I recently upgraded my cell phone. I can email, text, browse the net, get directions, access contact numbers… the list goes on and on. Oh yea! I almost forgot – I can talk to people on the phone, too. Amazing. In the somewhat steep learning curve on operations of this phone I recently ran into a command button: RECONCILE NOW. I was intrigued.

In a certain mode it takes this command to dump into your in-box email communications that have come in since your last “reconciliation.” I’ll read the directions later, but for now it appears that RECONCILE NOW means to receive communications, or in non-geekeze, simply to listen. Interesting.

This Monday evening several of us from PUMC attended a “house meeting” created for us to listen to one another. I sat at a table with a woman from St. Andrew Catholic Parish. She shared her struggle with a son who has a mental health issue (addiction) and wondered about a community support system. Also at our table was a man from Pheonix Rising Transitions. Pheonix is an organizing effort with young men just coming out of prison. We heard stories from their members about how difficult it is to find work today, how expensive it is to go to school and how important it is to have families and a community around you to help you from falling through life’s cracks. There were maybe 30 of us all together – from churches and community groups of MACG (Metro Alliance for Common Good).

The woman at my table told a story of growing up in the Bronx. She said that in her neighborhood, children could play outside in safety, that kids could come and go, and that as a teenager there were “hundreds of eyes looking out for you.” Where is there that sense of community today?

RECONCILE NOW!  Our storytelling is an effort to push toward action that can transform the old story into a new story of connection and success. Each of the 20-some institutions of MACG, churches, labor unions, community development organizations have been engaged in a “listening” season within their institution. In September we’ll gather our stories and discern opportunities. And with that work toward developing “hundreds of eyes looking out for” each other.

It’s crucial that we keep a firm grip on what we’ve heard so that we don’t drift off. If the old message delivered by the angels was valid and nobody got away with anything, do you think we can risk neglecting this latest message, this magnificent salvation? First of all, it was delivered in person by the Master Jesus, then accurately passed on to us by those who heard it from him. All the while God was validating it with gifts through the Holy Spirit, all sorts of signs and miracles, as he saw fit.  Hebrews 2:1-4 (The Message)

RECONCILE NOW  – Bill