Here is my sermon from Sunday. The text was Genesis 50:15-21:
There is a story told about a new minister to a congregation and on his first Sunday there he preached a sermon on forgiveness, which was well received. The next Sunday he preached exactly the same sermon, which left people a little puzzled, but wondering what he would do the next week. But on the third week, he delivered exactly the same sermon of forgiveness, and so that week some leaders of the church paid a nice visit told him to tell him that while they appreciated the message the first time, they wanted to make it known that they expected to hear something different the next Sunday. But, for the fourth time he delivered the same message, only this time he added at the end, and when we start practicing forgiveness in all that we do, then we’ll move onto a new topic.
Now giving the same sermon on forgiveness over and over
again is probably over-kill, although it does make sermon prep really easy, we
can’t really hear about forgiveness enough because while we very often talk
about God forgiving us, it’s also, and just as importantly as us forgiving
others and us seeking forgiveness. Indeed, Jesus says that unless you forgive
you will not be forgiven. Pretty high standards. But here is some good news.
The first is that holding a grudge, the desire to get revenge is actually
programmed into us by evolution. We want retribution for what has wronged
us. We want vengeance. We want something bad to happen to the other
person. This is a natural part coming from the base part of our feelings. Even
people who are opposed to this, still feel it, as maybe perhaps summed up by an
essay written by Rev. Mary Lynn Tobin in response to September 11, called
“Vengeance is the Lord’s (but something inside me wants to ‘bomb the hell out
of them’).” and so if you judge yourself because you hold grudges and want
revenge, you can let that go because it’s natural. But it’s a matter of what
you do with those feelings.
And so here is even better news. Forgiveness is also a part of who we are. It too has been programmed into us by evolution. The desire to heal and rebuild relationship and community are just as much, or maybe even more, a part of who we are as revenge is. In fact, in every animal that has been studied except for one, they have demonstrated acts of forgiveness, conciliation and reconciliation. The one animal that doesn’t do this is the house cat, and for those who own cats, and those who dislike cats, this should not come as a surprise. The reason why it is found in other animals, including humans, is because we live in community, and to stay in community which is necessary if we are to survive, we have to have the ability to forgive wrongs.
