Father Forgive

The Lord's prayer tells us to forgive as we are forgiven -
no more and no less.

Let us forgive so that we can be forgiven.
Forgive us so that we can forgive
We are forgiven if we forgive others
we forgive others if we know we are forgiven.

Guilt blocks the way to God
But so does anger and blame.
All anger is righteous to the one who is angry.
Anger is guilt projected onto another.
Anger turns on itself when it has no other to attack
Guilt is anger turned in on the self;

If we forgive others it helps us to feel that they are the problem, not us:
so we "forgive" the blacks; the reds; the whites; the greens
and feel so good that we forget
we might need to be forgiven by them too.

If we are forgiven it helps us to feel we have got away with it one more time;
next time it will be easier.

We think we have to say sorry
Jesus says we are already forgiven
We think God can only love us when we are perfect
Jesus tells us he loves us as we are
We think we need to improve ourselves
Jesus tells us only God can do that
We judge people by what they are
and set ourselves over them
We want others to say sorry
Jesus offered forgiveness and enabled them to feel sorrow

But it was regarded as blasphemy to offer forgiveness unconditionally -
what if everyone did it,
the world would never be the same again.

When we forgive we expect the penitent to come crawling
To say they were wrong; we were right.
When Jesus forgave it did not demean the forgiven but freed them
We identify others with their sin

Jesus identified himself with sinners
and freed them from their sin
Jesus accepted people as they are
and by that acceptance let them be what he would have them be
Jesus says 'go and do likewise'.

We ask for a sign
We are given the sign of Jonah
Jesus washed up after three days on the shore
between the waves of our guilt
and the cliffs of anger we defend ourselves with.

We hem ourselves in with guilt over habits and peccadilloes
we barely touch our guilt for the major issues
A planet dying - choked on our waste
Millions of babies killed each year,
before birth has set them free of their mothers "choice"
More millions starving so that we can collect our bank interest.

If we can't cope with guilt and anger over our minor faults
How are we to cope with all of these?
Or is it best to opt out and let others concern themselves if they will?
And restrict the preaching of the gospel to only half the population
Then we will be less bothered by its more difficult bits.

Perhaps only God can cope
If we let him
If we take it to him in prayer

God can and does forgive even those, or especially those,
who will not and cannot forgive themselves;
and who as a result cannot and will not forgive others:
who feel guilty about being angry
and angry about being guilty
ad infinitum......

Jesus opens the circle
brings light to the darkness
points us to the end of the tunnel.

It is only unforgivable to deny the spirit
The Spirit is a spirit of forgiveness
so it is only unforgivable to say that it is unforgivable....

God sets us free
opens us to forgiveness
opens us to forgive
forgives us when we are not open
forgives our knots.... our nots....

©Peter G Ashby 2008