"Forgiving the Unforgivable"

Pastor Laura Guy

September 28, 2008

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We thought about how we connect justice to forgiveness when they are actually two very separate things. Legal justice can and does sometimes happen, but ultimate justice belongs only to God. Although we think that bringing someone to justice or exacting revenge will take away the hurt of what they have done to us, it never works out that way. We can never get back what they took from us - our innocence, our sense of safety, our loved one.
We allowed God to deal with the issue of justice, but we asked how we could be expected to forgive someone who has done something heinous, even monstrous. Why do they deserve forgiveness, and what if they don't ask for it?
We remembered that forgiveness means "to let go." So forgiveness isn't a gift for the perpetrator of the crime - it is a gift to ourselves, to let go of the pain their actions continue to cause us every time we remember what they did.
We heard the story of Corrie Ten Boom, a woman who hid Jews in her home during WWII. She was discovered by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. There she was tortured, humiliated, and she watched her beloved sister die, along with many others. After the war, Corrie was speaking about God's forgiveness when a former guard from that camp came up to her and asked for her forgiveness. Corrie says she had to will herself to extend her hand to him, and she prayed, "Jesus, help me!" Her whole body was flooded with warmth when she realized that she really did forgive him, that she really could let go of that pain.
We remembered that, in Jesus, God also knows what it is to be on the receiving end of violence. In Luke 23:32-34, even as Jesus is suffering, he is able to ask for forgiveness for those who are hurting him. God truly understands our pain.
We prayed that God would help us to let go of whatever pain we continue to carry.
We celebrated communion at the table of forgiveness and grace.