A reflection on the journey to 2010

by Bernard Thorogood

 

We know the texts so well -

One Lord, one faith, one baptism

The ministry of reconciliation

One that the world may believe

and yet the reality strains us,

divisions between us resist, change

and threaten uneasy unities.

 

How do we offer the gospel of Christ?

Through him God chose to reconcile

the whole universe to himself,

making peace through the shedding

of his blood on the cross,

to reconcile all things, whether on earth or in heaven

through him alone.

But through a broken fellowship?

through barriers at the holy table?

through unforgiven histories?

through opposing visions of the Kingdom of God?

 

The wonder is that our witness

is not entirely wasted though we are

such inadequate servants of the Word.

How much more could the Spirit

touch our fractured human life

if the church were one company

in mutual acceptance and joy?

 

Perhaps it is only the cry of the bereaved

which will energise our hierarchies,

our theologians and all of us

who claim the name of Christ

to see how small are our claims on truth

before the reality of loneliness and loss.

And that's the cross.