March 11: The Sacrifice of Forgiveness
♫ Music:
Day 11 - Saturday, March 11
The Sacrifice of Forgiveness
Scripture: Luke 6: 27-29; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13; Luke 6:37
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.
Poetry:
"Love Your Enemy"
by Yusef Iman
Brought here in slave ships and pitched overboard
Love your enemy
Language take away, culture taken away
Love your enemy
Work from sun up to sun down
Love your enemy
Last hired, first fired
Love your enemy
Rape your mother
Love your enemy
Lynch your father
Love your enemy
Bomb your churches
Love your enemy
Kill your children
Love your enemy
Forced to fight his Wars
Love your enemy
Pay the highest rent
Love your enemy
Sell you rotten food
Love your enemy
Forced to live in the slums
Love your enemy
Dilapidated schools
Love your enemy
Puts you in jail
Love your enemy
Bitten by dogs
Love your enemy
Water hose you down
Love your enemy
Love,
Love,
Love,
Love,
Love, for everybody else,
But when will we love ourselves?
CALLED TO DO THE IMPOSSIBLE
Stark. Incredible. Impossible. These reactions come forth unbidden, as we read the expectations for living the normal life as a Christ-follower. These commands do not allow us to be passive or weak. Rather, these actions require a strength that is beyond our human, frail capabilities. Action verbs such as loving my enemies, doing good to those who hate me, blessing those who curse me and praying for my abusers seem to be unthinkable, even harsh expectations. Then, the ultimate command is emphasized in repetition, to forgive all those who do wrong towards us. It rushes us into the realm of the impossible.
Or, does it?
This is not a sterile theological exercise for me. These commands define real life in God’s Kingdom and what is required of all God’s children. I especially confronted these commands during the darkest period of my life, after the murder of our son. I sought to ignore them, or to somehow refute them. But, as God’s child, I knew that the only way I could experience God’s healing, freedom and strength was to be obedient—even to the command to forgive, love and bless the murderer of our child. It was in this journey of obedience that I experienced God’s abundance of love and freedom of spirit.
Matthew West sings a prayer that God would “show me how to love the unlovable and to do the impossible.” Our video, Amish Grace, presents a most powerful example of God answering that prayer for an entire community after the brutal murder of innocent children. As I watched it, weeping, I was struck by the statement that these people had developed “forgiveness preparedness.” Are we regularly acting in obedience to God’s commands, forgiving the offenses of everyday life so that we might be prepared to forgive when calamity does strike?
The poetry by African American Jusef Iman and the art installation by the Gao brothers, shocks us from any complacency we might have and demands a response. The life-size art piece, The Execution of Christ is reminiscent of Manet’s Execution of Emperor Maximilian of Mexico and Francisco Goya’s The Third of May 1808. It is made more poignant when we realize that the artists’ father was executed by the Chinese political leaders during the Cultural Revolution. Yet here, Christ stands with nail-scarred hands, enduring a brutal death, reminding us of the price paid for our own forgiveness and our complicity in his death.
The poem, Love Your Enemy, with its honest, brutal word pictures, seems to negate or deny the repeated refrain, “love your enemy.” It ends with the cry, “But when will we love ourselves?” The poet did not understand that these two concepts are not antithetical. We ultimately love ourselves by accepting God’s love and forgiveness, and, in turn, forgive others. As the song declares, “The prisoner that it (forgiveness) really frees is you.” All of God’s commands, including these considered today, are because He loves us. He wants us to live in freedom. He calls us to do the “impossible,” and gives us the power to do it, because He knows it is the door to life as He has promised.
What enemy are you called to love today? Who is God calling you to forgive? Begin this journey of blessed obedience in this Lenten season.
PRAYER:
Faultless Lord, enduring death for me,
You have consummated the debt of my sins:
Your sacrifice of forgiveness was absolute!
Grant me the strength to also forgive others,
To excuse their transgressions against me.
So I may truly reflect this spiritual fruit,
Obliterate any persistent feelings of malice.
Let each trespass end as a closing chapter,
My continuing on the road of righteousness.
Forgive my sins as I aspire to forgive others.
You are truly archetypical of forgiveness.
You are a most forgiving Lord!
Amen.
(Anonymous)
Dianne Collard
Alumna, Cook School of Intercultural Studies
About the Video Amish Grace:
This year is the tenth anniversary of what the Amish people in Pennsylvania call “The Happening.” In the village of Nickel Mines, in Lancaster County, a heavily armed young man – not Amish – entered an Amish schoolhouse and murdered five little girls, wounded five more and then killed himself. Correspondent David Tereshchuk reports from Amish country both on what happened and on the extraordinary demonstrations ever since of faith and forgiveness.
About the Producers:
Since its debut in 1997, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly has set itself apart from the mainstream media by providing distinctive, cutting-edge news coverage and analysis of national and international events in the ever-changing religious world. Hosted by veteran journalist Bob Abernethy and produced by Thirteen/WNET New York, the acclaimed one-of-a-kind TV show examines religion’s role — and the ethical dimensions — behind top news headlines.
About the Artwork:
The Execution of Christ (2009)
The Gao Brothers
Bronze & stainless steel
About the Artist:
The Gao Brothers, Zhen (b. 1956) and Qiang (b. 1962), are two Chinese socially engaged artists that approach their projects as a mean of political expression. The image of Mao is a recurring motif of their iconography. As children their father died in prison during Mao’s Cultural Revolution.The brothers are not afraid to create contextually loaded, controversial works of art. In the sculpture Execution of Christ (2009), a half dozen life-sized bronze sculptures of Mao Zedong point bayonets at a life-sized sculpture of Jesus Christ. At the back of the group, one Mao appears to be turning away from the execution, perhaps regretting or rethinking his act. The positioning of the artwork’s figures mirror two well-known paintings, Francisco de Goya’s The Third of May 1808 (1814) and Edouard Manet’s The Execution of Maximilian (1867–69). In both works, a central figure stands before a firing squad. When China became a Communist state in the 1940s, its government adopted atheism and forced many religious followers, including Christians, to observe their faith in secret. Much of the Gao Brothers’ work has been banned in China.
About the Music:
“Forgiveness”
Lyrics:
[Verse 1:]
It’s the hardest thing to give away
And the last thing on your mind today
It always goes to those that don’t deserve
It’s the opposite of how you feel
When the pain they caused is just too real
It takes everything you have just to say the word…
[Chorus x2:]
Forgiveness
[Verse 2:]
It flies in the face of all your pride
It moves away the mad inside
It’s always anger’s own worst enemy
Even when the jury and the judge
Say you gotta right to hold a grudge
It’s the whisper in your ear saying ‘Set It Free’
[Chorus x4]
[Bridge 1:]
Show me how to love the unlovable
Show me how to reach the unreachable
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
[Chorus]
[Bridge 2:]
Help me now to do the impossible
Forgiveness
[Verse 5:]
It’ll clear the bitterness away
It can even set a prisoner free
There is no end to what it’s power can do
So, let it go and be amazed
By what you see through eyes of grace
|The prisoner that it really frees is you
[Chorus x4]
[Bridge 1]
[Verse 6:]
I want to finally set it free
So show me how to see what Your mercy sees
Help me now to give what You gave to me
Forgiveness, Forgiveness
About the Composer/Performer:
Matthew West (b.1977) started as an independent musician in the late 1990s. He wrote most of his first songs in the sanctuary of his father's church while he was at home during college breaks. Matthew West is a four-time GRAMMY® nominee, a multiple-ASCAP Christian Music Songwriter/Artist of the Year winner and Dove Award recipient, and was awarded an American Music Award (2013), a Billboard Music Award (Top Christian Artist, 2014), a K-LOVE Fan Award (2016), and named Billboard’s Hot Christian Songwriter of the Year (2016). Well known for communicating stories through song, Matthew West has received thousands of stories from around the world. Matthew's song ”Forgiveness” was inspired by one such story. Renee, the mother of a daughter that was killed by a drunk driver, demonstrated Christ-like forgiveness when she not only forgave her daughter's killer, but fought to get his prison sentence reduced.
http://matthewwest.com/
About the Poet:
Yusef Iman (1933 -1987) was a poet, singer, actor, playwright, and director. He was born in Savannah, GA. Iman gained theatrical experience with Roger Furman's New Heritage Repertory Theatre in New York City. For several years he was director of the Weusi Kuumba Troupe in Brooklyn, NY. His volumes of poetry include Something Black (1967) and Poetry for Beautiful Black Women (1969). Iman has contributed poetry to the Journal of Black Poetry and to numerous anthologies.
About the Devotional Author:
Dianne Collard received her M.A. and D.Miss from the Cook School of Intercultural Studies. She has served as a cross-cultural missionary for over thirty years. Currently, she is the Europe Ministries Director for Artists in Christian Testimony International and the Founder/Director of ArtsCharlotte. Dianne’s book, I Choose to Forgive, is published in sixteen languages and is currently being made into a film.