Life in the Soup : On Forgiveness

Notes: "We live in a soup of soup of systems, relationships, and choices that is both life-giving and death-dealing. Over time we contribute ourselves to that soup, creating the environment in which another generation will find both its delight and its despair. We have no choice about this, and nobody escapes." Most people do not deliberately hurt others or themselves but damage is done nevertheless. The author talks about the "capacity of cat-tails [planted in wetlands] to remove heavy metals from the environment without coming to harm themselves". Similarly "people who forgive play much the same role, albeit at greater risk to themselves. Those who forgive take toxins out of the soup without becoming toxic themselves". "Those who forgive me liberate me from self-deception and self-justification. They turn my life from its focus on harms done and harms feared to the possibility that I and others might be bearers of gifts and grace. We emerge from our sabbath with two gifts -- that we are healed, and that we are healers".

Subjects: Forgiveness - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada; Reconciliation - Religious aspects - Anglican Church of Canada