Practice Forgiveness

On the first path--facing change in our lives--we come to appreciate the importance of spiritual practice.  It's a difficult path for most: hiking through new terrain, facing wilderness tests, encountering in Jesus' teaching a whole new way of living and loving.

One of the key practices here is forgiveness.  It's so central to the Sermon on the Mount, so much the heartbeat of everything else Jesus' teaches.  It's in learning to forgive one another, risking reconciliation, that we come to appreciate and delight in the freedom of God's forgiveness.  "Forgive us...as we forgive others."  It's the key signature of Christian life.  And it takes a lifetime, for most of us, to learn and to learn and to learn again.

Just as important, on this first path, Matthew's great mountain--our learning to receive, rejoice, dance in the forgiveness extended to us.  We are loved beyond accounting.  We are blessed and reconciled in the deep love and grace of Christ.  In all this, perhaps we can even learn to forgive ourselves!  On the mountain path, testing the radical love of the gospel, we will stumble and fall.  We will make mistakes.  "To err is human," the old bard says, "to forgive is divine."  Grace makes it possible, even inevitable, to forgive ourselves.  Even the hard stuff.  Even the big mistakes.  Even our sin.

One of the great gifts of Christian community--of the church at its best--is the gathering of courage and forgiveness in our midst.  I can look around the sanctuary Sunday morning and see all kinds of folks...and so many great examples of forgiveness and grace.  Because of their courage, because of their creativity with gospel love, I begin to imagine myself as one of them.  I begin to imagine grace at play in my heart and my relationships.  Community becomes communion.  Grace becomes practice.  And new life.

If you're looking for more encouragement, I highly recommend The Forgiveness Project!  Great site, great inspiration.