September 11, 2011 Proper 19 Remember

Year A Proper 19
9 11 2011
Rev. Catherine Wright
St. Andrew’s, Elyria
(RCL) Exodus 14:19-31 and Psalm 114 or Exodus 15:1b-11,20-21; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35

Nine Eleven. Ten years later, it is a day still full of impact. We speak of where we were. What was going on in our lives before everything stopped. How we heard. What we did. We remember. The world changed, and we froze in place when it did. Before night fell, the nineteen hijackers had killed 2,973 people. And the shock waves were felt all over.

Those shock waves left us grasping for things to steady ourselves with. Reports of parents getting their kids out of school, just to have them close. Business men leaving their appointments unmet and rushing home. Friends calling each other, reconnecting.

And people flocked to the churches.

We returned to that which we know transcends these shock waves in our world- large and small. We held on to God. We found ourselves in church so that we could remember. Remember the truths that did not change no matter how many buildings fell or people hurt others for misplaced ideals or desires.

We went to remember. And one of the things that we needed to remember is that we have a God that forgives all our debts, and others’ debts- even when we can’t.

On this day, we read a parable of Jesus’ about grace and forgiveness. Jesus tells of a man who is not simply in debt; he faces an impossibly large mountain of money to repay. One Biblical scholar, Eugene Boring, has calculated that as King Herod’s annual income from all taxes from all his territories was a mere 900 talents per year, the 10,000 talents would exceed all of the taxes of Syria, Phoenicia, Judea, and Samaria as well. The parable is hyperbole; no servant could amass a debt so large. Then, when the king cancels the debt, the man, now free from the burden, goes out to demand payment from someone who owes him a debt equal to a hundred days’ wages.

We owe what we cannot possibly repay. We have been given everything- our very life a gift from God. And past that we have the love and care of God. Even as our actions fall short of what God wants for us, even as our sins mount up higher and higher until there is no way we could begin to atone for them. We can’t be good enough- the debt is too high to repay. We are lost, destined to be cast into debtors prison forever. Through faith in Jesus, the Christ, we can repent, turn back from our sins, and find the debt has been canceled. We walk out the doors with nothing over our head, released from all that we owed. And then, like the merciless servant, we go expecting everyone else to pay up for the hurts they cause us. We remember and hold it over others for every pain and misstep they have taken. Forgetting the log that was just in our eye, we see only the logs in others.

Jesus’ point is well made. God has forgiven each of us so much that we should go out to forgive others. But aren’t some acts too great to forgive? On this day of all days, we know how great an evil can grow within the confines of the human heart. We know just how much pain us humans can cause one another.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu knows about forgiveness through the daring act of helping lead South Africa through truth and reconciliation after the end of Apartheid. This involved thousands of acts of confession and forgiveness. He has written of this process saying, “Forgiveness does not mean condoning what has been done. It means taking what happened seriously and not minimizing it; drawing out the sting in the memory that threatens to poison our entire existence. It involves trying to understand the perpetrators and so have empathy, to try to stand in their shoes and appreciate the sort of pressures and influences that might have conditioned them.”

Barbara Brown Taylor points out that “When you allow your enemy to stop being your enemy, all the rules change. Nobody knows how to act anymore, because forgiveness is an act of transformation. It does not offer the adrenaline rush of anger, nor the feeling of power that comes from a well-established resentment. It is a quiet revolution, as easy to miss as a fist uncurling to become an open hand, but it changes people in ways anger only wishes it could”. (Christianity Today, Feb. 9, 1998)

Forgiveness is not self-imposed amnesia. It is not pretending that nothing really awful occurred. The scars remained even on the risen Christ. The damage has been done. But we move on, holding on to those we care about, remembering our God who loves us and calls to us even on dark days. Remembering that God has fought the ultimate battle with death for us and has won.

And we continue on. Changed, but not destroyed. Today is our Rally Day. A day to remember many of the wonderful ministries that go on here at St. Andrew’s. The things we do for each other and for those in our community. The many ways we are God’s hands in this hurting world- teaching others about God’s love, worshipping together, strengthening each other, providing food for those in need, a kind smile in a time of need. On this day we at St. Andrew’s remember- not just 9/11, but that we are a forgiven people empowered to help bring about God’s kingdom in this world. Even as we acknowledge the evil that exists in this world and that we are sometimes a part of, we know that all of the really important battles have already been won for us.

Each week we stop what is going on in our lives and we come together to remember. We come to this table to be reminded of all God has done and will do for us and to be strengthened for the work God has given us to do in the week ahead. I give thanks to God for this place and all of the people of St. Andrew’s as we remember together- not just today but every week.