On the Will to Embrace

Theologian Miroslav Volf wrote an excellent book on reconciliation titled Exclusion and Embrace. During a recent conference at Yale Divinity School, he was asked, "How does one get the will to embrace an enemy?"

He answered that the will to embrace is a gift of God that comes through communities of faith. Forgiveness is expressed individually as a personal choice of the will, but the will to forgive is forged in relationship with others who forgive and love well. It is nurtured in families and in churches. It is cultivated through common participation in the liturgy of worship. It is God's gift, but he gives it through people.

God gives gifts through community, intending that they be expressed in community. Who in your life helps you to love well? How are you nurturing such gifts of grace in others? Hebrews 10:24 says, "let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good works." The will to exclude comes all too easily. May we encourage in one another the will to embrace.

Bob and Joni