I began my day yesterday watching the solemn commemoration ceremonies taking place in the Pit of the collapsed World Trade Centers. The focus of the media, all day was of course on the many observances and services taking place all around the nation on the anniversary of the great tragedy of September 11, a year ago. The emphasis of most of them was on remembering, honoring, healing, moving on. The mood was prayerful, reverent, and even quietly hopeful. One local TV correspondent reported that all of New York City seemed like a giant church service yesterday.
But not everyone seemed pleased with the kind of attention the remembrance of 9/11 was getting. The AM talk show airwaves were filled with a different kind of rhetoric. "Where's the anger?" demanded one. "What I'm not hearing enough of is rage!" declared another. "We need to quit mourning and start mobilizing." For some at least, there seems to be a fear that we're too soft as a nation, too concerned about understanding differences, too prone to critical self-analysis and not enough toward kicking the snot out of the evil #*$!!'s who did this.
I find it ironic (providential?) that this Sunday's gospel lesson is on forgiveness. "How many times must I forgive, Lord? Seven times?" "No! Seventy times seven!" (Matthew 18:21-22). It's true that the question is about forgiving "a brother or sister sinning against me" which the New Revised Translation interprets as "a member of the church." But in the parable that follows to illustrate the point there's a hint that perhaps a "brother" is anyone who happens to be in the same pickle we're in. (I'll let you read it yourself, to see if you agree: Matthew 18:23-35.) If that's true, that broadens quit a bit the understanding of who our brother or sister is that needs to be forgiven. From the perspective of our righteousness before God, or our lot in this "broken and fearful world" (as our PCUSA Brief Statement of Faith describes it), we're all pretty much in the same boat.
Forgiveness is never either simple or easy. Especially of such an enormously monstrous act of terrorism. But perhaps wrestling with what national forgiveness means in the light of 9/11 is not that much different from wrestling with what personal forgiveness means of wounds inflicted upon us by brothers and sisters, parents or children, friends or neighbors. I'm not sure it's that much easier to forgive an unfaithful spouse, or an abusive parent, or a cruel and unscrupulous boss than it is to forgive "Muslim fundamentalists." Or if it's any easier for Jesus to forgive us than it was for him to say to his crucifiers, "Father forgive them... they don't know what they're doing." And the truth is, we not only need to be forgiven to be healed, we need to be forgiving to be healthy. Forgiveness is not only a gift God gives us, it's a gift we give ourselves. That'll be my message on Sunday. In the meantime, here's a few thoughts on forgiveness I've collected.
"Forgiveness does not mean condoning what has been done. It means taking what happened seriously and not minimizing it; drawing out the sting in the memory that threatens to poison our entire existence. It involves trying to understand the perpetrators and so have empathy, to try to stand in their shoes and appreciate the sort of pressures and influences that might have conditioned them. . . . By forgiveness we are saying here is a chance to make a new beginning." -Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Laureate, Chair of the South Africa's Commission on Reconciliation
"What is true of individuals is true of nations. One can never forgive too much. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." -Mahatma Gandhi
"The human animal is not supposed to be good at forgiveness. Forgiveness is not some innate, natural human emotion. Vengeance, retribution, violence, these are natural human qualities. It is natural for the human animal to defend itself, to snarl and crouch into a defensive position when attacked, to howl when wronged, to bite back when bitten. Forgiveness is not natural. It is not a universal human virtue." -William Willimon , Christian writer and chaplain Duke University
"If we say that monsters [people who do terrible evil] are beyond forgiving, we give them a power they should never have...they are given the power to keep their evil alive in the hearts of those who suffered most. We give them power to condemn their victims to live forever with the hurting memory of their painful pasts. We give the monsters the last word." -Lewis B. Smedes, Theologian
"He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for every one has need to be forgiven." -George Herbert, 17TH C. Pastor-poet
"Forgiveness isn't something that you just do and get over with -it's a process ... What does it mean to forgive? Does it mean that I accept what they did to me? No. Does it mean I have to love them? That's what Christ said, but I'm not ready for that. It does mean not hanging on to the anger. I'm not going to spoil the joy [of being free] by being angry. I can't hurt them by my anger -I can only hurt myself. -Terry Anderson, Hostage in Lebanon for 7 years
"But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered." -Psalm 130:4
Under the Mercy,
Erwin
PS: 3 more weeks until the beginning of "The Best 2 Hours" of your week! Don't miss it!