Sermon: "Practice Forgiveness” I have never had the opportunity to work as a waiter; maybe some of you have. In high school I did work for a fast food place called Ginos – now out a business – but it wasn’t my fault. Ginos was a joint effort with our own KFC – which back then was known as Kentucky Fried Chicken. I cooked a whole lot of chicken. For a while I could not even eat at KFC, though in recent years I have recovered somewhat. Working as a waiter or a fast food worker – or at a Starbucks, Subway - sometimes you have to put up with impatient customers – or those who complain about something. I remember one guy who came in – a known complainer – who said there were not enough French fries in his small order. Guess who was working the French fry machine? In a less than charitable voice – I offered to bring the scale out to him so he could weigh them and see for himself that he in fact had the correct number of fries. Then the store manager quietly reprimanded me – and offered to give the man another bag of fries. The guy looked at me, and said, “Forget it” – and walked away. As a waiter you expect some customers like this – or lousy tips – or long hours – or a tough manager – but most of this just comes with the territory. But working as a waiter you never expect dire circumstances to occur – life and death situations. Waiters would not expect their work and service could ever lead to their arrest and trial – or their death. And yet this is exactly what happened to Stephen – the man who was selected, called, and ordained as one of the seven original Deacons in the church, whose job was to – quote – “wait on tables.” You can read about it in Acts, chapter 6. I remember this so well because – as I may have told you before – I got this question wrong on one of my ordination exams. The original role of the deacons was to wait on tables – to feed the hungry widows, both Hebrew and Greek widows, who were struggling to make ends meets. Deacon Stephen – Waiter Stephen got himself into trouble. His witness of caring for the least in the community provoked and challenged the powers that be in his time that he was captured - and eventually killed. He really is the first Christian martyr – the first one after Jesus who was killed because of his faith and his witness – was not from those preaching the word – not one of the apostles - but from the deacons – those who witnessed to their faith by feeing the hungry. As theologian Scott Bader-Saye puts it, “Who would have thought that being a waiter could be so dangerous?” We pick up this story toward the end of Stephen’s testimony before the high priest and the council – who were none too happy with Stephen’s testimony, especially when he pointed the finger at those who played a part in the crucifixion of Jesus just a few months prior. And when he called the council “murders and betrayers, who received the law but did not keep it” – his testimony got interrupted. Stephen certainly, as some put it, Stephen certainly “left preaching and went on to meddling.” Stephen told the truth – as he saw it – the truth that the Jewish leaders of the Temple played a heavy hand in the death of Jesus. And the leaders, and the crowd reacted – and we see the result for Stephen. We continue to see this power dynamic occur between speakers and preachers – and audience and congregation. Today in the current Presidential Primary campaign – we see how a few ill-chosen words from a preacher had a measure of power over people’s opinion of one presidential candidate. Made me wonder if any of you run for President, you may have to disavow me for something I might have said in a sermon. To be fair, Jeremiah Wright preached in Trinity United Church for 36 years, and helped grow that church from 87 members to nearly 8,000. One out of context quote, from one sermon, is hardly a measure of this man. But this whole matter reminds us of the power of the spoken word to sway peoples’ opinion - and to move them to action – for good or ill. Who was it that said “the pen is mightier than the sword?” The power of these words of Stephen – the dynamic of truth, spoken to those in power, brought on a reaction - this time for ill. The council and crowd didn’t want to hear the truth. And they didn’t want to debate the truth. They wanted to silence the teller and continue in their denial. So, Luke tells us, they become enraged and begin to grind their teeth. And when Stephen has a vision – gazing up to heaven, and filled with the Spirit – when he sees and wants others to see the risen and reigning Jesus, at the right hand of God” – this became too much for the crowd. They cover their ears and shout and grab Stephen and drag hum out of the city, and stone him. Here Luke reminds us of several similarities between Stephen and Jesus himself. In his first sermon in his home church, Jesus was dragged out, and nearly thrown off a cliff. Later he was dragged out of Jerusalem – and here, same with Stephen. Like Jesus, when he was being crucified, Stephen spoke the words, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And then – I think remarkably – Stephen speaks the very same words of Jesus – words that witness to another kind of power – words for us to hear and to practice: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” “Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” And then he died. The power of forgiveness – and the practice of forgiveness. Last Tuesday my wife Judy took our daughter Jennifer to freshman orientation at Western Kentucky University. This means that this fall we will have two children in college – all donations gladly accepted. Judy asked me to lead the Tuesday morning Bible study for her at Westminster Terrace. Guess what the topic was? Forgiveness. While preparing for that Study, I realized that nearly every Sunday morning, in worship, we hear or say something about forgiveness three times – most every Sunday. I asked that group, and someone said, “In the sermon.” “Well, that would be 4 times.” Then another said, “In the Lord’s prayer.” We pray in that prayer, every Sunday, asking God to “forgive us our debts” – to forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” Another is the Prayer of Confession and Words of Forgiveness – which we sometimes set aside in the Easter Season – but most other Sunday’s it’s there. And the third is in the Apostles’ Creed – when we say that we believe in God the Father, in Jesus Christ, in the Holy Ghost – then in “the holy catholic” – the holy universal church – “the communion of saints - the forgiveness of sins….” Forgiveness. We say we “believe” in forgiveness – we “trust” in the forgiveness of sins – that the forgiveness of sins is saving and redemptive for us. And that is good news, news we need to live by. In the materials Judy uses, from a new Presbyterian publishing effort called The Thoughtful Christian (dot com) – the writer defines forgiveness in terms of suffering. Janet Ramsey, professor at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, says “forgiveness means exchanging one form of suffering for another form of suffering – namely, the passive suffering of victimhood is exchanged for the move active suffering of forgiving.” Stephen could tells us something about the active suffering of forgiving. It is not easy – genuine forgiveness is never easy. There is a suffering cost involved, and it can take a long time. But sometimes we and others get trapped in this stance of “victimhood” – in this passive kind of suffering. Now there are times when we ourselves and people we know have been victimized – and that is painful. But if we stay forever as “victim,” if we continually blame others for our lot in life – if we forever hold on tight to resentment and anger and bitterness – this too is destructive – perhaps even more destructive than the original hurt we suffered. The harder way – and yet eventually the healthier, more freeing way, is to move on to the active suffering of forgiveness. And Stephen demonstrates this – just as Jesus did - this active suffering of forgiveness – the giving up of ones right – even one’s legitimate right - to resentment and anger. Stephen demonstrated this – he gave up his right to resentment and anger – he moved on to this active suffering of forgiveness – even in the face of death. And yet for Stephen – and for us – there is an awareness that his life and his witness was vindicated by God – that God was on his side, even though others could not see it. Forgiveness like this happens, I believe, only by God’s grace. We cannot do it on our own. Stephen could not. It was only as he saw Jesus, it was only as he was filled with the Holy Spirit – only then could he forgive his attackers - only then could he come to forgive others in the midst of that most dire situation. Friends, what about you and me? Where and how do we need to practice forgiveness – towards others, towards our own selves, towards those around us – maybe even toward those long dead? Such forgiveness will likely cause some suffering on our part – just as it did for God, for Jesus, as it did here for Stephen. But that very suffering is the stuff of our life which God uses to redeem us – to make us whole and well and complete – to make us mature in Christ – and keep us strong in the faith. Knowing the cost, may you and I still practice forgiveness – knowing that God uses it for our benefit – and the benefit of those around us. And all God’s people said – Amen.
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