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a center of faith 
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3400 State Road
Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 
USA 19026 

Focus on Lively Virtues Worthy of Cultivation:
The Power of Forgiveness   

sermon from the pulpit of 
Christ Presbyterian Church                    
a center of faith for abundant living
The Reverend Clyde E. Griffith, pastor

I miss Calvin and Hobbes. You remember: Calvin is a little six-year-old with a very vivid imagination whose purpose in life seems to be to drive his parents batty -- in fact, he seems driven to drive all adults batty.

Calvin has a stuffed tiger he has had for a long time, ever since he was a kid. He calls his stuffed tiger Hobbes, and in his imagination Hobbes comes to life and is, in fact, his best friend and accomplice.

In one memorable episode, the mother of the little girl across the street has arranged for Calvin's mother to watch her for a couple of hours after school one day. Well, being six years old, Calvin has fits that this "girl" is coming into his domain. And, he is simply outraged that his stuffed tiger doesn't do something about it.

After reading Hobbes the riot act, they go downstairs and discover Suzie sitting at the table with a pencil, and paper, and a book. Calvin looks puzzled, and asks, "What are you doing?"

Little Suzie replies, "My homework."

Calvin says, "What? Your homework? We just got home from school. There's lots of daylight left. We haven't had dinner yet. We haven't watched television yet. We haven't been told its bed-time yet."

Little Suzie says, "I know. I like to get my homework out of the way, and do it right after I get home from school while things are fresh in my mind."

The last scene has Calvin walking away with his stuffed tiger, shaking his head, and mumbling, "I used to think she was smart."

In one of my all-time favorite episodes, that was repeated at least twice, Calvin is playing some kind of game in the driveway with his make-believe friend, Hobbes. After a while, Calvin stops and says, "You know we would have much more room to play if this car wasn't here."

Hobbes says, "Do you think you could get your mother to move it?"

Calvin says, "Naw. Now why would I bother her with a little thing like that? We would just be a bother to her. I can do it."

Calvin opens the door of the car, climbs in the front seat, and manages to put the car into neutral and releases the emergency brake. He then gets out of the car, puts his little six-year-old body in front of the car and pushes with all his might. In his imagination, he gets his tiger Hobbes to help. And, much to their amazement, the car starts to move. They are ecstatic as the car begins to slowly roll down the driveway.

Then, suddenly, they realize they haven't figured out a way to stop the car. And they stand there watching the car slowly roll down the driveway, into the street, across the street and into a ditch alongside the road.

Well, Calvin is mortified. His mother is surely going to kill him for this. Together, they can only think of one solution: run away from home. But, before they go, they sneak around the house, run through the back door into the kitchen, and make a few peanut butter sandwiches.

Meanwhile, his mother, in the front room, looks up and notices cars stopped in the street, and people milling all around, and wonders what all the commotion is all about. Then, she notices a car in the ditch, then she realizes it is her car in the ditch, and runs out the door screaming, "Calvin!!!"

He's nowhere to be found. She looks everywhere: in the car, under the car, behind the car. Nobody's seen a little boy. She is beside herself. And begins to expand her search to the yards of neighbors. Meanwhile, Calvin sneaks out the back door of his house with his peanut butter sandwiches and his stuffed tiger, and runs to the park.

There, he decides he is far enough away, and besides he is tired and hungry. So, for safety's sake, he climbs a tree and starts to be afraid of the situation he has gotten himself in this time. His mother has every right to clobber him on the spot.

His mother finally gets to the park and notices him sitting on a branch about five feet off the ground, with tears streaming down his face. She runs over and says, "Calvin, are you all right? Are you OK? Are you hurt?"

Calvin responds, "I'm not hurt. Why should I be hurt?"

His mother says, "Thank God, come on down out the tree, and let's go home."

Calvin, stops sobbing long enough to pause and with some apprehension in his words, says, "Before I come down, first I think I would like to hear you say you love me."

Forgiveness is something we all need to hear sometimes, isn't it? [Maybe some of us, more often than others, huh?] And forgiveness is at the heart of our faith. The story of Jesus is the story of forgiveness. In Christ all barriers between God and us are broken down, and makes possible for our adoption as children of God. Jesus said, "I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly." And the practice of forgiveness is one crucial element that contributes to that abundant life. There is healing power in forgiveness.

We know some of the causes of many of our illnesses today. Many of the illnesses which plague our world: stroke, high blood pressure, heart disease, some cancers, many of the psychological disorders, are linked to things like anger, hate, resentment, even jealousy.

Anger, resentment, hate have tremendous power to affect our psyche, to affect our minds, to affect our bodies. Seemingly, in and of themselves, they have an ability to cripple, maim, and kill. There is no mistake about it: anger, resentment, hate, and jealousy are insidious, self-destructive killers.

And, curiously, a proven antidote to these killers is forgiveness. In point of fact, forgiveness is often the only antidote with long-term affect.

Aside from an abundance of antidotal evidence, we now have hard cold facts that prove that forgiveness has great value in physical and emotional health -- and forgiveness training can be effective in reducing hurt and stress. Researchers at Stanford University's Center for Research in Disease Prevention are currently involved in a large study on the implications of forgiveness for health care and education. The director of the Center suggests that the time will come soon when forgiveness will be offered as part of primary health care programs. The health care professionals are coming to realize what we have known for a long time:
There is healing power in forgiveness:
in forgiving yourself,
in forgiving others, and
in being forgiven.

Professional counselors know that often for psychological healing to take place, a person needs to identify, or name, a particular problem, and then to forgive themselves. There is real therapeutic value in forgiving yourself. Often when a person feels deep and massive guilt for his or her own shortcomings, or mistakes, or transgressions, we simply do not hear words of forgiveness from God or anyone. Sometimes this guilt literally cripples a person. No matter what you may have done to another person, or yourself, one of the crucial ingredients for healing is to forgive yourself. One of the twelve steps of recovery programs is the forgiveness of oneself after confession and affirmation of faith, and willingness to let go and let God. We see on a basic level, there is healing power in forgiving yourself. And this is one of the things you are taught to do in church, isn't it?

There is therapeutic value in forgiving others, too. This is overtly a basic part of Jesus' message to his followers. No less a stellar apostle than Peter asked Jesus, "Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him?"

A fair question, isn't it? A question we ask all the time -- in one form or another.

Often we say, "I just can't forgive him, don't ask me." Often we feel that we can't, or don't want to, forgive even one time, don't we? Jesus told a story about a certain person who had a certain debt forgiven, and then went on to confront another person who owed him a debt which he just couldn't forgive. That person was sentenced to horrible punishment. And Jesus concluded his story with this tag line: "That is how my father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from the heart." He couldn't have been clearer on this. The Kingdom of God is available for you ... who forgive.

"Fine, Lord, but just how many times must I forgive this person who keeps sinning against me?" It's hard enough to do it once, isn't it? But, for a repeat offender ?

Notice what Jesus does not say.
Jesus does not say, well forgive him once and give him a warning.
Forgive him again. 
And, if he does it again, all bets are off. 
Three strikes and you're out. 
Jesus did not say that, did he?

How many times am I to forgive this Bozo, anyway? Once, twice, three times, five times, seven times? Jesus said, "No. Don't be absurd. You must forgive him not one time, not two times, not three times, not five times, not seven times, but seven times seventy times. If you fail the test of not being able to forgive a person an infinite number of times, you simply do not get it. You simply do not know. You simply will never know the Kingdom of God."

Now, that's a radical concept -- that simply can blow away everything you may have worked for all of your life,
blow away everything you may have saved for,
blow away everything you may have believed.

You won't find this in the political debates in Washington.

You won't find this in the President's Crime Bill.

You won't find this in well-fare reform.

You find this in the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.

You find this in the Kingdom of God.

You find this in the Body of Christ -- this church in Drexel Hill, in churches throughout the Delaware Valley, in churches all over the world.

People who forgive others live healthier than those who don't. People who forgive others live longer than those who don't. People who forgive others experience the abundant life Jesus talked about.

There is healing power in forgiving yourself.

There is healing power in forgiving others.

And there is healing power in being forgiven...

A leading theologian of the past generation wrote about the overwhelming power a person experiences at the moment that the realization comes that he or she is fully, and unconditionally, accepted by God -- accepted just for being who they are, and what they are. In our service each week, we try to recreate that moment -- after our corporate and personal prayers of confession we hear an assurance of our acceptance, an assurance of our forgiveness. And many people actually feel that that is the liberating moment for them during the entire worship service. No matter what I may preach about, no matter what we may sing, no matter what we hear, nothing is more important than that one moment.

That one moment when you may realize that no matter what has happened in the past, no matter what you may have done, no matter what you may have said, when you sincerely ask for forgiveness, you get it. It's a whole new ball game. There is a whole new slate to write on. A whole new world begins. There is a whole new life ahead. And, more than any other, that kind of healing is what we are about here at Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill.

A best selling book today is called: "Forgiveness: the Key to the Kingdom." He talks about the power of forgiving someone, and of the power of forgiving your self: He says, "that's really the key to the kingdom. It not only opens the door, it's the hinges on the door, it's the key to the door, and it's also the little bell that rings and lets you know that door has opened."

Paul wrote to the Ephesians that one of the marksof the true church, one of the marks of a real Christian, one of the marks of an authentic soul, is forgiveness. In the midst of one of the most horrible miscarriages of human justice, entrapped in the bonds of sin, captured by the throws of death, Jesus uttered those words that haunt today: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. Our God forgives us, even when we do not know what we do.

Our God forgives us, even when we do know what we do.

Our God forgives us, period. Paragraph. End of story. The beginning of a new story. The first day of the rest of your life.

As some of you well know, there is real authentic healing power in forgiveness. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

When you pray, say, Our Father, ...forgive us our wrongs, as we forgive those who wrong us.
Forgive your brother and sister from the heart ... seven times seventy times [if need be]...and you will know the Kingdom of Heaven.

Friends, a key to abundant living,
a key to a full life,
a key to the Kingdom of God,
is forgiveness.

May you know it.

May you experience it.

May you express it.

Amen.

How to Live Healthier and Longer:
Focus on Lively Virtues Worthy of Cultivation:
Find Out About The Power of Prayer
Find Out About The Power of Attitude
Find Out About The Power of Ritual
Find Out About The Power of Forgiveness
Find Out About The Power of Community
Find Out About The Power of Transcendence
Find Out About The Power of Laughter

References:

The Law of Forgiveness
another sermon on certain non-negotiable laws of wellness from the pulpit of Christ Presbyterian Church: You can feel, think, and live better and  more abundantly than you ever thought possible,

The Power of Forgiveness:
article from Christian Science Monitor

Forgiveness is a Choice

Steps in Forgiveness

The Practice of Forgiveness

Climbing the Pyramid of Forgiveness