Tag Archives: forgiveness

Escaping a Prison of Unforgiveness

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Do you know what a litany is? A litany, in Catholicism is a form of worship or prayer used in services or processions. It’s generally memorized. It’s something you say over and over in worship. We use that word figuratively to speak of anything we recite again and again.

I remember a woman I knew some time ago who had experienced a great deal of pain. Each time I spoke to her she would tell me the same stories over and over: My daughter’s done this to me. My mother did this to me. My son’s done this to me. The church has done this to me.

One time I was remarking to an elder how this poor woman had such a keen memory for past hurts. He said, “Pastor Steve – she remembers those hurts because they have become a sort of litany. A litany of woes. She recites them to herself and to anyone who will listen.”

That’s what Peter is taking about in Matthew 18 – memorizing many hurts a person gives us.

Matthew 18:21(NIV) Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

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John Lennon finds some Grace…

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I read yesterday that the Vatican had forgiven John Lennon for his remark saying that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus.

Abbey Road

There are a couple things worth commenting on here.

First, it’s amazing to me that it took 40 years for some to realize it was just the boasting of an English working-class lad struggling to cope with unexpected success.” And while I think there is truth in that statement, doesn’t it sound a little condescending — even insulting? Indeed Lennon was young when he said that, but what’s wrong with a working-class lad making comments on life? It just seems a little snobbish to me.

Second, the extension of this forgiveness seems to miss the point of forgiveness as taught by the Lord Jesus Christ.  Christians are to forgive, not because “it was no big deal” or because “the person meant no offense” or because (as in this case) “the working-class lad didn’t know any better,” but we are to forgive because we’ve been forgiven. That’s the whole point of Jesus’ parable in Matthew 18:23-35.  We forgive because we’ve been forgiven.

We Christians (who have forgiveness through no merit of our own) should surely be able to forgive John for his statement in 1966 and his followup statement a decade later where he pretended that it liberated them from touring. It didn’t liberate them from touring. They liberated themselves. Their marketability suffered very little long-term damage.

In fact, throughout the seventies the Fab Four were begged to reunite and sing. I recall people going to McCartney concerts just because of rumors that the other three might join him on the stage.

It seems the market forgave Lennon long before the Vatican did.

The Power of Grace

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I’ve recently been both impressed and depressed concerning the power of grace.

Grace is an essential quality of life, the presence of which makes Christian faith supreme. Anyone who has interacted with others to any degree knows that the absence of grace can keep people in chains. This enslavement, brought about by withholding grace, is not something limited to non-Christian religions. It’s found in individuals and used in their personal lives. A woman once came to me concerning her daughter, distraught with the way the daughter held things over her head.  “I just cannot measure up to her standards. I find that no matter how hard I try, she finds something at fault with me.” In the course of our conversation I learned that the daughter had been behaving in a grace-less manner toward her mother. The mother had allowed that interaction to cripple her, spiritually. Ironically, the daughter was a professing Christian — a person who claimed to have experienced grace herself. Yet she failed to show that grace to her own unbelieving mother. Does not the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21-35) come to mind? These thoughts depress my heart and cause my spirit to ache.

In contrast, I’ve seen people act with such grace toward others that I am ashamed. Continue reading →