Thought for the Day-When two or three are gathered

Signing of the Treaty of Versailles by John C. Johansen (1876–1964), Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery

A Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion at St Giles-in-the-Fields on Wednesday 13th August 2025 based on the text of Matthew 18.15-20.

Life together – as a family or a local, national or global community, will involve dealing with conflict at some point. Jesus knew this reality as well as we do. But he also assures us of his presence whenever Christians seek to live with each other righteously. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” he says. Supporting us in the journey towards restoration. Leading us on the path he has trod before us.

In today’s gospel reading Jesus offers a practical and pragmatic approach for dealing with broken relationships.

If someone has wronged us, first we should go and talk to them privately to discuss the issue that has caused us pain. If that doesn’t work then bring one or two others as witnesses. And then, if necessary, bring the matter before the whole church.

It's an approach that is echoed in the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer, which we use here at St Giles. The invitation to confession calls on all those who truly and earnestly repent of our sins and are in love and charity with our neighbours to draw near with faith. It is a call to examine our hearts not just before God but before each other. Not just privately but publicly.

The gospel and our liturgy on which it is based, remind us that God desires us to live as agents of peace and reconciliation because this is fundamental to his very nature – and therefore to the truth of ours. When we seek to live in this way, he is present - blessing and encouraging our work.

Is there someone we need to make peace with? A wound unhealed, a wrong unacknowledged? What about the conflict we carry internally? Shame, guilt, resentment about our past? How can we be agents of God’s peace and reconciliation in the world if we do not seek it within ourselves?

But what of deep harm that divides people - caused by abuse, injustice, war. How realistic – how safe – is it to expect victims of such trauma to approach those who have wronged them? Jesus would never seek to place anyone in danger.  He acknowledges that it is not always possible to restore a relationship. In such cases we must acknowledge and maintain healthy boundaries “let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican” – not as an admission of failure but a recognition of reality. An acknowledgement that reconciliation is not always possible but, through the grace of God, healing always is - whenever we gather in the name of his Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, whose death upon the cross was a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.

Image: Signing of the Treaty of Versailles by John C. Johansen(1876–1964), Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery