Westchester Community Church UCC

Loving God and Caring for Our Community Since 1954

PASTORS MESSAGE

Questions of Faith -When Is It Time?” (Part 2)

 Some of you remember the story of the Hatfields and the McCoys (some of our children probably do not even know this story). It appears that no one actually knows the beginning of the conflict. The most often used story is about a shooting death occurring over the ownership of a hog. Whether or not this is the real cause, there really was a hog and a shooting death. But behind this or underneath this story are several other important ones. One has to do with a McCoy coming back from serving with the Union army; the Hatfields (and most of the McCoys) served with the Confederacy. There was great animosity with the Union, and with the young man’s choice to serve. He was murdered. Another has to do with a McCoy daughter leaving her family to live with a Hatfield. Whatever the complete truth might be, there were several shootings, kidnappings, lynchings, and mysterious deaths between 1873 and 1891.

 You may wonder why I brought this up. On June 14, 2003, representatives of the two families signed a Peace Treaty. They hadn’t fought in years; in fact, many got together as very good friends. But they got together for an important reason—first to create a symbolic gesture to support our country against the perpetrators of 9/11– and second, to show that if they can overcome an old conflict, anyone can. No one to this day truly knows the reason for all the animosity. The family simply knew that if people chose, they could keep conflicts alive for no other reason than to have conflict. Does that sound like any conflict you know of in your life? And once we no longer even know the reason for it, what good comes out of having the conflict. Forgiveness can become not only important, but necessary for our health, especially when it no longer serves a just purpose in our life or in the life of those around us. And, sometimes, forgiveness is an important movement not only towards reconciliation, but as a commentary toward a greater good.

 

Two families chose to value their patriotism over their long-standing feud. Does this mean that all their arguments automatically went away? In their case, perhaps. Perhaps time did heal some things. Perhaps their collective “forgetfulness” and the public shaming connected to being a Hatfield or a McCoy became an incentive for them to move on. But I suspect that it was a choice to honor a set of values over against other values that was the most important thing for most members of the two families.

 In our Christian Scripture, there is an important passage, too often undervalued, from Colossians. From Chapter 3—”As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body…” Inside of this Scripture are three very jarring and critical thoughts:

 

 1) Forgiveness is a command, not an option. Yes, I know that justice is also a command, but the two go together, not separately. For those who don’t remember, there are far more than ten commandments in the Bible, and this is one that is underlooked;

 2) Being Christ-like means intentionally choosing what to wear—in our hearts and in our minds. We clearly have far more power over ourselves than the world wants us to acknowledge. Being Christ-like means choosing to take on and take in what brings for love, harmony, and peace; and

 3) Being Christ-like means openly challenging (and in Colossians language “putting to death”) what is earthly, chief among them what is evil desire and idolatrous greed (what we put in front of God which we want to worship as first in our lives). 

 

 I am convinced that we truly know when something is bad for us, and when it will hurt someone else. We, as individuals, and as the Church, MUST challenge these unhealthy, unforgiving ways. When we do not, we allow for harm to continue, and to make impossible the values leading toward forgiveness. When we do practice basic, Christ-like values, bringing people together, helping them overcome their day to day hurts, becomes not only possible, but ordinary. And anyone who knows anything about routines knows that the more we practice something, the easier it is to do. And once it becomes normative, it becomes a teachable value (meaning no one can say—”Do as I say, not as I do”). It leads to a healthy practice, and then, I am convinced, our moral and then personal health. And it brings life to all around us.

 When is it time to forgive? Always. Now. With an insistence for justice and a prayer for mercy. And when we know that our health, and the health of those around us is at stake.

 
For Our Health & In the Love of the Risen Christ,
 Pastor Joe



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