Ann Nadge, a poet I know, has distilled some of the posts from this blog into poetry. She has used my words verbatim, captured the essence of the post, and moulded it into a poet's vision.
This poem consists of verbatim fragments from an original post on 13 February, 2021.
Reflection on Forgiveness.
As we head to forgiveness
and grow into the full stature of Christ….
Where am I in all of this?
Am I ready to 'die' to whatever
has brought me to be so offended?
Not a call to attack oneself, rather,
an invitation to self-understanding.
Sometimes there is a remainder -
no simple forgetting, no easy
moving on as though it 'doesn't matter'.
When understanding, empathy,
do not cover the sin, we have
entered the realm of forgiveness,
its asymmetry, not deserved,
not earned, not a reciprocal
coming down off our high horses
and meeting somewhere in the middle.
It is full of grace.
Forgiveness costs us-
reconciliation where there is
human alienation, is neither easy nor cheap.
Grace is always costly. We should not
separate the two, cross and resurrection.
The forgiving victim of sin
offers forgiveness and sends disciples
to proclaim repentance, forgiveness of sins.
This is God and God's way:
complete embrace of what is not divine,
bringing reconciliation.
