大象传媒

Good Morning,

On this date in 1963 John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. The event has been much in the news again on account of the recent release of previously sealed US government documents relating to the investigation of Kennedy鈥檚 assassination. Earlier this month there was yet another mass shooting in the US. And here in the UK there have been several聽 terror attacks over the last year.

We鈥檙e hardly the first to watch and experience such horrific events. History is littered with the detritus of evil. Indeed, it鈥檚 difficult sometimes to free ourselves as individuals and communities from the ongoing wounds inflicted in the past. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has insightfully commented, 鈥淔orgiveness is the only way to live with the past without being held prisoner by the past.鈥� Real forgiveness is far from simple. It does not mean forgetting and it does not mean ignoring justice. Often it requires us to take seriously both the humanity of our enemies and the depths of evil and brokenness in our own hearts, even we must be forgiven. To forgive demands that we hold our rights loosely and yield to the other, the very one who has wronged us. In the Christian faith, this counter intuitive claim is most vividly depicted in the crucifixion of Jesus.聽聽

Gracious and merciful God, you are slow to anger and abounding in love. Free us, God, from the cycles of past violence and oppression, lest our anger consume us and break out against others. Help us to learn and practice forgiveness, even as you offer forgiveness to us. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
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