United Presbyterian Church of Northville

Dear friends,

Welcome to MEDs online!  You'll still get them in your inbox, but now you can see them at your leisure.  I hope you enjoy this new feature on our page!

So for this week's MED, I wanted to talk for a moment about forgiveness.  You know what I mean: the thing we strive for to heal all the wounds that exist between us and others and that make it really hard for us to love our neighbors as ourselves.

In my experience, forgiveness comes in three levels.  The first is the level in which we forgive others for our own sake.  What I mean here is that we seek a release from the anger and frustration we have been carrying, and - usually in the absence of a cathartic conversation - decide that we need to let go, for our own peace of mind.  This is a first step.  It is good, and it makes our lives more whole.

But the second level of forgiveness is one in which we choose to relate to wounded people: not to be wounded by them, but to be healers in their world.  This is the level of forgiveness that reaches out into what are sometimes very awful places.  It is missional, and evangelical.  It is forgiveness for others' sakes, more than for our own.  It requires great strength.

For us, as Christians, it's impossible to talk about forgiveness without talking about the cross.  And that is the third level, of course: what has already been done for us.  And the gift in the cross, for this conversation, is that when we are wondering where the strength will come from that is needed for all this forgiveness, there is the cross.  The thing is that it takes a great wealth and history of being loved to grow that kind of strength.  And God's love for us is right there on the cross: a model of forgiveness, a testimony to God's incredible love for us, and a symbol that for 2000 years has been trying to show us that God is on our side, and will be forever.

SO:  If you feel like a challenge this week - a little something to get your adrenaline running, a task-at-hand that might stretch your Christian wings a bit - try reaching into your storehouse of love, and spend some of it on some healing forgiveness for someone else's sake.   Love, after all, becomes more when we give it away.

Be well, pray often, and do it all with love!

Kirianne