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that they were kept out of the loop and that
they were being forced to lose a vital part of
their Christian practice. The council itself felt
like it was under siege, despite doing the best it
could under the circumstances. There were
many people, myself included, stuck in the
middle, trying to repair this breach.
The easiest solution was never
going to appear. The money to fully fund the missions
budget wasn’t going to magically arrive in
the coffers. There was no way to make the problem
disappear, but there were ways to alleviate
the symptoms. Lines of communication needed
to be reopened. Expectations needed to be voiced
and managed. The failures of both sides needed
to be recognized. Only then could the processes
of forgiveness and reconciliation begin.
forgiveness begin. I saw two people, at odds
only moments before, share a look that spoke
more loudly than all their previous bickering.
Reaching inside themselves, putting away their
differences and recognizing the love that they
had for one another, they began to see themselves
in one another’s place. They apologized
to one another, giving voice not only to their
own pain but also their own blame.
The money never materialized
magically in the church coffers. The missions
budget remains where it was set at that meeting.
But the acrimony subsided after that morning.
The lines of communication between the opposing
factions were reopened. Conversations about
expectations, about what it means to be a church,
about the importance of mission, about what
Forgiveness looks different each
time we are asked to forgive or to be forgiven.
There was a morning Bible study
at which the church’s moderator and one of the
aggrieved parishioners sat next to one another.
They seemed to take opposing sides on every
topic, every passage that we discussed. Their problems
with one another were leaching through to
every facet of their relationship. Suddenly, one of
the older members of the congregation lent her
voice to the subject. First out of respect, then out of
understanding, they listened to her words of wisdom.
She told a story about how the church had
gone through this before and that she didn’t want
to see it happen again. Visibly upset, she said that
it was hard work to make a community out of
people who only had so much in common, but
that our love of one another and of Jesus was
something that we all shared.
We sat in silence for a few
moments. It seemed like days. I thought of our
discussions of the passage from Matthew and
how what forgiveness looked like remained
unspoken. As I looked down the table, I saw
mission might look like sprung up at Bible
Studies, at fellowship hour, in emails. The problem
still existed and still troubled the community,
but by addressing the underlying causes, by
seeking common ground and recognizing the
importance of forgiveness and reconciliation, the
problem was being managed.
Forgiveness looks different each
time we are asked to forgive or to be forgiven.
What is constant is that we must take into our
hearts the frailty, the imperfection of ourselves
and others. Reconciliation is not always possible.
Forgiveness does not always mean leaving
the problem in the past and continuing as if it
never happened. Yet if we are to live in a
Christian community, a beloved community, we
must find within ourselves love for those who
have sinned against us, not just once, not just
seven times, but seventy times seven.
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