Chicken or the Egg

In Sunday school this morning, we talked about the Lord's Prayer.

One of the lines of the prayer that created lots of discussion was, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us."

I was channel surfing the other day and landed on a program about the 15 Most Terrible Awful Incidences in the past 10 years (OK, I made up the title, but it was 15 something or others).  Anyway, one of the Incidences on the list was the hostage situation and shootings in a one-room Amish Schoolhouse in 2006.  One statement caught my attention:  The Amish attitude is that forgiveness should precede healing, while the rest of the world believes that healing should precede forgiveness.

I think that might be true -- the attitude, I mean.  I think we often withhold attempting forgiveness until we feel better, when in truth, we won't begin to feel better until we begin (with God) working on the process of forgiveness.

The Sunday school teacher today said that God will forgive us once we forgive other people.  I don't think that's true.  I think we are already forgiven. It is grace, and we don't earn it through out actions.  It doesn't have a "catch" or a prerequisite.  I think the prayer means that we cannot experience forgiveness from God until we seek to forgive.  Our own anger and desire for retribution will stand between us and God's grace.  It isn't that God is withholding it; it's that we are blind to it until we open our hearts to the work of God to lead us to forgiveness. 

We are then open to the healing process of being forgiven -- of letting go of revenge and retribution.