[Oe List ...] Witness: "Forgive Them, for They Know Not What They Do"

[R Williams]

Dear Jack,
 
I'm always impressed by your keen insight expressed in words.  But I'm even more impacted by your living of the resurrected life.  I have watched you and benefited from you over the years as you've lived this and, by your example, have encouraged others to go and do likewise.  I'm grateful--not to you, but to the mystery who called you forth from the tomb to live your resurrected life.  What a privilege, honor--and burden--to have been a part of a whole community of resurrected ones.
 
I've been stewing, literally for the last several years, on the depth meaning of what we called the "moods" in the service of worship--humility, gratitude and compassion.  I hope someday to write something on these, but reading your witness made me think that all of these are necessary in order to forgive and be forgiven.  Humility is the crucifixion.  Gratitude is the resurrection.  Compassion is living the resurrected life.  For better or worse, these are not once and for all.  How many times must we be crucified and resurrected, only to be crucified and resurrected again? 
 
I saw a video from last evening of the Pope particpating in the Maundy Thursday food-washing service.  There he was with basin and towel in hand, garbed in his ecclesiastical robes, which are the symbol of power and authority in the Catholic Church.  I wondered what might have been the impact if the Pope, even with his more than 80-year old body, had, as Jesus did, stripped down to his loin cloth and got on his hands and knees under the table to symbolize that the role of the church, as a community of the forgiven rather than an institutional monolith, is to serve a suffering world.
 
Today is Good Friday.  Given what we commemorate that happened on this occasion 2,000 years ago, we call it "good" Friday only because we see it looking back through the resurrection.  We read the last chapter first and know how the story ends.  We know that there is no resurrection without a crucifixion.
 
So, you go have yourself a "good" Friday.  And, by the way, your sins are forgiven.
 
Grace and peace from your colleague,
Randy

"Listen to what is emerging from yourself to the course of being in the world; not to be supported by it, but to bring it to reality as it desires."
-Martin Buber (adapted)
 

________________________________
 From: Jack Gilles <icabombay at igc.org>
To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe at wedgeblade.net> 
Sent: Thursday, April 5, 2012 8:22 PM
Subject: [Oe List ...] Witness: "Forgive Them, for They Know Not What They Do"
  
These words, spoken by Jesus on the cross just before he died have been at the heart of the story of the crucifixion and the resurrection.  But what is 'forgiveness' and what is the relationship to the resurrection?  I think that without these words the resurrection loses its significance.  

There is a lot of talk about how we should forgive people who have offended us.  Like "cheap grace", the words often spoken "I forgive you" are not coming from the same place Jesus was when he spoke these words.  We often say something like "I forgive you" when in reality we really do not.  We may feel these words will get a situation back to normal, bring a nasty situation to a conclusion, or perhaps we feel the person really didn't mean what they said or did, especially if they had had a different context.  So a situation may become better, or a person feel better with these words, but they are not what Jesus was pointing with his words.

Non of us have been crucified, but we may have been falsely accused, had friends or even family abandon us, been left alone to face a situation we should not have had to face.   But resurrection only comes through forgiveness.

Let me try and ground that in a real situation.  Nothing can be more soul wrenching than a divorce.  Having gone through one I know that the pain can be intense.  But this is not about my divorce, for I was fortunate to have a great human being with whom I went through a great transition, and although it was painful for both, neither of us ever became mean or accusative toward the other.  But I know of situations that were not.  What happens when you are lied to, lied about, deceived, falsely accused and vilified and those words and accusations used to try and turn friends and family against you?

Forgiveness is not justifying or excusing behavior, it is not saying what was done is okay (I can rise above this), it is not even feeling pity or sorrow for the other's  brokenness and deceit.

Forgiveness is first and foremost recognizing that this is about you, not the other.  It is about God, not the perpetrator.  Your "resurrection" depends upon it.  Forgiveness means you take all that has been done to you and redeem it, you know that your soul is sanctified when you embrace the event, embrace the pain and embrace the other as your path.  

In a the case of a divorce like I spoke about, we can celebrate the divorce, but not simply because it is over, you won and life has become a new normal without surprises and pain.  We celebrate it because you have a purified center, you have a renewed sense of self-worth and you understand how the depths of pain and deceit can be the instruments of greatness for your own spirit.  You give thanks for the love of Being who has given you a "blessing" in the form of a divorce. 

With the forgiveness the resurrection becomes possible.  The embrace of the cross, it's evil, creates the open tomb.

So, "Let us forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

Let us embrace the cross of the life we have been given and participate in the universal resurrection, the Truth of life, now and forever.

Jack Gilles




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