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Greetings, Siblings in Christ,
Tomorrow as a nation we mark the 25th anniversary of the deadliest foreign attack on the United States. Nearly 3,000 souls perished in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New York City; Arlington, VA; and Stony Creek Township, PA.Thousands more have died over the years of the effects of toxic dust and other attack related symptoms.
As Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe has put it, "We live in a world shaped by 9/11." The impact billowed infinitely out into just about every area of American life: social, religious, economic, political, cultural…. 9/11 inspired the greatest reorganization of the Federal government since the aftermath of WWII (the Department of Homeland Security) and launched what has now become known by many as America's longest war, in Afghanistan/Iraq. As calculated by the Cost of War Project at Brown University, the world-wide human, economic, social, political, and environmental costs of the conflict are staggering. All of this is to be lamented.
Into this moment recollecting catastrophic harm comes the Gospel lesson for this Sunday, laser focused on the existential requirement for forgiveness. It is a harsh lesson requiring some unpacking. The nature of authentic forgiveness resists order. It is complicated. It is messy. There is no systematic theology of forgiveness in the New Testament. And let’s not bound the need for forgiveness only within the Church community, as the lesson does.
In his book Forgiveness: An Alternative Account, the Rev. Dr. Matthew Ichihashi Potts, Episcopal priest and Minister at the Memorial Church at Harvard, argues that authentic forgiveness must always include the reality of deep anger, solemn mourning and significant grief. Full stop. Grieving what is irrevocably gone, never to return, clears the way for the possibility of imagining a future that includes hope for a resilient and meaningful life.
Our communities contain those who experience the day to day stings for which it is easy to give and receive forgiveness, those who have experienced irrevocable, catastrophic harms which resist forgiveness, and everything in between.
The kind of forgiveness which Jesus inhabits always faithfully acknowledges the reality of past hurt and offers the possibility of new life in Him, despite the harm. Even the resurrected Jesus still bore the scars of his torture. That is the complicated, truthful, life bearing Good News.
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