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Pray, Reconcile, Repent

Prompted by conflicts at General Theological Seminary and elsewhere, the Rev. Scott Gunn writes at his Seven Whole Days weblog:

We must all pray, and not just for “our side” if we have one. We must anchor any hope of a future for our church in our own hope in Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us to offer forgiveness, but he also insisted on repentance. Only great wisdom and the guidance of the Holy Spirit can help us know when to emphasize one or the other in this duet.

I began this post mentioning spiritual warfare. It’s going on in our church. Good battles evil. Hope battles fear. Future battles past. How do we enter this fray?

Prayer. Reconciliation. Repentance.

When it comes to working on institutional health, by all means, let’s look at technical fixes. Let’s bring in experts. We should use every analytical tool at our disposal and every organizational best practice we can learn. But I would encourage us all to use three things above the others.

Prayer. Reconciliation. Repentance.

Read the rest.

Image of the Close at General Theological Seminary by Beyond My Ken (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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