A Just-before-lunch post for Saturday-before-Sunday

Why reconciliation as a focus? Here is my story, my memory of how reconciliation began to be what I refer to as something that preoccupies me.   In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew five, Jesus sandwiches reconciliation between his words on anger and worship. I am someone who has spent time holding down and denying his anger. “I was frustrated,” were my words as I denied my anger even to myself.
In contrast to my anger issue is my love of worship. Then at some point, my memory fails me as to when, these words of Jesus came into my heart and never left. “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24 ESV) Those last words – “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift”- remind me that reconciliation must precede even the worship of God. It is that important to Jesus, and vision. So maybe on Saturday I should reflect on the week and consider Christ’s “regulative” vision of worship. I do not want to have to leave a worship service because I just remembered someone described as a brother - “…if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go.” Reconciliation can start from a memory of someone who has something against you. Better we deal with those memories on a Saturday before the Sunday.
I will come back to this passage often to keep us thinking about reconciliation. Blogs are not meant to be exhaustive or the final word on a topic, just keep you coming back for more. 
The “go” in the Great Commission is not the only “go” from Jesus for his disciples. So, prayerfully review your memories and if needed, “go.” Now you can “go” to worship.

Welcome to my new blog - Oasis of Reconciliation

Welcome to my new blog – Oasis of Reconciliation.
In 2004 I moved to Dayton, Ohio to work at Wright-Patterson AFB as a chaplain. At a staff team-building workshop soon after I arrived, one of the exercises directed us to come up with a concept to represent our ministry. Mine worked out to be “Oasis of Reconciliation.” I then, in chapel services, used three Bible passages to preach nine sermons about reconciliation. After the sermon series I deployed to Balad Air Base, Iraq and served as the hospital chaplain. In the back of my mind in 2005, I knew I wanted to set up a web site. 
Now after almost three years on Facebook I am taking “Oasis of Reconciliation” to a blog. I know this is a baby step in a time when for many Facebook, with its 1 Billion friends (1/7 of the world), has drawn the attention away from blogs. I will remix past efforts of writing and work on new material. I have been preaching for over 40 years and still find new material in the ancient book, the Bible, in my life every day. So, yes, I know blogging is not preaching, but I still hope to get readers to think and reflect on their lives and choices. For some it will be to get them to disengage from auto-pilot, and for others it may be to reset a default set long ago. Those are the tech terms for living in a rut. A rut, as the old saying goes, is a coffin with both ends kicked out.
My goal will be one posting each week with a connection to the topic of reconciliation. I will have other postings on topics of interest such as movies, books, fly fishing (my first class is on the 15th), family, the church - especially my church - the PCA, education and learning, memory formation, daily life, and the gospel. I am learning about tags
I am doing this blog for myself, also. The discipline of writing for the public is one skill that does not come easy to me. I keep leaving words out or forget to use punctuation.  Yes, Celeste, my wife, will be my editor. I hope in this process to improve my writing skills. My vision is that in writing I will force myself to clarify my thoughts so others can understand them even if they do not agree with me.
A closing thought to consider: Reconciliation represents the deepest application of Christ’s atonement because it is about relationships. 

This is under construction, more to come in the coming days.