Pilgr-image 17 - Right Worship

...when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; be reconciled to them...Mt 5

So much of our energy, time, and money goes into maintaining distance from one another. Many if not most of the resources of the world are used to defend ourselves against one another, to maintain or increase our power, and to safeguard our own privileged position. Imagine all that effort being put in the service of peace and reconciliation! Would there be any poverty? Would there be crimes and wars? ...Just imagine that there was no longer fear among people, no longer rivalry, hostility, bitterness, or revenge.… We say, “I can’t imagine.” But God says, “That’s what I imagine, a whole world not only created but also living in my image.”  - Henri Nouwen

I know Henri Nouwen wasn't talking about power in the sense of our “power sources” like gasoline, coal, solar, etc.  But as I read his reflection in today’s chapter, I kept thinking about a fuel dispenser in the side of the car as pictured here.  Just as we still focus so much of our energy on resources that are diminishing and also deeply harmful to our environment, so we expend so much energy on that which continues to separate and divide us.  We hold onto the anger and hurt of a past wound.  We choose to break off relationships rather than try to find ways to reconcile.  We make assumptions about who people are rather than seeking to come to know them.  And we do all those other things that Nouwen lists - defending, power, privilege, etc.  And yes, imagine what would happen if we refocused those energies.  Imagine what would happen if we all “left our gifts at the alter” and worked on reconciliation.  Imagine.