Reconciliation as a concept stems from the realm of human personal relationships.  It could be defined as the renewing of warmth and trust after a period of hostility. The term can be expanded to refer to peacemaking between conflicting groups, communities and institutions or nations.  It is closely related to forgiveness, which is an important element in reconciliation, but the two are not identical.  One person can forgive another and let the memory of the injury fade out of their mind.  Reconciliation however means that both parties go beyond that to resume the risks of relating to one another once again.

In infancy a child learns early that the process of establishing identity as a person includes testing the will of a parent to the point of parental anger, which produces rebuke or punishment.  Provided loving reassurance swiftly follows these reactions, the toddler feels secure to explore more widely in relationships and in his or her environment, taking bigger risks of rejection.  As a child grows older, perhaps to become a teenager, peers may offer reconciliation on terms that violate his or her values and goals.  But having known parental love and assurance such a youth may not be easily derailed.  It is the same for us as a nation.

We have known God’s loving reassurance in our history as a nation, and we have been offered alternative values and goals.  But we seek to reaffirm before God and to one another that our commitment to building Zambia can only be done God’s way.  And where we have violated his commands we seek his forgiveness and assurance of pardon so that we can move on.

BIBLICAL BASIS FOR RECONCILIATION

In the parable of the lost son, the son was willing to creep back into his father’s house as a hired servant, but his father publicly celebrated his return and invited him back into the family (Luke 15).  On our 40^th independence anniversary we come together knowing we have collectively wronged God and seek to be reconciled to him.  He is a loving Father willing to give us a fresh start if only we would come to terms with our failures.  Like the lost son, we also know we have failed one another and so we come together to seek reconciliation with one another across all the dividing walls that we have erected among ourselves.

Reconciliation is an important concept in our understanding of why Jesus had to die.  Romans 5:8-11 describes how we were in a war-type conflict with God, enemies in mortal danger of his wrath.  But that is firmly set in the context of God’s love that demonstrated his love by sending his Son our Lord Jesus Christ to make reconciliation between God  and us possible.

The Bible stresses both God’s love and his initiative in reconciling us to himself.  That we should come together at this conference in this manner to reflect, is a prompting of his Spirit and a sign that God persists in his call to us to be reconciled.  It is God’s invitation that demands our response.

The Cross of Christ is the motive for unity and reconciliation between Jewish and Gentile believers (Ephesians 2), despite the colossal religious and social forces which separated them outside the Church.  St. Paul (Colossians 1:20-22) speaks of cosmic reintegration as everything is brought into its right relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  Such texts undergird our convictions as we seek to break down barriers of prejudice and privilege centred on social status, political affiliation, ethnicity and as we search for better patterns of living as the community of God’s people. (Atkinson et al: 1995, 726).

WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?

Reconciliation after an incident of injury or conflict involves the following:

·         Clarifying: the parties must understand what has happened and how it looks on the other side.  This theological reflection helps us to pose and see how our failures look from God’s point of view and those among our people who are most affected by these failures.

·         Honesty about the strength of anger or disappointment involved.  We pause to examine the implications of our failures in God’s eyes.

·         Then comes a moment of commitment: free pardon is offered and all the claims on the account are relinquished.  The pardon is accepted and any appropriate restitution is offered.  As we examine our failures for the past forty years, I hope that this will not be a mere exercise in rhetoric but that it would inspire appropriate action as the fruit of our renewed commitment to serve God by serving his people in Zambia.

·         Guilt and fear are now presumed to cease and this is helped by positive feelings that come from a renewed sense of love and trust.  We have much to be thankful for in our nation and we have the assurance of God’s love in his dealings with us as a nation, that in spite of failures he has continued to love us.  Even today as we recollect we reaffirm God’s love for us and our collective trust in him.

OUR PAST FAILURES

In talking about our failures we accept what has been, seek to come in terms with it and to come to terms with our collective identity shaped by our common (sins) past experiences.

IDOLATRY

“You shall have no God before me…for I the Lord your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:3,5).

The One Party State: the 1968 referendum which abolished referenda, made UNIP’s landslide victory in 1969 General election inevitable.  Buoyed by that victory, in 1972 Kenneth Kaunda made his boldest political move by declaring a One Party State through the Choma Declaration.  A new constitution was instituted which ushered in a new form of government with the Party and Its Government (PIG) as the absolute authority.  Dissent was quelled with force and a string of treason charges, trials and imprisonments ensued from that (Wele: 1995, ii).

There are people in our history who were demonized for the simple reason of standing in opposition to the Party and Its Government (PIG).  Some of their stories are yet to be told from another perspective.  We remember Alice Mulenga Lenshina (though prior to the declaration, her movement was regarded as  a political rival), Simon Kapwepwe, Valentine Musakanya, Chief Kanongesha of the Kaonde people who was stripped of his title, John Njapau, Adamson Mushala, etc.  In the years that followed the state established absolute power.

In the first liberation in 1964 we fought for political independence.  In the years that followed we fought and are still fighting for the realization of human rights and people’s participation in national affairs.  The Church has a duty to work with civil organizations in promoting human rights.

Uncritical Cooperation with the State, Third Republic: three examples come to mind here.  First, diplomatic passports were issued to some pastors  by  the second Republican President, Freddrick Chiluba.  Second, the ninety “pastors” from Ndola who “prophesied” victory during Chiluba’s bid for a third term.  Third, the way some churches  tried and still try to court politicians (for publicity, financial gain, etc.).  How many Church occasions did former Vice President Nevers Mumba grace, in his short-lived tenure of office?

CORRUPTION

When God created the world He said everything was good.  The fruit of that creation was an ordered world.  Disorder is therefore the antithesis of creation, which began (Genesis 3) because of Adam and Eve’s disobedient act.  Man’s failure to subdue the earth, as God commanded was failure of a work ethic, failure in stewardship.  Corruption is failure in that regard.  Lack of good governance has led to loss of public order, which in turn paved a way for corruption.

The second thing we note in creation is harmony.  There was harmony in the Garden of Eden, not only between Adam and Eve, but harmony within the extended community that included all of creation.  There was that sense of living together.  We may call it synergy or symbiosis. Enhancing each other rather than exploitating each other. (Niringiye: 2003, oral interview)

After Independence, a hastily made elite was eager to pluck the fruits of independence.  That laid the ground for the corruption that was to come.  The story of the building of our nation can be told in terms of disorder, failure of stewardship, disharmony and exploitation.  We yielded to the first of Jesus’ temptation.  We sought to turn stone into bread! We concentrated on copper mining alone at the expense of other forms of development (Yerokun: 2004, Sermon).  We thought we could turn copper into food, jobs and all that is needed for our national sustainance.

During the good days of ZCCM a few Zambians became wealthy while many were dispossessed. The story of our copper mines and how they were managed and whom they benefited can be told as a story of injustice, a story of corruption.  The state machinery was so large and all encompassing that there were no structures of accountability.  Systemic or institutionalized corruption has been supported and sponsored by unjust structures.  We need to critically look at structures in our society. Not only State, but Church structures as well.  How accountable are they?

The story of the plunder of national resources in the third republic, sadly, is hinged on lack of credible accountability structures.

We as Christians need to support and fight for institution building, structures that will legitimize government and call leaders to account in order to maintain public order.  Order in society reflects God’s image.  Sadly corruption does not only dispossess people, it distorts the imprint of God’s image upon us.

INJUSTICE IN RESPONSE TO HIV/AIDS

·         Stigma and discrimination.

·         Poverty is a factor that limits access to information, care and treatment.

·         Is it possible that the disease is being exploited for gain by some of our people?  Is there a way to scrutinize the use of the vast resources poured into the fight of HIV/AIDS?

DIFFERENCES THAT HINDER DEVELOPMENT

·         Politicians who resent rivals in authority.  When we look back to the first and second republics and imagine the time, resources and will that was devoted to suppressing dissent. How much development could have been achieved instead?

·         When the need to establish political power overrides the common good.

·         In the third republic we threw the proverbial baby with the bath water as the new government sort to erase the past, good and bad, in order to set in the “new culture”.

·         The time spent in the third republic denigrating Kaunda’s rule could have been better utilised.

·         In the present government we have had three vice presidents in as many years. Is it political expediency or lack of foresight?

·         The grassroots (rural electorate) have been used as political experiments by politicians whose only interest is to win an election.  They entice the electorate with handouts at the expense of real development.

A DEVALUED OR DISTORTED IDENTITY

It is a challenge to ponder the cultural question of the problem of identity.  Can we say there has been adequate rooting of the Christian faith in our community?  Our colonization and evangelization heritage have left a scar on our identity.  Both connived in some ways to deny us the right to self-determination.  Our humanity was doubted or denied altogether.  We were considered to be a people without a valid cultural identity.

The issue of establishing and affirming our identity as Zambians goes beyond Zambianization of the Church hierarchy, use of drums, dance and Zambian dress.  The Church needs to offer a reflective faith to people not a kind of massive instinctive religion.  For the Church to make an impact in society in Zambia we need to adequately appropriate the faith we profess.

Many may hail the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation to be a blessing, but it has muddled the waters quite a bit.  We have so much masquerading as Christianity that makes one wonder whether what are termed conversions are mere superficial responses to psychological and sociological influence and pressure from outside.

DIALOGUE AND RELATIONS

“By your love shall they know that you are my disciples,” John 13:35

The first joint statement by the three church mother bodies was in 1979 during the threat of Scientific Socialism.  The relationship has continued in response to various political and social issues in the nation.

We need to go beyond joint pastoral letters on issues, threats and challenges of our society, to something less structured, more organic and real.  Apart from calling the state to account for its deeds we need to call each other to account for our conduct as Christians across our faith-tradition boundaries.  Who is to speak out and how, when church leaders  are given diplomatic passports?  Who is to caution Church leaders who court politicians for personal gain? Who should blow the whistle on Church leaders who benefit unjustly from dubious favours?

Have the formal meetings of our leaders resulted in exchanges across denominations that foster respect, meaningful interaction and dialogue among ordinary Church members?  Have we considered how that would affect how we serve the community in future?  With growing trust and knowledge of one another as Christian communities we can begin to pool our resources and not duplicate each other’s efforts in community projects.  People in our communities are not organized in faith-community ghettos.  They live together as Zambians in all their diversity.  To be truly reconciled is to see what artificially divides us and to seek to subvert it.

I am not here suggesting that we would put to rest our historical and doctrinal differences or that we would merge into one happy denomination.  That would be simplistic.  We can, however, lower the barriers that separate us.  We have a core of beliefs that unite us as Christians.  We could use that as a basis for finding   creative models of how we can cooperate and work together while cherishing and celebrating our diversity.

PROMISES YET TO BE KEPT

·         The gap between the rich and the poor we inherited from our colonial times and the economy that favours a small minority at the expense of the majority persists.  The gap between the rich and the poor is immense.  What does it mean to acknowledge this failure at a personal level?  Church level?  National level?

·         The role of women in leadership and development.  The Church and State have much work to deal with this ‘Great Omission’ and injustice.

·         Education and health for all.  Is it an attainable goal?

·         Rural Development:    the forgotten ‘backlands’ of our nation do not benefit from public funds and development aid as much as their urban counterparts.

MOVING INTO THE FUTURE

While the Church may speak prophetically to the subject of corruption, the Church needs to heed voices that demand that the Church leaders and pastors themselves live up to the demands of justice, financial integrity, peace and compassion.  Our prophetic voice would be hollow if we did not model the values we proclaim.

The call to reconciliation starts at the doorstep of each Christian leader who must model and pass on the same to the led, so that our words are at one with our action.  That is a call to integrity.  If we are to speak credibly, challenge and impact our society for a lifetime we need to live up to  what we profess.  We need to begin by looking honestly at our failures, then admit to them, seek forgiveness and then move on with hope and a resolve to make good the opportunities we have squandered. As Zambian Christians, we have a religious as well as an intellectual responsibility towards our society.

Reverend Kuzipa Nalwamba
Council of Churches in Zambia
Lusaka