This April, as you prepare your heart and mind to celebrate Easter, we pray that you'll be encouraged and draw closer to our Saviour through this special devotion series "Before the Cross". Every week, we'll feature inspiring messages from BUV leaders and this week, you'll hear from Rev Gayle Hill, who shares with us about the impossible and at times for some, incomprehensible forgiveness that the cross represents.
Week 2: Impossible Forgiveness by Rev Gayle Hill, Head of Mission Catalyst, BUV
In preparing for our Sunday evening gathering at our community of faith* this week I wrestled with giving a very concise and simplistic (not necessarily simple) summary of the Easter story – something that would relate to pre-believers who are undoubtedly under-resourced, and often over-burdened. My reading was from John 8:1-11, the story of the woman caught in adultery. It is the story of audacious and radical forgiveness, so unexpected and impudent that it raises the hackles of the pious and righteous and brings reprieve and freedom for the guilty. This story raised a conversation full of pathos that was truly representative of all that Easter means.
My usual questioner asked: – “How can God forgive paedophiles?” (knowing there is a deeper issue there that is yet to be disclosed). “Will God punish me if I can’t forgive? (understandably missing the point that forgiveness is a journey alongside the revelation of the love of a merciful and gracious God).
Other questions arose; “How do I forgive the abuser of my daughters”?, “How do I forgive the murderer of my mother?”, “How do I forgive my brother who physically and sexually abused me?” “How do I forgive my family for abandoning me after I contracted HIV?” “How do I forgive a God who let my son die last year?” “How do I forgive my son who has continued to take drugs after coming clean and regaining custody of his son?”
Quite simply there was a sense of being in the presence of breath-taking sacredness where people trusted enough to share their innermost pain and confusion. No glib or definitive answer was able to be given for the deep suffering experienced in that room, but it was clear that the God we love and serve, loved us enough to enter into the sorrows of life, yes even our lives, and bring about reconciliation of heart, soul and mind through forgiveness. What does Easter mean? Many things – but in that room for that night, the overwhelming gift of impossible forgiveness.
*My community of faith is held within a social housing precinct.
Source: BUV News