The Ernesto Verdeja’s book Unchopping A Tree immediately touched my imagination. So many times, it seems like reconciliation efforts begin after the tree is chopped down. That appears to me to be too late. What can you do with a chopped down tree but utilize it in some personal way because it no longer has life flowing through its veins?
It seems mysterious that somehow we could “unchop” a tree! But, that is exactly what Ernesto Verdeja purposes. I have always appreciated the Corinthian passage (II Corinthians 5:18) that reminds us that we have been given, “…the ministry of reconciliation.” But to think of it in terms of unchopping trees seems pretty overwhelming. Maybe that is the point. Without God, this ministry is beyond me. Not only do I need to be reconciled to God but God has called me to commit to this ministry, That requires that I yield my power to God’s hands because this will take a miracle. I cannot do miracles.
That is exactly the point. That is why reconciliation is such an attractive calling. It really can only be done in partnership with God and through the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. God did the miraculous by reconciling us to himself through Christ. Now, we have the opportunity to enjoy the miracle of a ministry of reconciliation.
In his book, Ernesto calls us to conceptualize reconciliation as “…a condition of mutual respect among former enemies, which requires the reciprocal recognition of the moral worth and dignity of others. It is achieved when previous, conflict-era identities no longer operate as the primary cleavages in politics, and thus citizens acquire new identities that cut across those earlier fault lines.“ (p.3)
I believe a key element in his call to understand reconciliation is “mutual respect.” Respect for the other is key for reconciliation. I can do conflict resolution with someone but not really care about them once I have completed the process. But the Good Samaritan and this definition call me to actually care about what happens to my former enemy in reconciliation.
That is why forgetting and letting bygones be bygones is not enough. That lacks respect and caring for the other. Reconciliation moves beyond forgetting to actually caring. Such caring allows the reconciled to be connected in the flow of life. The tree once chopped down in anger is returned to its role of lifegiving and the very one who chopped it down is a friendly advocate for the once brutalized tree.
Caring carries with it concepts of truthfulness, naming the violence, repentance, forgiveness, restoration, healing and so many other components that create a full orbed reconciliation. I cannot mimamize the damage done. I must be truthful about the past. But in this ministry, I find a restoration that begins to shape the future in hope. That chopped tree becomes a tree planted by streams of lifegiving water and yields fruit and continues to abide in full foliage. (Psalm 1:3) It is a particular tree. One once an enemy that was chopped and fallen but now stands unchopped as a symbol of the miracle of reconciliation.
Thank you, Ernesto, for that image. Every time I see the word reconciliation, the unchopping of trees will come to mind. For a man who grew up in the mountains of Idaho and who is the son of a logger, that is a powerful image indeed. Unusual, a miracle really but that is the business of God. Miracles … unchopping a tree.