Jean Vanier was an accomplished naval officer who had recently completed a PhD, and whose family oozed with prestige (his father had been the Governor General of Canada). Yet, living in the small French village of Trosly-Breuil, Vanier was alone and downhearted. His pastor encouraged him to invite two disabled men to live with him, and L’Arche (communities where disabled and those who Vanier calls “temporarily-abled” share friendship and life together) was born. Fifty years later, L’Arche communities exist around the world.
At the center of Vanier’s work—and L’Arche’s vision—is the belief that God brings people together who would normally have little reason for friendship. The apostle Paul insists that the gospel provides for reconciliation, where barriers are shattered and people are reunited.
Reconciliation’s first movement is between God and people, bringing “us back to himself through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:18). In the second movement, God gives “us the ministry of reconciliation,” reconciling humans to one another by virtue of the life we’ve come to share in Him (2 Corinthians 5:18 ESV). Reconciliation is vertical (between us and God), and then it’s horizontal (between us and our neighbor).
Reconciliation is not first a social agenda, but God’s action in Christ. “All this is a gift from God,” Paul says (2 Corinthians 5:18). As Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice say in their book Reconciling All Things: “A Christian vision of reconciliation cannot be conceived or sustained without the particular life of the God whom Christians confess, the living God of Israel who raised the crucified Jesus from the dead. The life and preaching of Jesus shape our lives distinctly in a broken world.”
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Genesis 28:10-22
More:
Read the larger context (2 Corinthians 5:11-19). Reflect on what it would mean to no longer “[evaluate] others from a human point of view” (2 Corinthians 5:16).
Next:
What does it mean to receive God’s gift of reconciliation? How can you better offer that gift to others?
Gary Shultz on January 18, 2015 at 6:42 am
The vertical and horizontal are also clearly seen in Christ’s words to the Pharisees in Matthew 22:37-40. For me, it is good again to go back and rehearse those words, the simplest common denominator to up and down in and out (vertical & horizontal). Reconciliation through redemption, Christ ‘s work of love. Sometimes it’s nice to step back and consider the mighty work of love that was committed for us, and it was just the beginning. Thanks
Winn Collier on January 18, 2015 at 8:12 am
“just the beginning” – exactly right
Gary Shultz on January 19, 2015 at 6:44 am
I just wanted to thank you again for the mention of the prayer of Examen. It has proven to be a challenging disipline; however, a closer and more peaceful walk. Thank you
Winn Collier on February 1, 2015 at 7:51 am
You’re welcome, Gary. We’re getting ready to practice this prayer of Examen again in our church, when we enter Lent.