Roe Johnston
— Reconciliation
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20
When I came out of the naval service in 1946, I wanted to go into industrial relations. I'd done much studying and thinking about this important field and I felt I could help to work out some of the differences that existed between labor and management.
But in the months that followed, I experienced a rude awakening. Although there was a certain amount of success achieved at the conference table, I was dismayed by another phenomenon. Time after time I saw a constructive suggestion taken as a threat, a concession treated as ground gained on a battlefield, and a few minor difficulties magnified by suspicion into first-class problems.
I finally left industry and entered the service of the church. I had become convinced that men will never be really reconciled with each other until they are first
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reconciled to God. In the years that have followed, I have seen dramatic examples of how this works.
The church I serve in Indianapolis is located in an area of the city that is a conflux of a dozen cultural and economic groups. For this reason, misunderstanding, suspicion and tension are part of the air we breathe.
In our own church, for example, two youth groups met, which were completely different in social and economic backgrounds. One was made up of the youngsters in our old-line families that had moved to the suburbs but continued active in the church; the other was made up of kids in the immediate neighborhood who lived in near-slumlike conditions.
These two groups met at different times and did not mingle. Between them there existed the usual stereotyped attitudes and suspicions.
But one day in one of the meetings someone suggested that the two groups come together for a joint meeting.
It was quite a sight — the ivy-league suits and conservative dresses on one side of the room. And on the other, girls in sweater and skirt combinations and boys in black jackets. But after the atmosphere had thawed, there was discussion, frank exchange of opinion and worship. And each group found that members of the other group were not such "squares" after all.
Out of that meeting and others that followed, there developed a Teen Council to plan programs to interest other teenagers in the neighborhood. A Teen Canteen was started with "Open House" in the church basement every Friday and Saturday night. A dozen activities were offered and a snack bar stocked with light refreshments.
Our neighborhood is a tough neighborhood and in
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the beginning it was almost necessary to "frisk" the "hoods" that drifted in with their girls, in order to stop the surreptitious drinking. Once there was a full-scale rumble on the front lawn of the church that had to be broken up by the police.
But, little by little, those who had become reconciled to God and then to each other began to spread the contagion of their reconciliation to the wider circle beyond. "What's the church doing this for?" boys and girls, who had known nothing like healthy recreation or Christian concern, began to ask.
When a nearby place of business practically sponsored teen-age prostitution, the Teen Council at the church went into action. Together with officers of the juvenile aid division of the police department, this "organized immorality" was brought to a stop. A point of interest: many members of the Teen Council who fought this evil had police records themselves, going back to the years before the church reached them.
What happened was this: they had become reconciled to God. Reconciliation means to be "won back." All of us have come from God and we are exiles until somehow we get back to Him.
The task of winning us back was taken on by Jesus Christ. This was the reason He came. This was the point of His teaching. This is the deepest meaning of His cross.
As we freely accept from Him the forgiveness and new life He offers, we find that we are back with God. As one teenager said about the Teen Canteen after a long absence, "This feels like coming home."
We "come home" to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Then an amazing thing happens. We find that we have been entrusted with the "message of reconciliation"
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and must pass it on to others. There is no sense of superiority in this. Basically, Christianity is one hungry man telling another hungry man how to find bread, with this difference: the "bread" of reconciliation multiplies as we share it. And it completely satisfies.
Prayer
Gracious Father in Heaven, we thank You for Your Son Jesus Christ who brings us out of darkness into the light of Your presence. Help us to pass on the precious message of reconciliation that others also may know peace of heart and "come home" to You. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Roe Johnston was an All-American football player with Navy. Pastored a Presbyterian church in San Francisco. Honorary Trustee, Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
