Proper Nineteen 09/17/23
The Still Point
A Time of Meditation and Reflection
The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Proper Nineteen
... At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance...
T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton
Peace on each one who comes in need;
Peace on each one who comes in joy.
Peace on each one who offers prayers;
Peace on each one who offers song.
Peace of the Maker, Peace of the Son,
Peace of the Spirit, the Triune One.
Opening Prayer
O God, because in our ignorance and selfishness we so often fail to care rightly for your Creation, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may soften and unite our hearts with all living beings who suffer; through Jesus Christ the Wisdom of Creation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
The Gospel Matthew 18:21-35
Peter came and said to Jesus, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Poem: “Forgiveness” by H. Chattopadhyaya
Each moment things forgive you. All your hours
Are crowded with rich penitence unknown
Even to you. Shot birds and trampled flowers,
And worms that you have murdered with a stone
In idle sport--yea, and the well whose deep,
Translucent, green and solitary sleep
You stirred into harsh wrinkles with a stick,
Red mud that you have bound into a brick,
Old wood that you have wrought into a bark,
Flame in the street-lamp held to light the dark,
And fierce red rubies chiselled for a ring...
You are forgiven each hour by everything!
Meditation
Today's Gospel brings us into an encounter with the sacramental process of contrition and reconciliation, and its fruit: forgiveness. Jesus offers us a topical parable, in which a servant is forgiven for not being able to repay a huge debt, but after being forgiven the debt, the servant treats his own debtor harshly. The servant is shown mercy, but shows no mercy when he finds himself in the same position to forgive.
Jesus' instruction to forgive "seventy-seven times" can feel a little overwhelming - it probably overwhelmed Peter, too, after he'd asked about a seemingly generous number of "second chances" (seven). What does forgiving seventy-seven times mean in the context of our society, so shaped by "cancel culture", trendy therapy-speak on boundaries and self-care, and vitriolic values-based polarization?
Forgiveness, even once, feels risky to us. We don't want to condone or permit harmful behavior, so we often feel that bad actors ought to be "cancelled" to prevent repeat offenses. We don't want to leave the door open, only to be treated like a doormat. We don't want to sacrifice our strong convictions in what we believe to be right. Can we trust that the person we forgive will actually change their ways? What if they don't? What if we never get the apology or change we want, expect, perhaps desperately need?
Jesus' seventy-seven counts of forgiveness is an extreme number precisely so that we will forget to count...so that forgiveness will stop being a quantifiable transaction for us and start being a boundless act of radical love. The poem "Forgiveness" seems to call us into an awareness that love is the natural inclination of all creation. Our environment is a reflection of the boundless love of the creator, and whenever we use our senses to perceive it, we become constant receivers of all the ways that love expresses loveself, including forgiveness. Further, when we ourselves assume this natural posture we share with all creation, and regard one another from the countenance of unconditional love, forgiveness of one another is not something that we keep charted on a checklist, but it is rather our manner of flowing in relationship with one another, as natural a gesture as breathing or eating or drinking. As we are forgiven like the poem states, forgiven for each trampled flower and crushed anthill under our unwitting feet, we are invited to let that same loving gesture of forgiveness flow from us out to the world, maybe even starting with that one person with whom it feels impossible...maybe it begins by forgiving ourselves.
Questions for Reflection
- As an exercise this week, become aware of all the times you say "sorry". Do you ever say it without thinking, or without really meaning it?
- Are there people or events in your life that you find hard to forgive or reconcile? Take a moment to name them before God. Imagine the altar at church, or go before your own altar at home. Set these names down at the altar.
- What might be some ordinary entities in your life that are forgiving you in the way the poem describes? Maybe your keys forgave you for losing them. Maybe your plant forgave you for forgetting to water it. Notice that as you picture things forgiving you, you assume the posture of forgiveness within yourself. What does this grace of forgiveness feel like for you?
- What does life after forgiveness look like? Invite yourself to spend a moment picturing a situation that has been healed by forgiveness. Where is God in this picture?
Prayers
We bring before God someone whom we have met or remembered today
We bring to God someone who is hurting tonight and needs our prayer
We bring to God a troubled situation in our world
We bring to God, silently, someone whom we find hard to forgive or trust
We bring ourselves to God that we might grow in generosity of spirit, clarity of mind, and warmth of affection
We offer our thanks to God for the blessings in our lives
We name before God those who have died.
Gracious God, you hear all our prayers: those we speak aloud, those we hold in our hearts, and those prayers for which we have no words. Hear the prayers of your people, and grant them as may be best for us, for the sake of your holy name. Amen.
Accept our thanks for all you have done, O God. Our hands were empty, and you filled them.
May Christ’s holy, healing, enabling Spirit be with us every step of the way, and be our guide as our road changes and turns, and the blessing of God our Creator, Redeemer and Giver of life be among us now and remain with us forever. Amen.
Reflections this month offered by: Katie Schmidt
