Granny's Bay, Long Bay Regional Park, March 2023
A major slip closed the track out to the end of Long Bay Regional Park during the terrible weather we had over summer. I hadn't been up there to see for myself, but it was one of a number of depressing news items for trail runners and walkers, as tracks were closing all over the place. However, with the practical help of volunteers there is an alternative route right out to the end now. What was broken has been renewed.
I have been pondering the story of Jacob and Esau this week, from the book of Genesis. There was a major rift between these two brothers, based on Jacob usurping Esau's rights as the firstborn, caused by Esau's inattention, their mother's scheming and Jacob's complicity. Jacob fled far away, but in the end needed to return home. I struggle to reconcile these Old Testament stories with contemporary ethics and fairness, but needless to say, in the midst of the dysfunctional extended family narratives, we are able to see the hand of God moving. Reconciliation occurred, and the two brothers and their clans and flocks were able to live in geographical proximity to one another once again without killing one another.
We are called to be a reconciling people, as far as we are able to right wrongs, to forgive, to live in unity as God's people. Talking to colleagues and congregation members over time, it's almost never easy. Yet we are called to it, to persevere, to fight fair, and to make peace in the love of Christ. The writer to the Hebrews references the Jacob story as he calls the church to;
Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled. (Heb 12: 14-15)
May the Holy Spirit guide us as we seek to be this returning, restoring people.