We recently had a sermon series on why our name is “Church of the RECONCILER” and our mission of connecting people to God’s reconciliation of relationships with self, community, and God. To “Reconcile” is to make-right, and “Reconciler” is a name for Jesus, who makes people right with each other and with God. So when we call ourselves “Church of the Reconciler,” we’re not saying that we are so good at reconciling, but that we are following Jesus, the Reconciler of all people and situations.
For inspiration on reconciliation, we looked to the story of Joseph (known for his “Technicolor Dream Coat”). Joseph’s story runs from Chapter 37 - Chapter 50 of the Book of Genesis, so there’s a lot here. Core to Joseph’s story are broken human relationships and the winding path to reconciliation.
We start with the questions: Why do we need reconciliation? Why do we follow someone called Reconciler? Why would anyone give their church a name that’s so hard to spell and say?
Genesis Chapter 37 has a lot of answers to those questions, namely that people have a lot of problems we need help reconciling. Pretty much every bad thing that can occur in the human family takes place in this chapter. If you’d like to look it over we like this translation in the Common English Bible.
Joseph, an adolescent, makes his dad mad by talking bad about his wives (yes, more than one). Joseph makes his whole family mad when he tells them about some curious dreams, in which he sees his own rise to power over the family. His brothers overreact to Joseph’s posturing by plotting to kill him on a routine trip to tend the family sheepfold. One brother says, “Hold on guys, he’s our brother. We can’t kill him…”
And another brother chimes in, “We’ll sell him into slavery instead.” This is making growing up as an only child look pretty good. The truth is, though, that these human harms don’t just occur in our biological families. The stories of Joseph and his family could stand in for the things that come between us and our fellow church members, our coworkers, our neighbors, and our families, too.
Spoiler alert, by the end of Genesis, Joseph and his family will consider all these mess-ups reconciled by God’s work in their lives. It takes a lot of years, prayers, imprisonment, famine, and humble repentance to get them to that point.
What is interesting about this first chapter of Joesph’s story is what you won’t find. Throughout all of Genesis 37, no one mentions the name of God: Not the narrator of the story or any of its members. With all the hurt, division, and pride, people forgot to look to God or call on God for help. That’s why we need reconciliation, and why God makes the first step.
In Church of the Reconciler we believe that God offers reconciliation before we even know that we need it. This belief that God comes to us first guides us in our work and leads us into loving relationship. All of our actions as a church are geared at helping people reconnect to loving relationship with themselves, with their communities, and with God. The next entries in this series will address each of those relationships.
We welcome you to visit and participate in God’s gift of reconciliation.
Cover Photo by Camille Voiles Photography, at Church of the Reconciler, May 2026