800 Words
We must forgive all our enemies or be damned. - C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock, 1940
I am a political convention junkie. C-SPAN becomes my nightly exercise during the Democratic and Republican Conventions. I watch the proceedings gavel-to-gavel and am enthralled by the process, the “spins”, the balloon drops, and the politics involved in nominating candidates to run for the highest office in our land.
If I cannot watch the conventions on television, I listen on NPR as the speakers praise their nominee, press forth the ideology of their party’s platform, and whenever possible, take jabs at the opposition. It is an amazing, complicated, and highly orchestrated process. Yet, every four years I find the whole experience captivating.
The other night, though, I was taken back by a speech given by Ron Silver, the actor and political activist. While speaking about the events of 9/11, he said, “We will never forgive. We will never forget. Never excuse!” The delegates erupted into a prolonged ovation.
As a Christian leader, I found these words particularly disconcerting. Three years after the horrific events of September 11, our nation is still breathing revenge and retribution. The war, the continued threat of suicide bombings, the deaths of almost 1000 American soldiers, the wounding of thousands more, and the political rhetoric of both parties keeps the wounds of that frightful day open and festering. When will the true process of healing begin? When will our national leaders, many who assert religious affiliation, lead our nation into healing and renewal?
Forgiveness is the business of the Church. C.S. Lewis, writing in the year 1947, “We believe that God forgives us our sins; but also that he will not do so unless we forgive other people their sins against us. There is no doubt about the second part of this statement. It is in the Lord’s Prayer: it was emphatically stated by our Lord. If you don’t forgive you will not be forgiven. No part of his teaching is clearer: and there are no exceptions to it. He doesn’t say that we are to forgive other people’s sins provided they are not too frightful, or provided there are extenuating circumstances, or anything of the sort. We are to forgive them all, however spiteful, however mean, however often they are repeated. If we don’t, we shall be forgiven none of our own.” Lewis would add, “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
Ron Silver is entitled to his opinion; this is what makes our nation great. The freedom to openly express one’s views is an aspect of our democracy that I hold most dear. However, it is reckless, irresponsible, and shows a clear lack of moral leadership when party-approved speakers at national political conventions, who publicly claim Judaic or Christian beliefs, make statements that unmistakably run counter to their religious heritage and principals.
The events of 9/11 were horrifying. We witnessed the personification of evil in a ghastly and gruesome way. Innocent men, women and children suffered and died needlessly. We must not forget such despicable behavior. But as Christians, we must forgive.
When we define ourselves by the people who have hurt us, or the people who hate us, we remain in bondage to them until we are able to forgive. When we are unable to let go of the past, our identity is defined by those moments of hatred and pain and, in the end, will lead to our spiritual and emotional death. To forgive does not mean that we are to excuse as many persons seem to think it does. For many persons believe that when you ask them to forgive someone who has cheated or intimidated or brutalized them you are trying to demonstrate that there was really no deceitfulness or maltreatment or assault. If that were so, there would be nothing to forgive.
Forgiveness is much more demanding. It means, in Lewis’ words, “that you must make every effort to kill every trace of resentment in your own heart – every wish to humiliate or hurt someone or to pay them out.” Forgiveness springs from humility, in the realization of our own weakness, imperfection, and sinfulness. If God, who is perfect, can forgive sinners, how much more should humans do so?
Two thousand years ago, another innocent man, whose very life showed us the nature and character of God, was brutally put to death by a terrorist act known as crucifixion. On the cross, Jesus uttered the words, “Father, forgive them.”
As a Christian, I believe in a God who reconciles. The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. Those who declare to be disciples of Jesus are called to identify ourselves by the one who loves us and was willing to die on the cross that we might have life and have it abundantly. God wants us to be free – free of the burdens of past and present so that we might live fully in the present-day and walk with hope into a glorious future. Forgiveness is about freedom. It is a freedom that liberates and transforms.
I will be continually fascinated by our national conventions and, come November, participate fully in the election process. As a priest in the Church, I call upon all the candidates, who confess religious values, to lead our nation by faithfully adhering to the moral principals and spiritual disciplines to which they have professed their lives. We will never forget. We will never excuse. We will forgive.
This article appeared as an editorial in The Charlotte Observer. Summer 2004
