Forgiveness

I'm involved in a community -- five church -- committee to design and implement a Vacation Bible School program for the members of our churches. The chosen theme is "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." The DCE of one of the other churches is writing the program. So far we have nightly themes. I thought for my own edification, I would take each of those themes and expand it into a blog post -- my thoughts on each one.

The first night's theme is, "Doing the Right Thing -- Forgiveness -- biblically based decision making principles." That's a little broad for a blog entry, so let's narrow it to Forgiveness.

I mentioned before that I'm reading "What's So Amazing About Grace." Before reading this book, I never really connected forgiveness to grace. That sounds strange, doesn't it? Why wouldn't I connect them? I do see an immediate connection between God forgiving us, and God's grace, but never thought of the idea of human forgiveness being a gift of grace from one human to another. Taking a closer look at forgiveness, with the "Why Forgive" chapter of Yancey's book striking "chords," here are some thoughts:

• According to Yancey, the most common Greek word for forgiveness means to release, to hurl away, to free yourself. I like that image. The first person to be healed by forgiveness is the person who does the forgiving. That person is released from resentment -- literally meaning "to feel again." Forgivness allows the person who does the forgiving to move beyond the pain of resentment.
• Yancey compared forgiveness to "spriritual surgery" using a quote from Lewis Smedes.

  When you forgive someone, you slice away the wrong from the person who did it. You disengage that person from his wrongful act. You recreate him. One moment you identify him ineracdicably as the person who did you wrong. The next moment you change that identity. He is remade in your memory.

• When you hear the word "recreate" doesn't it bring to mind God? God creates -- he created all of us. In order for us to "recreate" someone, doesn't it make sense that we need God's assistance? Moving away from resentment is an unnatural act. We are able to forgive, with God's help, when we wouldn't be able to undertake this "recreation" without His help.
• Often, forgiveness isn't an instant occurance. Sometimes it is gradual -- something we work on each day. In the book Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon, the main character, Jamie, had been trying to find a way to explain forgiveness to his daughter.

  How to tell her in words, then, what he had learned himself by pain and grace? That only by forgiveness could she forget -- and that forgiveness was not a single act, but a matter of constant practice. (emphasis mine)

I wonder sometimes if we get so caught up in the words "Forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those that trespass against us," that we come to think of forgiveness as a test -- something that we are commanded to do. When we fail; when forgiveness is so hard that we can't possibly accomplish it, we blame ourselves. What we need to remember is that while forgiveness is hard, we are not called to do it on our own. We try to do it all in one big gulp, and when we aren't able to do that, we feel guilty.

Forgiveness is a gift of grace from God. He forgives us for our many sins, and he offers us the grace necessary to forgive others. He doesn't command us to forgive as a test of our faith, but instead as a means of freedom. He'll help us to do it, and His help isn't a one time event; it's an all you can eat buffet. Grace in abundance.

Image: Bridge in Ritter Park -- I thought a bridge was a good symbol of forgiveness and grace.