FROM THE PASTOR

The Command of Grace

Dear church,

A couple of weeks ago I attended our Spirit Matters group for the first time, faithfully led by member Diane Barounis. It was a powerful experience – the space so carefully prepared to make us comfortable in the physical body, so that we might be able to go to another level, sharing as each felt comfortable about our experience with holy mystery – about the ways in which we have experienced and embraced and felt God, but often not able to “think our way to God.” (The Cloud of Unknowing).

An individual in the group shared about the Holy Week experience of individual absolution at the Maundy Thursday service. I think it is a perfect moment for mystagogical reflection…

Let’s see where the framework leads us…I’m sharing reflections from this individual and others that I asked about the experience:

1. “We recall an event or experience that was significant in some way or that caught our attention.”
   • At the beginning of the service, after a moment of corporate confession, and even corporate absolution (that is, declaration of forgiveness), we were invited forward to receive individual absolution – a word of forgiveness from the pastor for each of us personally.

2. We share with others who had the same or similar experience, recalling what we saw, heard, tasted, smelled, touched, and how we felt about it.”

• • I was struck by the line, “God never wearies of forgiving sin and giving the peace of reconciliation.” Wow. How could God not weary? I’m always in need of God’s forgiveness. But also, so amazing.
  • And, “In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.” The word COMMAND really struck me this year.
    • • It isn’t that perhaps the pastor is allowed to say I’m forgiven; or to say, “Oh, your sins aren’t that bad…I’ve heard worse…” or “I hope you’ll be forgiven.”
      • The pastor is acting in response to what Jesus has commanded them to do – to remind me that my sins are forgiven.
  • This year I was carrying something particular; something that I’ve realized was hurtful. Intellectually, I know that God has forgiven me. But it is a process to give that over to God and to let it go. When I heard this declaration, I felt God’s forgiveness deep down in a different way.
  • It’s not that I won’t ever doubt again, but I trusted in a new way.
  • The pastor traced a cross upon my forehead with oil. The last time a cross had been traced on my forehead had been on Ash Wednesday, at the start of Lent. It was almost as if this washed away the ash I have been carrying with the oil.

3. “We connect that experience to something larger in our lives, especially to our faith, asking ourselves, “Where do I find God in this experience?” and, “What might God be saying to me through this experience?”

• • One participant shared, ‘I don’t necessarily hear God speaking directly to me. But I did hear the proclamation that pastor shared with me as real and personal.’
    • • It wasn’t as though the forgiveness happened in THAT moment; but pastor was reminding me of God’s infinite love, always given, always provided.
      • It helps the ‘inner knowing’
  • Another participant shared, ‘I felt directly forgiven in that moment in a way I never imagined.’
    • • I have a hard time sensing or just trusting God’s forgiveness, so to hear it in a tangible and direct form is really important for me to believe it.

4. “We ask how Scripture and Church teaching can shed light on this experience.”

1. • The oil traced on the forehead was part of the Chrism oil that Bishop Curry blessed at the Chrism Mass just days before on Tuesday of Holy Week. This oil is a sign that this faith goes far beyond us and connects us to one another throughout the church. This forgiveness is deep and abiding.
   • In the vows of ordination, and in installation, the church reminds a pastor, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20:21-23)  The forgiveness is real and personal.
   • On Maundy Thursday, we hear Jesus give the commandment to love one another – the forgiveness of sin is an expression of that deep love.
   • It’s a reminder that the forgiveness is real, it’s true, and it’s already happened; it is an on-going truth.

5. “We ask ourselves how we can be transformed as a result of this experience and of our reflection on it.”

1. • I am called to live as one forgiven.
   • I’m freed, knowing how deeply I am loved and forgiven, to love and forgive others.
   • I remember someone who told me, “No good ever comes out self-hatred, only out of believing that we are flawed, sinful, AND forgiven.”
   • It’s a daily process to remind ourselves – I am beloved; I am forgiven.”

Thank you to those who participated in these reflections and conversations.

God’s peace,
Pastor Kyle