13 But now, thanks to Christ Jesus, you who once were so far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 Christ is our peace. He made both Jews and Gentiles into one group. With his body, he broke down the barrier of hatred that divided us. 15 He canceled the detailed rules of the Law so that he could create one new person out of the two groups, making peace. 16 He reconciled them both as one body to God by the cross, which ended the hostility to God.
17 When he came, he announced the good news of peace to you who were far away from God and to those who were near. 18 We both have access to the Father through Christ by the one Spirit.
Reflection
It’s funny and dumb as I reflect on middle and high school memories now. I was so weird, and I cared so much about dumb things like if I was cool enough, was I wearing cool clothes or shoes and did I have trendy gadgets. I tried so hard to squeeze myself into specific categories or to be what I thought was cool… I wish I could just go back in time and tell myself to chill out. The “rivalries” that may have existed between cliques, I’m pretty sure they were all made up in my head. Even if they weren’t completely made up, why do high schoolers get so mad at each other? There is so much to unpack there, but I’ll use one relationship from the time that this scripture reminds me of.
It was senior year and many of my classmates and I were in the thick of hunting for scholarship money and various recognitions that could earn us any further financial aid from prospective colleges. The Chamber of Commerce offered a particularly prestigious award, “The Student of the Year.” Historically, this award went to the student with the most volunteer hours, which was me by a landslide, and my sister was the recipient of this award 2 years prior. I felt entitled to that award and scholarship money, but the committee had different plans. Another girl, let’s call her May, was named “Student of the Year” and I was fuming about it. After that, May became my arch nemesis… even though I’m confident now that she had absolutely no clue about this “feud” between us. We were in different friend groups, we had different classes, we never really talked one on one, and were always polite to each other. It’s comical when I reflect on just how useless my grudge was.
For a long time I refused to add May or anyone else in that clique as a friend on Facebook. Eventually, I figured, “Sure, why not?” Add Friend. I’m so glad I did.
Not long after that, some political stuff happened and I was fired up. I posted about my experience that would’ve been directly affected by the Supreme Court’s decision. I was hurt and angry and grieving. May reached out to me after seeing my post to share that she too had the same thing happen. She too was angry and grieving but we could work through it together. We could grieve together and that would be safe.
Any preconceptions I had about May absolutely crumbled. We were no longer girls in high school battling it out for titles and popularity… We are just young mothers struggling our way through this messy life. We are both just trying to raise our tiny humans to be kind, adventurous, and loving. I don’t care what our friendship looked like in the past, it feels good to have one more mom-friend that I feel safe with, and that’s all that matters moving forward.
by Ashley Bowler
For Pondering and Prayer
Are there relationships in your life that have had a similar transformation? How did you go from two separate parties to one? Have you ever looked around at the people in your life and realized, maybe you have a lot more of what’s important in common than you previously realized? How can you offer an olive branch to someone in your life?
Prayer: Dear Jesus, Your grace and love are unconditional. Help us to love and offer grace unabashedly like You have shown us. Guide us toward the relationships that need Your presence to feel safe enough that we realize there was a friend there all along. Grant us the wisdom and patience to carry peace through the Christmas season and into the year beyond. Amen.
