March 2022 Monthly Letter

Dear Reconcilers,

I asked our Chapter Leader and retired Pastor Willard High to share his experience about reconciliation and unity. The following will be the first of three installments.

Reconciliation and Unity – (First Installment)

It is impossible to have unity with another person or group without some level of reconciliation having taken place.  

When I ponder reconciliation and unity, I find myself reliving the experience I and my former congregation had with a beloved sister church. We were renters but our members wanted to own, put down roots and serve the community physically and spiritually. We were seven years from our 50th Church Anniversary and I felt the pressing need to place them in a more worshipful environment.  

I was visiting First Reformed Church in South Holland, Illinois. While talking to the administrator, their Transitional Minister, Dr. Albert VanderMeer invited me into his office. Our churches had shared pulpits and enjoyed a few social occasions in the past. His congregation was wrestling with their recent decision to remain in South Holland rather than relocate to a surrounding town, as others had done. South Holland was originally almost entirely Dutch in ethnicity but by 2006, predominantly African American and Latino.  

Inside his spacious office, he offered to share their facilities with my congregation. I could barely focus. You see, I had called their Interim Pastor several years prior about a similar arrangement. His immediate response was positive, “This has been on my heart. Come over and I’ll show you the facilities,” he said, but by the time my wife and I arrived his tone had changed. He rushed our tour and told us as he practically pushed us out the door, “I can’t help you but perhaps someone after me can.” We surmised that the church powers had gotten to him but I felt his words were prophetic. 

“Well, what do you think?” Pastor Al asked, bringing me back to our conversation. I had been active in our denomination’s Office of Reconciliation & Mediation (ORM) since 1997, which made me aware that what he was proposing was rare, hard to achieve and would be laced with painful experiences. My reply shocked him — it went something like this: “That would be really nice, but I will never do that unless we first test the relationship. Our churches should meet together for social occasions, share meals, pulpits, and combined worship services. You and I should evaluate what we are seeing and hearing in private from our members and weigh the feasibility of such an arrangement as we go. We must be considerate but honest about what we find. It will take much prayer but God will show us the way.”   

“Many years later while we were playing golf, Al explained his well-disguised reaction to my reply. “I couldn’t believe you said that! I knew you were looking for a place, well here I was offering you a multi-million dollar facility, not just to rent but to share, and you — cool as a cucumber — turned me down.” As we journeyed together as pastors and friends, he came to understand why I was so measured in my response and actions. You see, unity first requires reconciliation and few are willing to travel that road.  (To be continued.)

—Willard High, Pastor Emeritus, The Shepherd’s Community Church, Harvey, Illinois