This past Sunday, we focused on forgiveness. Here’s what I shared. This has been a significant topic for me in the last few years; I spoke on this at Family Camp at Twin Rocks this past Labor Day weekend. I’m indebted to many people for these thoughts, and in particular to this book: Free of Charge, by Miroslav Volf.
It was a moving and thought provoking message. Thanks for your insight Gregg.
Thanks, Erinn, for the encouragment. Maybe Ron will finally be able to forgive Steve for the shoe/broken arm incident in grade school… 🙂
I liked the observation that the Amish can forgive because they’ve been practicing forgiveness. I think 95% of what any religious community does is practice, the day-in, day-out living of values and building of trust. That practice time doesn’t change the world or make much of a demonstrable difference. But it gets us ready for those crisis times when our faith is assaulted. It’s like fire drills: they’re completely pointless in themselves, a big waste of time, but they get us ready for the big fire and when the alarm rings for real we don’t have to sit around wondering what to do. The Amish knew how to forgive the heinous deed because they’ve worked at forgiving the hundreds of petty deeds we all face in the course of our days.
This is certainly an issue in my own life right now. I wonder if the other side of forgiveness means accepting we will sometimes be mis-understood or unfairly judged. Certainly Jesus says this will happen if we follow Him. In the past I’ve thought that to mean we’d be mis-understood if we were righteously following a direct spiritual command or leading; now I’m wondering if the following is not the act itself but the way we choose to respond. The nobility of the Amish witness doesn’t arise from the acts inside the schoolhouse but rather the acts inside the heart in the days following.
Martin, your thoughts are very helpful. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond!