On Forgiveness

Dear Friends,

Below is this weeks simple offering. A week ago today, I and my wife came down with Covid, thanks, in no small part, I suspect, to a packed plane upon returning from CA.

We’re both better, thanks be to God (and Paxlovid), and our “special” girl who returned with us has been spared thus far. Thanks for keeping her in your prayers.

You remain in our prayers throughout the day as the Spirit prompts. Your faithfulness as a “free subscriber” keeps The Church’s One Foundation rolling along.

With Thanks for YOU!

D. Paul

---

ON FORGIVENESS

It may have been painted by Titian or Caravaggio, nor do I recall if it was at the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze or the magnificent Ufizzi in Florence or elsewhere, but in one of our journeys through the glories of Italian art museums, our tour guide pointed out a young boy in the King’s court with Down Syndrome. The docent said several Renaissance paintings show handicapped children (“challenged” in today’s nomenclature), many with the traditional features of Down’s children—small in stature, slightly chubby, slanted eyes, with shorter fingers than normal. These descriptions, of course, are general in nature and do not mirror all Down’s people. It is a wide spectrum. But pausing in-between masterpieces to reflect on my own “special’ daughter, I mused for a moment on how a king, in-between his flattering courtiers and obeisant sycophants, might be amused by a guileless Down’s person sauntering up to the throne uninvited and asking His Royal Highness, “Hey, how you doin’, king?” This is certain: the Down’s folks are “no respecter of persons.”

Little wonder that over the centuries they have served as models for angels and for the Christ child himself, as seen portrayed below in Andrea Mantegna’s (1431-1506) Virgin and Child (c. 1460), a tempera on canvas found at the Academia Carrara in Bergamo, Italy.

Andrea Mantegna {Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I’ve never travelled extensively through the Lombardy region where this fine museum is located, but history records that one of Mantegna’s fourteen children had an “unidentified sickness.” Might it have been Down Syndrome, historians ask, with Mantegna personally familiar with the distinctive qualities of so many Down’s children—an endearing innocence, a gentleness, an innate faith, and a loving acceptance that harbors no animus or resentment toward another? Now let me not draw an exaggerated, rosy picture here, knowing that several of our listeners have a Down’s son or daughter, a brother, sister, a Down’s nephew or niece. They can be obdurate, fixated on the littlest of things, and extremely insistent upon doing things their own way! But personally, dear friends, for this father of three daughters, our DanelleLee (who is now 47) has been something of a spiritual director to me, guiding me in the ways of patience and kindness, making me less prone to anger, encouraging me to protect more, trust more, hope more, and persevere more. Often, when I’m looking for just the right episode of her favorite “Law & Order” (now found on numerous platforms!), I’ll grow tired of looking and she’ll counter with, “Let’s try again, let’s try again,” and, of course, I’ll try again till I finally hear those joyful words, “That’s it, that’s it!”

In many ways, all of her good qualities, which seem to come naturally to her from above, I sorely lack and need to ask for repeatedly, particularly this ability to harbor no resentments, to “keep no record of wrongs,” and to graciously forgive slights small and large.

My recent trip back to CA included several encounters with my former wife. It was a difficult divorce, not “devoutly to be wished,” and though pleasant enough in nature, these encounters, with their sense-memory evocations, brought back painful memories. And though after 35 years I’ve long forgiven her and she me, the remembrance of traumatic pain is rarely without its traces of bitterness and resentment. Forgiveness is not a one-dose, magic elixir. It is a life-long regimen of relinquishing our hurts and receiving a loving God’s infinite forgiveness, for both ourselves and those “who trespass against us.” On our own strength, without God’s forgiveness, we are incapable of doing so, at war continuously with ourselves, with one another, and at war with a cruel God and unjust world. Fortunately, for many, life has been a fairly smooth path, with health, good marriages, and success the norm. For many others, though, the path has been arduous, with pain, abuse, and seemingly tragedy their constant traveling companions. Whether the path be smooth or arduous, forgiveness is a life-long commitment—a daily decision—choosing, by God’s strength, an alternative path—the path of forgiveness.

In the final, pre-resurrection scene of his life, when Christ uttered from the cross those transformative words, “Father forgive them…,” the Savior of the world left for us an eternal example of supreme forgiveness. Mocked, betrayed, beaten, and broken, abandoned, cast into darkness, and left by all but his mother and a few faithful—dying between two thieves as a “gross darkness” covered the earth—it was others he thought of in his closing moments, asking his Heavenly Father to forgive them—unconditionally. Without his Spirit of forgiveness granting us the power to forgive ourselves and others, we are the walking wounded, dead in our own trespasses. And it is this cycle of death that we see in the world all about us.

With the US election less than three weeks away, we see this spirit of judgement and condemnation prevailing in both parties. Even brilliant author, journalist, and editor, Joe Klein, has recently called Donald Trump “America’s Antichrist”—an open invitation, it seems to me, for every borderline psycho to want to eliminate America’s greatest threat. So much for “bringing down the temperature” of our political rhetoric. From the other side of the aisle, I received a letter this week warning me of imminent doom & disaster if Kamala Harris were to win the election. Now, dear friends, without taking this moment to indulge my political preferences, many of you know from a previous podcast where I stand politically. But this I will share today without hesitation: through all the vicissitudes of life, the rise and fall of empire upon empire, God and God alone is sovereign. And though a leader of vision and character is vital to the political health of a nation, our ultimate help is not in the passing princes and princesses of this world, but in Him who is the Prince of Peace. This is our great need as a nation—God—for He and He alone promises us that “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14 NIV). I suppose some might call such a belief reflective of a “Christian nationalist,” but of this, as believers in the sovereignty of Jesus Christ, we can be certain: whether individually, or as his Church, or as a nation birthed in the riches of our Judeo-Christian tradition, “…no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11 NIV).

And so, dear reader, as another wave of “Covid sleepiness” sweeps over this ol’ body, I leave you with this note of encouragement and a little melody to send you on your way: VOTE—vote early, the day of, by ballot or person. Regardless of how you do it—vote! Democracy has given us a priceless gift—let’s not waste it.

And, on my way to the voting booth and back, and regardless of this elections’s outcome, I hope to be singing a song of cheer along the way, knowing it is because of his great love for us that we can love one another and truly forgive one another. And so…

1. I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered,
From the curse to set me free.

Refrain:
Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer,
With His blood He purchased me;
On the cross He sealed my pardon,
Paid the debt, and made me free.

4. I will sing of my Redeemer,
And His heav’nly love to me;
He from death to life hath brought me,
Son of God with Him to be. (Philip P. Bliss, 1876, Public Domain).

Be well, my dear friends. Stay strong. Dodge that Covid bullet if you can!

And remember: Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is our one, sure foundation!

Amen

PS: For a down-home version of “My Redeemer,” give a listen to Shane McConnell with Bill Gaither and other friends:https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=Words+and+music+to+%22And+I+will+Sing+of+my+Reedemer%22&mid=BA0569366417DD21ED4CBA0569366417DD21ED4C&cvid=C326EBF840004AC3B1AF161CC383E818&FORM=VIRE