Reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:17-19New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

Verse 17 in this passage is one that makes my heart soar every time I've said it in a worship service.  Have you said this passage in worship before?  When you say it, how does it affect you?  Or does it?

Or maybe you've said it and just wondered exactly what new creation is happening and then maybe after that you've wondered, "what's up with this ministry of reconciliation?"

There's certainly some theology going on here, but if you strip it away to it's bare essentials, you get to the reason it makes my heart soar to say it:

God's intent isn't for brokenness to exist and carry on.  God's work - whether you want to call it the Kingdom of God, the Commonwealth of God or the Kin-dom of God, is all about bringing the brokenness together.  Reconciliation.  Renewal.  Revival.  Reunion.

Not just within us.  Not just within our churches.  But within the world. 

In Christ God began this work of reconciliation, and has entrusted that reconciliation to us. God's work - Christ's work - is ongoing and we are meant to be sent out to proclaim it.  And the goal of the work is to bring together all that is fractured and make it whole.

Make it perfect.  That's what perfection is to God - wholeness.

It makes my heart soar to say it on a personal level because when I'm just feeling broken and down, knowing that God wants something new for me is just what I need to hear.

And it makes my heart soar when I see all that is broken still in this world and I know that God is working it out.  That the brokenness can not and will not win.  That God loves this world and me and you so much that everything will be made new and right and reconciled and whole.

Holy God, send me out to spread your message of hope and reconciliation.  Everything old has passed away!  See, everything has become new!  Amen