A Message from Rev. Maya Landell

As I pray into this Sunday, Chapter 14: A Kingdom Torn in Two:

The Story-chapter 14 a kingdom torn in two
I am holding the places in our lives where we are torn apart – in our minds, between families, across cultural, political and religious contexts. I am prayerful for work of the Interfaith Circle as they draw us into time of learning “that we may know each other.” As I struggle with the continued conflict in our scriptures, seeing the tribes of Israel split, and animosity grow nation to nation, sibling to sibling, priests to kings to prophets, I wonder what reconciliation looks like, both personally and communally. Is history repeating itself? Are we prepared for this work of reconciliation? How can we each take leadership, and who are we mentoring?

I love the following text taken from Reconciling All Things by Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice. I hope it speaks into the state of our world and our lives:

The Work of Reconciliation
There is no reconciliation without conversion, the constant journey with God into a future of new people and new loyalties. Broken by sin, we do not long for what God wants. The world and its dividing lines such as nation, ethnicity, race, sex, power, and caste resist the new creation of God’s beloved community where there is “neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female” (Galatians 3:28). Self-interest easily becomes the goal of relationships, and loyalty to one’s own group easily becomes the aim of politics. Reconciliation thus requires a transformation of desire, habits, and loyalties. This is a long and costly journey which seems impossible without God’s forgiveness and grace. But there is reason to hope: God has promised to give us everything we need for this transformation.

We pause in the Silence… with prayers to receive the openness and will to be transformed, to be prepared to listen, weep, and reconcile, and to lean into Christ’s hope…Amen.
Grateful we are connected through this community of faith that is embracing this transformation in so many ways.

See you Sunday,
Rev. Maya