Songs of trust

Blessed is the forgiven person

Something to read

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
While I kept silence,
my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
Psalm 32:1-4 (NRSV)

Something to think about

In 1990 a historic conference took place in the town of Rustenberg, Transvaal, South Africa. It was the first meeting in three decades between the white-led Dutch Reformed Church and the black-led churches that had doggedly opposed apartheid and suffered under it. In an extraordinary act of repentance, the leaders of the Dutch Reformed Church formally declared apartheid to be a sin. Professor Pieter Potgieter confessed the guilt of the church in the suffering and injustice caused in the name of racial separateness. After he had spoken, Archbishop Desmond Tutu responded in front of an audience that was deeply moved and emotional, saying, 'God has brought us to this moment and I just want to say to you: I cannot, when someone says, "Forgive me," say, "I do not".'

There is indeed a glorious happiness in knowing that something is forgiven. It requires more than just a formula of words, more than going through the paces of an apology; it comes with a sincere recognition that what was once an intractable problem between two human beings is a problem no longer. And it requires that release to be recognised genuinely by both parties. Why do we rarely feel that exhilarating blessing of forgiveness? Because we say sorry cheaply, while continuing to hold grudges. Even in front of God we confess things without any heartfelt sorrow for them. We don't really need the psalm to tell us what to do; we know!

Something to do

Is there anything within you that leaves you 'dried up' because you cannot let go of the resentment? You have within you the ability to let go of it, and simply decide that it is not going to matter any more. But only you can make that decision - you may prefer to cling on to it because the 'wasting away' is easy than letting go.

Something to pray

Lord, you return gladly and lovingly to lift up the one who offends you. But I do not turn to raise up and honour the one who angers me. O God have mercy upon me.

St John of the Cross (1542 - 1591)