Place of Reconciliation

Love and faithfulness have come together, justice and peace have embraced - Psalm 85:10. I am currently at Corrymeela in Northern Ireland, so have been reflecting a lot on reconciliation, peace-making and conflict resolution. How crucial it is for the church to be a place where conflict is confronted and worked on! Too often we are too nice and sweep it under the carpet. We need to remember that Jesus was primarily concerned with the people at the margins. It is often not easy to work out the difficult issues. Justice, peace, mercy and truth all seem like good priorities. But which of the four should have priority in a given situation? What if they end up pulling us in different directions? Certainly they will not all always point us the same way. The church needs to face the challenge of these issues if it is to be authentic.