No way back

Seventy years is a long time. A very long time. It’s been seventy years since God’s people were exiled from Jerusalem and the temple ransacked and the city destroyed. Seventy years since family and friends and neighbours were massacred. And now they are being invited to return, to rebuild their lives, to re-establish their identity…..

It’s been seventy years since the atrocities of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. Seventy years since the Jews were exiled from their homes and their synagogues burnt and their neighbourhoods destroyed. Seventy years since family and friends and neighbours were sent to concentration camps to live in horrific conditions and die a terrible death. Imagine the survivors now being invited to return to their homes, to rebuild their lives, to re-establish their identity…..survivors who have tried to forget, tried to forgive, tried to move on…..how could there possibly be a way back?

They say that time heals. Maybe that is sometimes true. Maybe time adds perspective; maybe time can dilute the immediacy of overwhelming emotions; maybe time creates a healthy distance and detachment from the pain and suffering caused……

But sometimes it feels like it has been too long. That there is no way back. That the stories told over the generations have taken on a life of their own and fuelled prejudice and resentment. That bitterness has take a strong hold and cannot be uprooted. That things have changed. People have changed. It’s too late.

I believe there is always a way back. That reconciliation lies at the core of our being as humans. That the hope that things can be better and relationships restored and damage undone is what drives us forward. There are stories of powerful reconciliation from Nazi Germany, the period following the release of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, the bombings in Northern Ireland, the air raids on ravaged Coventry (http://www.coventrycathedral.org.uk/wpsite/reconciliation/). Do a bit of research. Let your heart be moved by these stories. Open your heart to the possibility of reconciliation.

And reconciliation lies at the heart of our Father God – it’s what He’s all about – just look at the parable of the Prodigal Son again if you need reminding of that.

I’m not stupid. I know nothing can ever be the same again. I know it takes two. I know that boundaries are sometimes necessary to prevent continued abusive harm.

But I’m a believer. I believe in restoration and reconciliation and rehabilitation. This yearning lies at the core of who I am. It drives me forward. I believe in better. I couldn’t tell you what better looks like but I do know ‘there must be more than this.’

So maybe you have walked away from your faith, a friendship group, a family member, a team, a workplace, a church……maybe you have been hurt or have hurt someone else……maybe you’re waiting for someone else to act first….maybe it was yesterday…..maybe it was twenty years ago…….maybe you do not believe there is a way back. It’s been too long. It was too big a deal. You are not prepared to go there. You’re not prepared to risk getting that hurt again. You have no hope.

Just reflect today on an invite to reconciliation…..what would that look like for you? How do you feel about it? Can you begin to believe it is possible? Do you even want it to be possible? Or are you happy to live with ‘No Way Back’?

And what happened in our story in Ezra 1? –

Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. All their neighbours assisted them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts, in addition to all the freewill offerings.  Ezra 1:5-6