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First Presbyterian Church of Philipstown (FPCP)
The Church of the Open Door
Community News
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Finding our way to forgiveness . . . |
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"I'll never forgive you for what you did." Have you ever said that, or felt it deep in your heart? Throughout our lives, people do and say things that hurt us. Anger and resentment can linger in us for years. It is terrible when we carry a memory that seems too painful to ever be forgotten, a wound in our soul too painful to forgive.
We need to forgive. Medical experts say it's vital to our physical and mental health. As people of faith, we know it's essential to our spiritual well-being. But if we intend to forgive, we have to think about that very bad thing that happened. I know this is true, so I try, but my mind recoils. I don't want to go there. Do you? It hurts! So my writer-brain metaphorically dashes over to my file of stories, and I avoid my painful memories by recalling other people's hurts. Like my aunty-in-law who feuded with her siblings for decades. Or a friend who, once betrayed, never let herself love again.
I realize that forgiveness starts with me. I know it's hard. I also know that it needs to be a daily practice, like gratitude and mindfulness. It's going to take time and effort and patience -- that goes for me, and the people I care about. I'm pretty sure I'm going to struggle with this, but I want to try. I need to try. I want to be able to talk about forgiveness with my two kids in a meaningful way. They are grown and nearly so; they are experiencing their own pain and disappointments. They are witnessing the hurtful things people say and do in social media and in the news: from their classmates and colleagues to community leaders, Congress, and the President. I also want our family to be in conversation about how to ask for forgiveness when we know that others have been hurt or wronged, and we are responsible or complicit.
"Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a permanent attitude," Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said. In this beautiful essay, he reminds us that Jesus teaches us to love and forgive the people who hurt us. Dr. King goes on to speak of love and forgiveness at a national level, as part of a journey to overcome centuries of injustice and suffering. He lifts up Luke 23:34, when Jesus speaks from the cross: "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." There must be a path for forgiveness even in the face of humanity's terrible ignorance and "tragic blindness," Dr. King said -- a blindness manifested in slavery, segregation, racial and ethnic hatred, and white supremacy. "Jesus did not seek to overcome evil with evil," Dr. King tells us. "He overcame evil with good. Although crucified by hate, he responded with a radical love."
Dr. King wrote those words during the civil rights movement, but they surely resonate in our own tumultuous time. On Monday, Jan. 19, our nation honors Dr. King's life and work, and on Sunday, Jan. 18, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) focuses on race relations and criminal justice. In the days ahead, let's take one step on the way to forgiving one hurt; let's let go of a little pain. Remember we are still together, even when we're apart. And the best news is that all of us are loved, all the time.
-- MZ Smith, Community News editor
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Join us SUNDAY, JAN. 17 at our 10:30 am service!
Our online worship services via Zoom are lovely, lively, friendly, warm, and informal. Meet new friends on screen!
Watch for an email with your secure Zoom link for our Sunday service. Or, you can request a link by emailing us at: 1presbyterian@gmail.com.
Michelle and Bernadette Humphrey-Nicol will be our worship leaders. We look forward to beautiful music by Music Director Tom McCoy. And: We welcome Rev. Martha Louise Harkness back to our virtual pulpit! As Pastoral Care Minister at Marymount Convent in Tarrytown, she provides pastoral care and programs for 60 retired Sisters. She has a B.S.W. from Alma College (MI) and an M.Div. from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. She is married to Rev. David Harkness.
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ο»ΏAnyone can join us from anywhere for our live, online services! Use these handy links to connect with us.
To download the bulletin for this service: Click the picture above!
ο»ΏFor info about online services and a link to download Zoom, click here.
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Our Next Midnight Run is Saturday, January 30 |
Our next Midnight Run will be on Saturday, Jan. 30! This outreach trip will take food and critical supplies to people experiencing homelessness. Ron Sopyla is coordinating and he needs 2-3 volunteer drivers to caravan with him to NYC that night. Also: For this trip, we will look for donations of T-shirts, socks, and underwear, and coats (winter-weight ONLY!). To donate, contact Ron at rsopyla@verizon.net. Thank you!
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At the Closed Gate of Justice
To be a Negro in a day like this
Demands forgiveness. Bruised with blow on blow,
Betrayed, like him whose woe dimmed eyes gave bliss
Still must one succor those who brought one low,
To be a Negro in a day like this.
To be a Negro in a day like this
Demands rare patience β patience that can wait
In utter darkness. 'Tis the path to miss,
And knock, unheeded, at an iron gate,
To be a Negro in a day like this.
To be a Negro in a day like this
Demands strange loyalty. We serve a flag
Which is to us white freedom's emphasis.
Ah! one must love when Truth and Justice lag,
To be a Negro in a day like this.
To be a Negro in a day like this β
Alas! Lord God, what evil have we done?
Still shines the gate, all gold and amethyst,
But I pass by, the glorious goal unwon,
"Merely a Negro" β in a day like this!
James David Corrothers (1869β1917) was an African-American poet, journalist, and minister whom editor T. Thomas Fortune called "the coming poet of the race." When he died, W. E. B. Du Bois eulogized him as "a serious loss to the race and to literature."
Photo: March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech on this day.
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Please help if you can. During this health and economic crisis, we are grateful that we can serve neighbors in need through our critical mission programs like the Food Pantry and Midnight Run. If you feel called to support this outreach, we warmly welcome any and all contributions. If you are a member of our church family and can maintain your giving at this time, we humbly thank you.
To make an online donation, click the image at the left, or right here. Bless you!
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Call or email us today.
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