THE RECTOR'S REFLECTIONS

April, 2006, on Forgiveness

One of the most perplexing issues that we all deal with at one time or another in our lives is the concept of forgiveness. The struggle is a deeply human one. Recently in Morning Prayer the Old Testament readings have been about the story of Joseph from the Book of Genesis. Joseph, abandoned as a young boy in a well by his brothers only to be captured by passing slave traders and sold into bondage in Egypt . He rises to a position of leadership. His family comes to him; not knowing it is him and asks for food and relief from a famine. He reveals himself to them and forgives them. It is a remarkable and moving story. He even thanks them for their actions as it allowed him to grow into a position of power whereby he could help his nation and his family

At first glance the process of forgiveness seems so easy in the story. But at a second glance it is obvious that even Joseph struggled with forgiveness. He makes his brothers overcome some obstacles, "jump through some hoops" so to speak before embracing them and welcoming them into his household.

We learn from our earliest days as Christians about the forgiving nature of God in Jesus Christ. God's forgiveness is unconditional just as God's love is unconditional. So unconditional that Jesus goes to the cross and tomb in order for us to be a reconciling and forgiving people.

I don't propose an easy answer in this reflection because there is no easy answer to the when, where and how. of forgiveness. Like Joseph, the only solution lies deep within each of us. It's what I call the place of our spiritual threshing floor where we wrestle with trying to imitate Jesus at his most painful and human moment.

I have spent time over the last several years with three religious leaders and a highly respected Roman Catholic theologian discussing, painfully at times, the reality of forgiveness. Two of the leaders are Anglican Bishops, the second a leading Bosnian Muslim cleric. One Bishop is from Northern Ireland . His former diocese which he led in the 1970's covered some of the areas in Northern Ireland where the worst of "The Troubles" occurred. He will tell you of the many funerals he conducted for victims of sectarian violence. He will tell you of sifting with mothers, fathers, wives and children of these victims and never being able to raise the issue of forgiveness. It's not a matter of discussion for him.

The second leader is Archbishop Desmond Tutu who will tell you that forgiveness is axiomatic. There is no question for him but that forgiveness is not something for discussion but is an absolute must if there is to be true repentance and reconciliation.

The third leader is a Bosnian Imam, living in the US and the leader of a mosque in Chicago as well as being the leader for Bosnian Muslims in the US and Canada. He and I sat in a seminar three years ago at Oxford . The course was on Reconciliation and the instructor was Philip Sheldrake a noted Roman Catholic theologian and spiritual director. I had been in the Balkans years before and had

spent time in Bosnia with a group dealing with reconciliation in that post war part of the world. We had been to one shelled out town after another. We had met victims. We had heard stories especially about ethnic cleansing and mass graves. Carol and I would visit one of those mass graves two years later and enter into further discussions on reconciliation.

One afternoon in the seminar the question of forgiveness as a prerequisite for reconciliation had come up. Professor Sheldrake let the discussion take its course. Finally my Bosnian colleague, sitting next to me, started pounding on the table. I knew what was coming as we had talked previously about the camps and graves. With force he asked, "How can you ask me to forgive those responsible for the deaths of 250,000 of my people? How can you ask that of me?"

The answer was that no one could ask him to forgive. We don't have that right unless we are the one in need of forgiveness. Professor Sheldrake said that the only perfect forgiveness comes from the One who is perfect. We are not God. We can only strive for that perfection. Not a perfect answer but on that afternoon in Oxford it was the only answer.

Recently a vicar in the Church of England resigned from her parish because she can no longer lead her congregation in the Confession of Sin. Her daughter was killed on July 7 in the London bombings. With the full support of her Bishop she has left her post to work with homeless and troubled youth in a Diocesan sponsored program. She herself admits that the day may come for her to forgive. But it is not right now.

These are dramatic stories of forgiveness. They arise out of harsh and painful and atrocious conflicts. They serve as dramatic examples to remind us that we too are at one point or another confronted with question of forgiveness in the conflicts of our own lives. They are not to be avoided. If we are to create just and holistic living for ourselves, our relationships and communities the question must be faced. If we allow the wounds to fester, the resentments to ferment we continue as victims controlled by the past, by the hurt, by the pain. Easter, the most dramatic of stories, is a story and a time for us to come to grips with the need for forgiveness in our lives. As Archbishop Rowan Williams states in his book, Resurrection, (Revised Edition, 2002, The Pilgrim Press)

"Taken overall, the resurrection stories, as stories, seem to be exploring various aspects of how the risen-ness of Jesus has to do with the sense of absolution by God, how the resurrection creates forgiven persons, whose relation with God and, derivatively, with each other is transformed. They are stories that belong in a community which identifies and understands itself as forgiven, and traces its establishment as that sort of a community to the Easter event. " (pg. xii)

The events of Holy Week have led us up to this moment of being witnesses to the forgiving nature of Jesus. Jesus travels from cross ("Father, forgive them …. [Lk 23:34]) to tomb as a divine forgiver.

Let us all strive. to allow the story of Easter to unfold in us this Eastertide. Let us come to grips with the wonderful and humbling awareness that we are a people forgiven by God in Christ for all we have done to deserve forgiveness. Above all, let us realize that forgiveness is not something

that should come quickly but must take time and patience. It stirs within us to make us liberated persons who are called to go out into the world bringing the message and living the reality of the Risen Jesus. As we are liberated and transformed so can we liberate and transform the world around us.

Blessings to all this season of Resurrection.

In Peace,
Fr. Richard