As my hubby will tell you, i am a little obsessed with churches and cathedrals. I love them, i love walking through them marvelling at how people try to build something that will, in some small way, impress God. I love the atmosphere of churches and some of my favourite memories of different trips are the incredible churches i have seen...
When googling "reconciliation" the image i posted yesterday comes up.
What an incredible piece of art that is... It really touched me and i think it embodies reconciliation in a way my words struggle to...
It is set in the garden of coventry cathedral, UK.
Coventry cathedral was destroyed in 1940 by bombs dropped by the luftwaffe. The next morning the decision was made to rebuild the cathedral with the intention that it not be an act of defiance, but a sign of faith and hope for the future of the world. The provost at the time, Dick Howard, made a commitment to forgiveness and reconciliation with those responsible. From this decision grew a reconciliation ministry.
See more about this at: http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/about-us/our-reconciliation-ministry.php
What an awesome response!
Dresden Cathedral, in Germany, was also destroyed during the war, but obviously by the Allied forces, not the Luftwaffe. As part of Coventry Cathedrals message of forgiveness and reconciliation they presented Dresden Cathedral with a cross in 2005.
Read the Coventry litany of reconciliation: http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/about-us/our-reconciliation-ministry/coventry-litany-of-reconciliation.php
Cool example of forgiveness and reconciliation!
It's interesting how I immediately associate 'reconcilliation' with being a purely South African issue - it is clearly not! Thanks for the insight and I'm looking forward to reading more!
ReplyDeleteHooray! Glad you're blogging, Kath - I look forward to reading your thoughts and having a dialogue about reconciliation.
ReplyDeleteGreat post - it poses the question of when we decide to "do" reconciliation. For the members of this church, it was in their darkest moment, when it would've been easier to respond out of some motive for revenge. Especially being Christians - because some Christians have had something violent happen to them, and have used their faith as the thing to sustain them in their quest for revenge (hat tip: George Bush and US Evangelicals).
So the choice of how to respond isn't a clear-cut "I'm a Christian so therefore I'll respond in a particular way." It's something else...or perhaps, a particular kind of Christianity...or attitude.
I get a bit obsessed with them too Kathy, from a craftsmanship perspective - hope you can see Beverley minster (at home) some time :)
ReplyDelete