Loading...Years ago, the church I served in Goldendale, Washington had a fire. I’d been there about 20 months or so and someone broke in, stole a computer, and set several fires around the building. While the building was still standing when the fire was finally extinguished, it was in really bad shape. We couldn’t use it at all and eventually tore it down and rebuilt.
But, in the mean time....
It was hard to know how to process all that was going on! Luckily the fellowship building was a separate building that was not damaged. We worshiped there for the next two years, using the fellowship room for worship and then “flipping” the room for coffee hour. Plus, we fixed up a couple of rooms to be office space.
Practically speaking, we adapted pretty quickly. But, emotionally, it was much more difficult and took more time.
For one thing, since it WAS arson but no one was (or has ever) been caught and charged with the crime, it was hard for us to know what to do with our all of the emotions that welled up within: anxiety, fear, sadness, betrayal, loss, grief, and anger
How do we process these emotions?
What do we do? We had conversations, we tried to be honest with ourselves and one another, we engaged in prayer, we worshiped together, we offered rituals of healing and other processing. Plus, we allowed time.
Our conversations included thoughts and sharing about forgiveness. We ended up with this doozy of a question:
Who do you forgive when there is no one there to forgive?
This also led us to the deeper question of “What IS forgiveness?” After study, conversation, and contemplation, we came up with two answers: Forgiveness does include some sort of reparation or atonement – work that is done to repair what has been broken. Forgiveness is also about reconciliation – healing a relationship that is broken: broken trust, broken heart, broken hope.
Sometimes, we concluded, these two parts of forgiveness go hand-in-hand, but they don’t always. You don’t always get reconciliation even if reparation happens. And, in our case, you don’t always get reparation even if reconciliation occurs.
As we talked, I raised the question for the community to ponder:
can we – should we – is it possible – to forgive God?
Not because God has wronged us or “sinned against us” (nothing so heretical!),
but because we needed reconciliation stemming from loss, a sense of betrayal, and the brokenness around us.
Because, whatever it was caused by and by whoever, there was a sense of brokenness in our relationship with God. And we needed reconciliation!
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As I listened to this story from Luke’s Gospel (Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32),
one of the best known and beloved of Jesus’ parables,
I realized that it is all about relationships and reconciliation –
the healing of the broken bongs between us.
Of course there is the obvious brokenness – between the younger son and the father.
It is super important for us to hear about this brokenness since for one reason or another, many (maybe most?) of us have been the younger child:
self-centered, foolish, unaware of pain we cause others; then gobsmacked by life and situation; and then creep home, hoping against hope that we can somehow FIX things.
And, then receive such grace and love that even before our oft-practiced speech can get started, we are embraced and honored and feted.
While this may be true in your family of origin,
it is definitely true in your relationship with God:
God embraces you even before you have a chance to begin your speech or do anything to fix the problem. God gives you reconciliation, healing, and hope.
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As beautiful and life giving as this is (and it is!), there is so much more in this story.
Remember the context that Luke sets this story in?
The Pharisees and scribes are wondering and grumbling and this rabbi (who knows the Law and teaches it!) hanging out with those who are beyond the Law; with those who even flaunt the Law.
(It’s like they are the Elder brother, or any of us, who stay in the family and stay connected to faith and community and religion; instead of the younger brother who is beyond that and flaunt those connections).
Jesus begins this parable as a storyteller, even if we skip right over this bit:
“A man had two sons.”
Right away you know there is going to be conflict.
And, you might remember other stories of faith which have at least two siblings who have conflict – Cain and Abel; Esau and Jacob; Joseph and his brothers; Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
(BTW, if there’s a sister in the family that Jesus is describing, we never hear about her, even if she does exist.)
As Jesus tells the story, it is not a simple “elder v. younger brother” plot.
There is relationship complexity because we figure out that the relationship is also broken, cattywampus, and out of sync for the elder brother and Dad.
The elder brother doesn’t realize and live into the joy of “all mine is yours” and that there is always a celebration whenever you want it.
While many of us can relate to the younger brother,
there are a whole bunch of us who can also relate to the elder brother –
we are consistent and reliable, we follow the rules, we stay in the family/home/flock, we have been church-goers all or most of our lives, we’ve never really “strayed” or even rejected what we grew up with. We may have questioned things and grown as people, but we are still insiders.
The Pharisees and Scribes are also “elder brothers”.
For them and for us, the shock of this story, the audacity of Jesus,
is that forgiveness, grace, and reconciliation happen profligately
with no repair work required first.
There is no groveling; there is no begging, no pleading.
This is disturbing.
It is disconcerting.
It is ... blasphemous!
It is radically forgiving.
And this is what reconciliation looks like in God’s way.
This is how we do restoration of community as the beloved people of God.
This is how we, as Jesus people, live.
It is counter-cultural. It is counter-intuitive.
It is life-giving.
It is the invitation of God the Way of Life.
It is the “welcome-to-love-at-the-center-of-all.”
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Practically speaking, how do we do this?
Well, first of all, be honest with yourself.
Practice humility, courage, and joy.
Step two is to borrow from the Holy Spirit. Don’t even try to do this alone!
And then, step into it. Start practicing it. You may not be great at first, but you keep working at it. You keep learning. You keep doing it.
At the church with the fire,
our reconciliation with God came because of God’s grace.
Just asking the question about forgiving and reconciling with God
gave us the space to notice God present with us in our loss and
to begin the repair work and
to continue in hope.
You’ve been lost and now you are found?
You were blind and now you can see?
This is the work of God’s love, embrace, and reconciliation in and through you,
the beloved daughters and sons of God.
Revel in it, and live deeply into it as you share it.
Amen
