Is there ever a bad reason to forgive?

Seems like a rhetorical question, but I am serious. Is there ever a bad time to forgive someone? Do I forgive because I feel like the other person is deserving of forgiveness? Or, the converse, do I ever withhold forgiveness because someone is not worthy? That's a harder question. I guess I could say that all of these have something to do with my faith, don't they?

On Sunday, we will hear once again from Luke's Gospel, the story of the "dishonest steward" (Luke 16:1-13). In that story, the dishonest steward of the master's estate has been mismanaging things and he got caught. In order to make amends, what could the steward do? Well, this guy "cooks the books"! That's right, the dishonest manager of the estate decided to forgive every debt - at least partly so.

This story creates lots of challenges for me and even more questions: Was it right to forgive on behalf of someone else? If so, how does that apply to me as I forgive others on behalf of God? When I forgive someone, does the other person have to accept that s/he is forgiven? What happens if s/he does not accept the forgiveness I have offered?

A long time ago, someone told me that forgiveness is not about others; it's about me. Forgiveness is about me letting go of the power that holds me down in a relationship. When I name those powers, I start to gain control over them; as I struggle with them, and get more uncomfortable with them, their power tries to overtake me. In forgiveness, I say, "No more!" I bind the powers of sin that try to keep me from moving forward and there's a two-fold deliverance: (1) I am freed from the other person's anger; (2) I free myself from my own regret.

Sometimes this two-fold process happens simultaneously; at other times, one step follows the other. In the end, the result is always the same. Someone is set free from spiraling deeper into an endless abyss of grief, pain and self-denial. There really is no better way to say it. Often the evil from which one is created comes directly from the heart of individuals; at other times, that evil is systemic in culture or society (such as in racism).

So, is there ever a bad reason to forgive?

Akedah: The "Binding"

I admit, quite freely and without coercion: I have a lot of trouble with the story in Genesis 22. What father who loves his son would submit to sacrifice him? I get to preach on this text on Saturday night (the narrative lectionary) and I don't know, yet, how my interpretation of the story will go over.

Does the fact that I struggle with this story reveal the nature of this text; namely, that one's life of faith is one of struggling and listening to God? I find it not so difficult to say that I struggle with a text from scripture, but how many people who sit in the pews want to know that I don't have all the answers for life? Frankly, from my perspective, I want to hear words from a preacher that reveal vulnerability and challenge.

Maybe the kernel of faith of this text lay in its ability to speak to all of humanity about our personal and communal perceptions of God. Maybe, just maybe, the ideas that I have about God and the ideas that my community instill in me don't really understand God. I am more and more convinced that my meager understanding of God and what my community of faith teaches to me, pale in comparison to the reality of God that sometimes smacks me in the face.

Literarily speaking, this story foreshadows the impact of God's willingness to submit to sacrifice of self for all of humanity in a world that knows nothing more than violence. As Isaac's life is spared for father Abraham, God will submit to the same kind of sacrificial love and yet not stay the knife. Death will come to Jesus, in the Gospels, and God will place the imprimatur of approval on Jesus' own death by Resurrection on the third day. All of this reveals the extent of God's compassion for all of humanity; God's willingness to go the "extra mile".

Come struggle with us Saturday night at 5pm. We will struggle with the challenge of why God allows such an atrocity and why people of faith allow such a text of terror to be part of holy writ.

What do you think?

Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered? - http://huff.to/1dYIS6n

Messy hands, or theological parsley?

Just ordered some new books by Girard and Girardian thinkers: Compassion or Apocalypse? A Comprehensible Guide to the Thought of Rene Girard by James Warren; Wolfgang Palaver's Rene Girard's Mimetic Theory; and Feodor Dostoyevsky: Resurrection from the Underground by Rene Girard.

What do I hope to gain from these writers? The same thing I demand of any writer: the opportunity to see life from a different perspective. Even when I read good fiction, I have that expectation. I suspect that's why I like science fiction so much; the genre confronts modern situations in a way that allows me to stand aside, watching and enjoying the ride, and say, "So, that's what's going on!"

It's not everyone's proverbial "cup of tea" to read Girard or those who write from his perspective, so it's up to me to digest and present the material, that is so life-giving, to "others". Just writing that previous sentence makes me think of my role as pastor or one's role as a disciple of Jesus.

Often, the "other" does not understand why I could be joyful, or why, as some have said, "I could have hope in a God that allows people to die." It's up to me, as a disciple of Jesus, to put Jesus' message of hope and salvation in words that can be understood by others. A famous preacher from the US, Barbara Brown Taylor once said to a group of preachers that no one will believe those who proclaim the good news of God in Jesus unless we first prove that we have gotten our hands in the muck of life and dug down deep, pulling up the mess for all to look at and better to understand. When we serve up a little grace with some "theological parsley on top", people will learn to look elsewhere for food.

What does that mean - to serve up grace with a little "theological parsley on top"? For Taylor, she means to keep it real. Those of us who are Christians, must let our actions and our words match, but even more, we must begin to tell God's story in a way that others can understand. What does that mean for you?

The Way of Non-Violence

Love this picture that was on an article on the internet. The article was about the precariousness of life for some animals around the world because of climate change. I kind of feel like the elephant these days with balancing between prayer and meditation for peace, and trying to understand the intricacies of diplomacy.

These past few days and weeks have been fraught with international tension. Behind the scenes, I am sure that many late-night meetings took place in the United Nations, in the halls of justice of different countries throughout Europe and here in Washington, DC. Syria, a country that has been at the center of tensions for millennia, once again has taken center stage. The proverbial sabers have been rattling, Russian and China, old allies of Syria, have lined up behind the country they consider a buffer between the US and the Middle East.

In the midst of all the turmoil, Pope Francis prayed for peace to prevail in Syria and asked all Christians around the world to do the same. Now as we awake this morning, there is news that Syria has promised to hand over to international authorities, all of its chemical weapons. What happened overnight that Syria has considered drawing down the stand-off? Did the prayers of faithful Christians prevail?  The bigger question for me: From where does conflict come and why do we, humans, feed it so freely?

For some years, I have read about human conflict and studied it from the French author, Rene Girard. He is a literary critique who began teaching French Literature many years ago because he needed money and the job promised a steady flow of it. Through his studies, he found that all of the classic literary pieces of the world exhibited a basic theory that I am only coming to fully understand.

As I understand it, Girard surmises that all violence comes from within the individual and flows out to others through "mimetism" (the need to mimic others). He purports that "I" desire because "I" see what "you" have and covet it. Rolled up in Girard's theory is "scapegoating" - once I cannot get what I want, I seek out an individual in the community who can serve as the reason for all of "my" problems. Once I consider how to get the community behind me, the blocks fall into place and the scapegoat is killed. Society goes back to "normal", the desirous parties get what they wanted, and the cycle starts again.So, why mention Girard's theory now?

Perhaps, as Girard proposes, there is a different way for Christians to look at the world that helps to diffuse such violent, tumultuous situations as our current one in Syria. The people who are called "Christians" could consider how we use the power that we have in the world for good ends. We are already in the midst of the turmoil simply because of its public nature. The question remains: How, then, shall we act?

Keep your eye on the prize

I watched a movie a while back, In Time, I believe was the title. The movie focused on the "haves" and the "haves not" but with a twist: those who were the richest dealt in the commodity of "time". In the end, the whole house of cards fell because the ability to build a sturdy, sustainable system always involves a firm foundation. Time ended up being too easy a commodity to wrench away from the few and give to the many.

In the movie, everyone has implanted in his/her arm a clock that registers the amount of time left in one's life. During fights, people can grab the arm of another and siphon away time. In order to win the fight, one had to remain focused on the fight. At one point, when the protagonist is in the midst of one such battle, he diverts his attention for a few seconds and literally hours tick away from his personal clock - leaving him drained physically. He then remembered that in order to remain focused, one cannot watch the clock.

There's a life lesson in the staying focused on the task at hand rather than the possibility of losing something precious. How often do I gather together wonderful things that make life great only to worry about how I can keep it forever? We live in a community where many people leave houses open all day. I wonder how important knowing the neighbor and caring for the neighbor is when determining the safety of one's own neighborhood? How important is it for me to make my neighborhood a hospitable place in order to keep what I need?

It seems to me that focusing on what matters most becomes the more important endeavor in all of life. As a friend of mine so often reminds me, "We get in the most trouble when we get off in the weeds" - I think he likes to golf, but finds himself in the weeds too much...but that's another story.

How many of the problems of life could be solved merely by focusing on the importance of life itself instead of all of the trivialities and novelties of everyday life? Of course, I enjoy my CDs but would life be less without them? Of course, books make my life more enjoyable, but would I be lessened any if I had to walk into a library more often and borrow them, instead of having my own?

Keep your eye on the prize, Tim, keep your eye on the prize.

Peace.