by Brad Dennis
The word reconciliation means many different things to different people. To governments, reconciliation means one thing, but likely something entirely different to the people who’ve been hurt by wrongs. As I stand at the site of the Port Alberni Indian Residential School, where my father and many other innocent children were brutally harmed and killed by those who vainly took on God’s name using “christianity” as a cloak for covetousness, I struggle to see how these injustices could ever be fully reconciled. The Bible speaks of what it takes to be fully reconciled with God. Jesus said in Matthew 5:21 & 23, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift [to me].” God’s way of reconciliation means that we recognize our immense need for His self-sacrificing gift of restoration with Him. This recognition of our need, also makes us willing to sacrificially be reconciled to those who we’ve harmed. The multigenerational impact of residential school challenges me to decolonize myself and ensure that the legacy doesn’t continue. This message gives me hope because not only does it apply to me but also to those who have benefited from the harm committed against my people. The Bible tells me “You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” This is the kind of House in which I want to live with my Creator of Love in leadership.