YWCA Week of Prayer

Moffatt: “It is all the doing of the God who has reconciled me to Himself through Christ and has permitted to be a minister of his reconciliation”

In the earlier chapters of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul gives us simple description of what the Gospel is. In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself not counting men’s transgressions against them. In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself – that is the Gospel. This conviction came to him as a result of his own experience. First of all, in his own life he realised the tremendous change that had come over his whole being. God, through Christ, took the initiative and reconciled the apostle to Himself. He who was at war with God was now reconciled to Him. His life was controlled now, not by hatred, but by creative love and he was reconciled to other men. While there was previously unrest and unhappiness in his mind, now there was peace and harmony. The old life has passed away and a new life has come. His instincts which were at war with one another have now come under a new controlling power. He was a new creation with a new outlook and a new love. With this experience he felt that he was called to be a minister of reconciliation. Again he realised what the Gospel was doing for the Roman Empire. That empire consisted of people of different races and different religions, speaking different languages and dialects, and following different customs and manners. There were people at different stages of culture and civilization. There were the proud philosophers at one end of the scale and the superstitious illiterates at the other. There were high caste Jews as well as untouchable gentiles, the wealthy landowner and the unprivileged slave. These various elements were kept together by force, by the Roman army, by the Roman law and by the Roman discipline. To unite these different elements into one people was not possible for any power on earth. The Romans never really succeeded in the attempt. It was left to St. Paul, the envoy of Christ, to achieve the impossible. The Gospel of Christ brought together, as members of one fellowship, the Jew and the Gentile, the philosopher and the illiterate, the Greeks and the Barbarians, the rich and the poor, the master and the slave. To St. Paul this was a supernatural thing, for it was the doing of God, who reconciled man to Himself through Christ, and the different conflicting elements to one another. To St. Paul the Gospel was a message of reconciliation, and every one who had been reconciled to God and to men was also called to be a minister of reconciliation. What is the special task of the YMCA, the YWCA, the SCM and other such associations at this time? Why have we banded together as members of an association? When we think of the YMCA or the YWCA, we must not think merely of associations we have in Jaffna. We must

think of the work the associations are doing in the world today. Whether in peace time or during war the work of these associations is the work of reconciliation. Let me mention some of the ways in which this ministry of reconciliation can be carried on in the world. Today we are in the midst of a terrible world conflict. Everywhere, there is an atmosphere of distrust, suspicion, even hatred and bitterness. We find this in our international relationships and the result is this world war. Within each nation, we find this in our inter-racial and inter- communal relationships. It is the Gospel of Jesus that can remove bitterness and misunderstanding from the minds of the people and create friendly feeling and fellowship. My friends, it is not necessary for me to say that the world is passing through a crisis. A silent revolution is taking place in the ideas of men and as a result of it changes of a far reaching nature will be effected in the spheres of politics, of economics and of social order. Even we in this little island of ours, will be materially affected by the world changes. At a time like this we are called to be ministers of reconciliation. As members of the YMCA or the YWCA, we are called upon to work unceasingly in order to bring together the various elements in the country into one fellowship. There are people of various temperaments and outlook, with different traditions and social and religious heritage. All these have to be brought together, and our associations have a wonderful opportunity of effecting such reconciliation in our country. All over the world, the YMCA and the YWCA are engaged in such a ministry of reconciliation with great success. As members of this world wide fellowship, we too are called upon to do the same in our offices, in our schools, in our parishes, in our homes and wherever we may find ourselves. It is the ministry of reconciliation to which we are called. But we must remember that if we are to reconcile men one to another, they must first be reconciled to God. ‘In Christ, God reconciled the world to Himself.’ It is by drawing nearer to God in Christ we draw near to each other. This is a fact which we sometimes forget. In order to bring about reconciliation among men we must first get them reconciled to God. No reconciliation among men will be effective or lasting unless the parties are first reconciled to God. Reconciliation with God and with each other is possible only in Christ. This gives the engaged in this enterprise of reconciliation. The task of evangelisation, which is the ministry of reconciliation, must be placed in the forefront of the activities of the associations. What is needed for effective evangelisation is the keenness of the members. It is not money or organisation but the keenness of individual members, for it is the personal relationship with the individual soul that matters most in the enterprise of reconciliation. As members of these associations we are called upon to work unceasingly to bring men to Christ, and in that way reconcile men to God and to one another. There is another work of reconciliation which associations like the YMCA, the YWCA and the SCM are called upon to do. It is the task of bringing together the broken fragments of the Church. It is through the work of associations like these that a desire for union has been created in the hearts of Christian people. The measure of agreement and the friendly feeling that already exist between the churches today are to a great extent due to the fellowship that people have found in these associations. The South Indian Church Union Scheme is an attempt to reconcile the different sections of the Church of God through Christ. A united church is possible only when men of the uniting churches come to be in Christ. If the witness of the Church is to be

effective, and if the Church is to proclaim the great message of reconciliation to the non- Christian world, the various sections of the churches themselves must be first reconciled to one another. As members of these associations, we are called upon to this great work of reconciliation. We should take every opportunity to create better understanding, fuller cooperation and deeper fellowship between the churches and pray for the time when they may all be united into one church.