Forgiveness

The retreat I was assisting at two weekends ago ended with a ritual of forgiveness. The passage used was Luke 15 - Jesus' story of the earthly father whose unconditional love extends far beyond the bounds of love that any of us could imagine. And in this Jesus points us to our Father in heaven who similarly extends love both to the 'lost' sinner and also to the one whose goodness has somehow become distorted in a self- righteous and legalistic way.

How easy to be one and then the other. We may be the younger son in earlier days, before the truth of the Gospel convicted us of the waywardness of our lives........we recognize the truth of our lostness, then step into the family of God, participate in the body (church) of Christ......and after many years of faithful service.....begin to lose sight those earlier days. We have begun to follow Christ as if it were all about religious rules- even taking pride in our goodness. And we measure others by the standards we have carved in stone- God's standards no doubt, but without the compassionate mercy of God.

The father welcomes and loves both those who have been faithful for many years, and those whose lostness has led them down winding paths....He is not calculative, but rejoices at a person's change of heart. His grace is beyond human understanding - for we are prone to measure and compare. He is like the landowner who pays the same wage to those who started working early in the day and to those who started at the last hour.

The kingdom is more generous than we imagine.

Forgiveness comes more easily when we are in touch with the vastness of God's mercy for ourselves.....the richness of his love for us....and out of a sense of gratitude and abundance, can offer the same to others (who may seem thoroughly undeserving according to earthly measures).

The ritualat the retreat involved the retreatants writing the name of a person they need to forgive - others, self or even, yes, even God.....and placing it in the boxes at the foot of the Cross. Those slips of paper were then burnt to complete the intention of letting go.