Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes,In my preparation this week for today’s service, I looked at the calendar and remembered that this Thursday is the thirteenth year anniversary of that terrible day that has come to be referred to as 9/11. As I studied the scriptures for today the themes of forgiveness, repentance, and the commandment to love one’s neighbor as oneself arose. Those themes we find summed up in the psalm for today which I chose as text for this sermon. Then I laid all that aside and thought back to the discussions many of us remember in the days following that terrible time. There was one conversation that sticks with me far more than anything else. It relates squarely on our texts. The conversation was an onstage TV panel discussion with audience about who made the attacks and why they did what they did. It was about how we as a nation should respond and what were our choices in responding. The panel was made up of prominent people from all walks of life. What makes this conversation memorable is the statement of one panel member and the response of the audience. He said, “In all the things we have said as a panel, I find there is something missing. There is another response I think we should consider.” He paused, as if to summon up some courage, then said, “I think we need to think about forgiveness.” The response of the crowd was loud and predictable. A very angry and bordering on disgust “No way!” was heard around the room. And it became a moment I have never forgotten.
Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law;
I have never forgotten it for two reasons. The first reason comes from our understanding that our responses to things that happen which hurt us often produce anger in one way or another. It is our first line of defense as human beings and we will hold onto it as longs as we need to until something happens to help us resolve and let go of it. The other reason is that there are just some things we never get over. It may be a loss of relationship or a work suddenly disrupted. It could be that we may know that we need to forgive someone, or allow ourselves to be forgiven, but the resentments are so strong whether they are about personal loss, or fear based prejudices that Unfortunately, we like to dwell on the negative. We tell ourselves over and over that we should not have been treated in a certain way, or we plot imaginary approaches to revenge.
Shakespeare caught this trait in Brutus’ speech at Caesar’s death. “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” In other words, because we are human, we find it difficult to free ourselves from the negative in past events, and in people, including ourselves. Yet healthy lives depend on our ability to let go. This is what we need.
The psalmist echoes our need and the path we need to take as he sings:
Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes,With wholeness of heart, body and mind, the psalmist sings the prayer to God, seeking to be free of controlling darkness. He seeks to let go of the past that imprisons and move forward to a future where resentment and revenge and have no place. In response, the lessons today remind us of the great gift of love we are given and reminds us that forgiveness is the key that unlocks grace-filled living. In the life of the Church, we see how this is played out. If we look back to the second century of its existence, “See how these Christians love one another.” was the pagan observation of the new quality of life among the members of the new sect, alive and growing in Paul’s Rome.
Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law;
Since those days, the practice of Christian love through forgiveness has always been the Church’s calling. It is a gift that Jesus gives his church, one not always easy to do. Yet we pray frequently, sometimes daily, “And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” It has not been an easy path and the stumbling blocks are many.
Sometimes the church is blind to human need, absorbed in power struggles, and preoccupied with itself. But they do not defeat us, they only make the task of forgiveness more real. Sometimes newcomers to the church are turned away by church conflict. Another church or a good place for brunch with friends might be a better alternative. But spiritual growth undertaken seriously means learning to deal with the dark side of our nature and giving attention to how we as a community can more faithfully use the gifts we are given. That is why our program here at St John’s of listening in small groups has great potential for the growth of our own congregation. It is one way to pursue concerns or issues that would divide us, and to find resolution. And there is another opportunity for healing. At our healing station here at the Chapel steps, we can ask for prayer to help our ability to forgive; healing takes many forms, spiritual as well as physical.
If we search the scriptures for our understanding about this love, we can find no better place and no fewer words than those uttered at the cross. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Martin Luther King called this “love at its best.” When Jesus was being plunged into deep agony, and when human beings had stooped to their worst, God’s Son uttered words, not of revenge, or thoughts of righteous wrath, but despised and rejected as he was, he cried, “forgive them!” In him there was no darkness but only light, the light of forgiveness. And that is his great gift to us. He says here, “forgive”, take it and use it.
In the reconciliation work after apartheid in South Africa led by Archbishop, there is a wonderfully moving story told by him. His Committee held hearings for the nation in which people were enabled to come forth to give voice through personal story, to their need to be reconciled as a community. One time a police sergeant was confronted with some atrocities he had committed. In one circumstance, he had taken a black man into captivity and shot him, point blank, in the presence of his wife. Later, the same officer captured this wife’s only son, killed him and brutalized his body. He admitted that he had done these things in court.
Then the wife and mother who was present was asked what she wanted in this situation. She said, “I want three things. First, I want the sergeant to know that God forgives him, and so do I. Second, I want him to come to my house one day each week and sit with me because I no longer have anyone for a family. And third, I want to come forward now and hug the sergeant to prove that my love is real.” The sergeant fainted and the courtroom began quietly to sing, “Amazing They, like the psalmist, had understanding. They understood how important it was to be free of such evil. They understood, too, how free this woman felt by throwing aside her need for revenge and accepting God’s forgiveness as a gift to be passed on. Is it possible that we know this It is amazing what can happen to us when we allow ourselves to be embraced by love. It is amazing how the grace of forgiveness can free us to walk with a lighter step, help us to walk across the bridge over the river of pain that too often divides us from each other. Forgiveness is God’s amazing grace. AMEN
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