The Reconciling

"Pay attention to the flame of the dreams and gifts of those around you. Hold them with equal care. For too often they are gifts of God, neglected and unattended to, dormant in wait for someone to lift them up and recognize their potential."

I should like to share with you a short story that took place many years ago in Germany, a story of two brothers who separated bitterly, and were rejoined by a small symbolic act of repentance and blessing. I know this story because the elder brother was my father and the younger my uncle. My name is Gottfried, Johann Bernhard Gottfried Bach.

We were all named for my grandfather who died when I was but a small boy. I remember very well the day my uncle, Johann Sebastian joined our family. He must have been 13 or 14 when my father, Johan Cristoph set up his bed in my room. My uncle was now my roommate and became like my older brother.

When I think back to the first months after Sebastian arrived, my father seemed moody, not very much himself. Maybe it was the tight finances – musicians and composers like our family, rarely had enough to live…

Lederach, John Paul. “The Reconciling.” Homily presented at the Eastern Mennonite University Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, Harrisonburg, Virginia, June 18, 2000.

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