Raspberries and Reconciliation

Five years ago yesterday I was ordained as a pastor.  Shortly thereafter, I began my first (and so far ONLY) call in a congregation.  In all honesty, the congregation had a reputation as being decidedly hard on clergy.  Because I was an older, second-career pastor and hopefully a little bit seasoned, there were people that felt I was a good candidate for this call.  I am now convinced that the Spirit was well and truly at work in the process, although I would not always have said so. 

At any rate, it was a recipe custom created for tapping into my near-pathological drive for perfection and resistance to failure.  I made my share of first-call pastor mistakes. (For the record, age and 'real-world' experience do not immunize one against those.)  Combine first-call pastor enthusiasm with a tenacious Celtic spirit and add in a little over-zealous drive to do well and well - yeah, it wasn't always pretty.  The landscape of a challenging congregation in a small community is littered with landmines and I found just about all of them.  I am lucky to still have limbs.

Early on in my journey with the congregation, a number of people took issue with my style of leadership and my gender.  Many ended up finding other communities in which to worship.  One person, in particular had a very difficult time with those qualities.  Over time, things became untenable for that person and in the midst of misunderstandings, miscommunication, and mishap they left the congregation.  We both contributed our share of fuel to the fire that had apparently burned bridges.  I tried to leave the door to conversation open, but eventually, I went on about congregational life having adopted a bit of an out-of-sight-out-of mind attitude.  I held no grudge, but also made no further effort to reconcile.

Imagine my surprise to call home from a meeting and hear from my husband that this person had dropped by the house on a summer evening bearing a half gallon of ice cream and an equal quantity of freshly-picked red raspberries.  A peace offering, they said.  The news brought tears to my eyes.

Later, when I called to say "thank you" we both apologized and asked forgiveness for the things we had done and said that wounded.  Will we be close?  Probably not.  But because we were able to ask for, give, and receive forgiveness we are reconciled to one another.  Make no mistake about it - this was not an achievement of human might and power.  It was an offering of humility and vulnerability made possible in Christ and through the Holy Spirit. I am decidedly grateful that one of us was able to be the initial instrument of the reconciling work of the Holy Spirit.  That made it possible for both of us to experience the Spirit's reconciling work.

For those of you who wonder if or where God is at work in the world - it is through moments like this.  We have been reconciled to God through and in Jesus Christ.  That reconciling love flows like a waterfall into our lives and through them to others.   We can experience reconciliation with God in the sacraments of the church - baptism, the Lord's Supper.   But it needs to spill over into the daily fabric of our lives.   And in my book - for this week, at least - nothing spells reconciliation like a little ice cream and raspberries on a summer evening.


Raspberries - an unofficial fruit of the Spirit.

Having been reconciled, may we bear fruit and be reconciling in the world.

Peace -
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