Sherry Sterling
Dear friends,
Have you ever felt the heaviness of a grudge? The persistent taste of bitterness in the grudge-holder can get stuck in our spirit. On the receiving end, the weight of another’s resentment towards us can feel like a long arm keeping us away from connection.
I’ve felt how being on either side of a grudge weighs me down. I’ve felt how it’s kept me stuck in the past, in the hurt, ostensibly as a buffer from the hurt. But it ends up becoming more of a prison than a protection.
Not forgiving someone can stop us—and them—in our tracks, contributing to a sense of paralyzation, and then we’re not free to move on.
The Gospel reading for today shows the power of forgiveness. It’s the story of when Jesus forgave and healed a paralyzed man. It says Jesus saw the faith of the paralyzed man’s friends, and said to the paralyzed man, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
Then Jesus invited the proof of forgiveness: a changed life—“Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” He told the man to get up, take his mat, and go home. And the man did!
When we forgive, we release each other, and free each other to try, yet again, to live and love.
We participate in each other’s experience of redeeming ourselves from the worst of ourselves.
I was at a high school reunion last weekend and heard story after story of misjudgments of character or hurts from name-calling or physical injuries back then, and then forgiveness given over the years—sometimes as a result of maturing and gaining a wider perspective, and sometimes as a result of coming to a shared understanding about the nature of the hurt, and then agreeing to put it in the past and turn towards the present, together.
Forgiveness is a kindness we give to each other and to ourselves.
The New Testament reading for today gives guidance in preparing our hearts for forgiveness: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
God leads the way. We have this day to practice.
Peace and love,
—Sherry
