Born to be reconcilers

In the first of a new series, Ruth Harvey considers creation as a story of conflict, change and reconciliation in the first three chapters of Genesis.

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WE were born to be reconcilers.

The first three chapters of Genesis, with two versions of the story of creation, and the Garden of Eden narrative, orientate us around both the goodness and diversity at the heart of creation and the conflict, pain and bitterness that is part of the human story. In other words, Genesis 1 -3 affirms three ‘creation commitments’: 1) God is present within each one of us 2) God welcomes diversity and 3) God gives us freedom.

First, God is present within each one of us. Made ‘in the image of God’ (Gen 1: 26) or ‘Imago Dei’ we are ‘imbued’ with God’s very breath (2:7), and ‘called to live compassionately and justly in the midst of all creation.’ To live justly and compassionately we seek right relationship with ourselves, with the other, with all of creation, and with God. God’s presence in our very breath reminds us each moment of every day that this call to reconciliation is part of our core charism, our ministry in everyday life. To be in right relationship with our neighbour is to “answer that of God in everyone.”

Second, God welcomes diversity. Humans are created into a world of rich plurality, (‘in our image… according to one likeness’ (1:26)) and diversity. Lest we forget this root teaching, Genesis 1 repeats the phrase ‘of every kind’ nine times (1:11, 1:12 twice, 1:21 twice, 1:24 twice, and 1:25 three times). The multi-coloured, pluralistic world into which humans are birthed is a world defined by diversity, by embracing the ‘other’. It is into this world that humans, made in God’s image, are created. Our godly path, or calling is to nurture and steward this diversity, not to fear it (1:26 – 30).

Third, God gives us freedom. We know from daily life that living together can be hard. This piece is being written in the midst of a viral pandemic. Never have we had to rely more on, or re-configure right relationships in the home, in the street, with the homeless, the vulnerable, the isolated. We don’t need the story of Adam and Eve to tell us that we live with patterns of blame, loss of identity, othering, shame, curse, punishment, fear and acts of retribution (Genesis 3). The freedom with which we are gifted is a freedom daily, and with God’s help, to right these relationships, to come close to tough stuff and to make decisions that are just, compassionate and loving for all. Our Hebrew scripture opens with a classic ‘he said/she said’ conflict: which version of the creation story is correct? Genesis 1, or Genesis 2? We may instead approach this binary not as an ‘either/or’ conundrum, but as a ‘both/and’ invitation. The opening books of our Christian testament offer us the same dilemma/gift, each book written from different perspectives and for different audiences. In the world of faith-based reconciliation, seeing the good in the other, while finding the questions to probe under the surface to uncover the complexity of feelings, history, assumptions and hurts is the journey of hope and reconciliation.

This article appears in the May 2020 Issue of Life and Work

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