ABSTRACT
In Part II of this book we have been looking for an answer to the question of how Anglican liturgy can address and connect to narratives of suering. The present chapter concludes our search in this part. Our starting point came from Anderson and Foley. After having shown several polarities at work in ritual and narrative, and how these polarities are expressions of an underlying ‘paradox of faithful living,’ they say that such paradoxical faithful living is embedded in a spirituality of reconciliation. In order to direct our discussion to the topic of suering, we drew on the connection between human tears and divine tears as proposed by Wolterstor. We then deepened the discussion of the narrative, theological and liturgical concept of remembrance. This concept formed the basis of the next chapter, which investigated the possibilities of storytelling on the part of God and of suering people. We then elaborated on the possibility of healing when two story worlds come together. With the present chapter we wrap up these discussions by returning to a spirituality of reconciliation. We will argue for the need of a communal and liturgical spirituality of reconciliation in order to address suering in liturgy. First, we will set the stage for a spirituality of reconciliation by addressing a number of aspects of this spirituality. We will then focus our attention on the liturgy within the context of a spirituality of reconciliation, explicitly picking up the discussions of the present chapter. The importance of community for a spirituality of reconciliation will be underlined in the following section. Finally, we will address the relation between liturgy and pastoral care that is a consequence of a spirituality of reconciliation and is implicit in the theme of our research, before concluding this chapter.
