We were walking through Belfast in September of 2007, listening to stories of systemic hatred and marginal reconciliation. We were listening for sounds of hope believing we would surely find it in this strife weary city. However, we found that a majority of the stories told seemed to have a cynical twist, laced with a clouds of despair.
A few weeks later I was back in Seattle away from the Belfast "Troubles" and asked to share my musings at a seminar with a Catholic priest who was a part of the consultation in Belfast. As I prepared to share my observations the overwhelming sense of division and despair we had experienced struck me. The Belfast consultation did have an impact on me. The impression was much deeper than I had imagined. I was becoming painfully aware that I too needed to practice reconciliation in every part of my life and that any real movement forward in our cities toward peace would require reconciliation beyond our normal limp attempts. The fact that broken relationships within a marriage, a family, and a community keep us tainted and wounded. Of necessity, the healing of broken relationships takes us back through our broken journey, retracing our path and all of the brokeness and finally giving up our entrenched anger and bitterness.
A few weeks later I was back in Seattle away from the Belfast "Troubles" and asked to share my musings at a seminar with a Catholic priest who was a part of the consultation in Belfast. As I prepared to share my observations the overwhelming sense of division and despair we had experienced struck me. The Belfast consultation did have an impact on me. The impression was much deeper than I had imagined. I was becoming painfully aware that I too needed to practice reconciliation in every part of my life and that any real movement forward in our cities toward peace would require reconciliation beyond our normal limp attempts. The fact that broken relationships within a marriage, a family, and a community keep us tainted and wounded. Of necessity, the healing of broken relationships takes us back through our broken journey, retracing our path and all of the brokeness and finally giving up our entrenched anger and bitterness.
