Reconciliation Day chance to bridge faith gaps 


    Reconciliation Day, October 4, is a new holiday spreading across Indiana and the nation from right here in Columbus. 
    It began in 2005, when delegates from Columbus Interfaith Forum attended a religious conference in Amritsar, India. 
    There, they met delegates from Columbia who talked about how they celebrated forgiveness and reconciliation on the feast day of St. Francis. That seemed like a great idea. One thing led to another, and it turned into a local project that has been gaining attention regionally and nationally, as well. 
    The Interfaith Forum is an informal group of local lay people and some clergy, reaching across the faith spectrum. It’s not an organization you sign onto. It’s a gathering you show up for. 
    They meet the first Wednesday of each month. September’s meeting was typical, though attendance was extra-high because they provided lunch.(One thing I’ve learned about clergy over the years, is that if you feed them, they will come.) 
    As always, they began the meeting with a faith question. September’s was a biggie: “What do you or your faith tradition believe about the afterlife?” 
    My Unitarian Universalist take was that I hadn’t a clue what’ll happen after my death, but that “I trust.” I can’t imagine a God who could be cruel, or who could spend eternity torturing somebody for an honest opinion, doubt, or question. 
    Christians talked about loving the mystery and about reconciliation and reunion with God and Jesus. Hindus talked about reincarnation. Buddhists talked about oneness. Sikhs mentioned that we shouldn’t be so focused on the afterlife, we forget to practice ethical virtues in this life. 
    All good stuff, as far as I’m concerned. It wasn’t about agreeing with each other or who was right and who was wrong. It was about listening to one another, trying to understand one another, and working to get along. Even when we don’t agree. 
    Because—whatever the afterlife might be like, do we really think we can achieve eternal bliss if we haven’t learned to get along right here in this world? Do “we” really think God’s job is to punish all those who disagree with “us,” and populate Heaven only with people who do agree with “us?” On everything? Given human nature, that’s likely to result in a Heaven with a population of one. 
Now more than ever 
    On this nasty election year, it seems to me, this is particularly important. Human beings are going to disagree and argue. It would be nice if we could keep the argument civil, but we often don’t even seem able to do that. 
    I’ve had my lapses, too. There might be those who can discuss even the most divisive subjects without ever getting hot under the collar. I’m not always one of them, either. 
    So there has to be a place for forgiveness. There has to be room to make mistakes. Not just to admit one’s own mistakes, but to rise above being vengeful when someone else makes a mistake. 
    That’s where Reconciliation Day comes in. It’s a day for acknowledging how important our fellow human beings are to us: family, friends, bosses, co-workers. To appreciate what is good, and to begin to mend what is broken. 
    There will be a full evening of events at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church on October 4, to celebrate Reconciliation Day. It’s meant to be “an evening of healing, conversation, and music,” which reaches across lines of faith and belief. It will begin with a religious service at 5 p.m., followed by a soup and bread dinner at 6:10, and a concert for peace and reconciliation at 7:15. 
    Celebrations will take place in 53 African and Asian nations, several cities and towns in Indiana, and in Louisville and Chicago, as well. It’s not a totally new idea, of course. All any holiday does, is remind us of something important. 
    Needless to say, peacemaking can be tough work. Anyone who has gotten hurt by a really dysfunctional family member, co-worker, or congregant, knows that good intentions can backfire. 
    On the other hand, we need to be the managers of our own hearts. You can’t control the way somebody treats you, but you can control how you treat them. Forgiveness doesn’t mean surrender or sacrificing yourself to somebody’s dysfunction. It does mean acting out of your own strength and wholeness. 
    This October 4 — and always — that’s worth thinking about. 
The Rev. Dennis McCarty is a Unitarian Universalist minister in Columbus. His opinions are his own, and not necessarily shared by members of his church. He can be reached by e-mail at columnists@therepublic.com. 


Rev. Dennis McCarty