Moses in Exodus 3:14 about the name of God. So here's what I find interesting: when asked the name of God, God replies: "I AM" 

And when we are talking about who we are, we start it all with that same phrase: "I am Rachel." and we use that phrase to add earthly labels as well: "I am tall. I am talkative. I am fat. I am stubborn. I am white. I am an Episcopalian. I am, I am, I am!"  But in all these, we forget that every thing we are, and all we are capable of, ALWAYS starts with the Great I AM. Everything after that is pretty much just earth junk, used to create earthly divisions and classifications which ultimately sever our connection with I AM.

So in order to make progress toward I AM, we have to, at ourselves and others, chose not to "shun" but "-tion" all that we each are, self included. ReconciliaTION and celebraTION are key in all this. So today, I ask you (all you out there in internet land) to ask of ourselves why we shun instead of making a celebraTION about:

• Muscles earned from working toward your priorities?
• Soft tummies and tired eyes adapting to the first days and months of parenthood?
• Huggable forms and beaming faces that reflect the importance of keeping and loving the ones God gave as family and friends?
• Freckles and tans and glowing dark skin all healthy from spending time enjoying God's creation?
• Appreciating the steady hand and patience of a perfectly winged liquid eyeliner cat eye? Or admiring those with the courage to buck social norms entirely in their appearance?
• Viewing the self expression of others on the most intimate artistic canvas of their personal form as a reflection of their history, feelings, passions, and ideals of beauty: When they're walking on air in that perfect empowering outfit? When they beam at a new permanent piece of body art, laden with meaning and love? In a perfect hairstyle that enhances their wonderful face and shows care and pride in their presentation? And even in the marks and scars that are outward signs of pivotal life moments that attest to the undeniable force of healing inherent and gifted to humankind?
• Accents as a sign of bravery for leaving comfort and security behind and venturing into the personally unknown?

This year, I have learned that what I already knew of others I must admit and hold true for myself:  every visible detail is part of a grand story of the I AM that you are, and we are universally all the more lovely for every bit of it.

#LoveWins