Reconciliation

Texas in Africa has posted a beautiful reflection on reconciliation and the Celebration of the New Baptist Covenant in January. (It will be in Atlanta -- check out the list of speakers!!!).

It is a needed reminder for me, at least, because I sometimes get very angry when I see what is happening in the Southern Baptist Convention. I get angry because it used to be MY convention and I feel it was usurped and changed into something I cannot even recognize anymore.

But I am not sure exactly what that reconciliation should look like. While I have very strong feelings about the wrongness and un-Christlike-ness of some of the beliefs promulgated by the SBC on the one hand, I on the other do not believe that it is necessary for fellow Christians to think just as I think. Personally, I find it enriching to talk with people from other faith traditions and learn from them, even if we do not agree on every point. But I do not feel the same charity toward the SBC leadership.

A Catholic philosopher recently posted a list of "corporal and spiritual works of mercy". I don't think it is definitive or complete, but I like his emphasis on what we should do for those around us. And I like the conception of it as a sacrificial gift both to God and to the person for whom we do the "works of mercy". Here is the list:

Feed the hungry
Give drink to the thirsty
Visit the sick
Visit the imprisoned
*Instruct the ignorant
Counsel the doubtful
*Admonish the sinner
Comfort the afflicted
*Forgive all injuries
*Bear wrongs patiently
*Pray for the living and the dead

I put stars by the ones I deem most relevant to this discussion. We should "bear wrongs patiently" and "forgive all injuries", but also "instruct the ignorant" and "admonish the sinner". And of course, always, "pray for the living and the dead".

But what do we do if we think that others are significantly leading fellow believers astray?