"you Can Forgive The Past"

In Jesus Holy Name June 28, 2020

Text: Colossians 3:12-14 Pentecost IV - Redeemer

“You Can Forgive The Past”

The Declaration of Independence declares that all men are created equal. It was and remains the American dream. We all know it has been applied inconsistently, but it remains a dream. Abraham Lincoln opposed slavery under its banner. Franklin D. Roosevelt in proposing the New Deal by cited its promise. The greatest speech of the 1960s civil rights revolution, was the speech by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. pushing the words of our founding fathers into reality.

It was a masterful speech given front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Thousands gathered as he preached on the immortal principle that all men are created equal by God. It is a truth engraved into the American soul. It is a principle of Christianity. It is America’s gift to the world. Like all dreams and principles it is a dream still seeking fulfillment.

To forgive the past injustice, to forgive past grievance, allows and creates opportunity for change. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina is still working to implement the promises of our Declaration of Independence. It is God who has forgiven our past and gives each Christian the opportunity for change. Let me share the story of Martin Luther King Sr., often called “Daddy King” by those who knew him.

When Martin Luther King Sr. died in 1984, one black leader said, “If we started our own country, he would be our George Washington.” In his eighty-four years he endured more than his share of suffering and hatred. During his childhood in Georgia, he witnessed lynchings. When he tried to register to vote in Atlanta, he discovered that the registrar’s office was on the second floor of city hall—but the elevator was marked Whites Only, the stairwell was closed, and the elevator for blacks was out of order.

Martin Luther King Sr. is mostly remembered for the accomplishments of his son, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.—leader of the nonviolent civil rights movement, cut down by an assassin’s bullet in 1968. But that was not the end of his pain. During a church service in 1974, as his wife played “The Lord’s Prayer,” a young black man rose in the congregation and began shooting. Mrs. King collapsed in a hail of gunfire while Daddy King watched in horror from the pulpit.

Near the end of his life, he spoke about the policy of nonviolence he had come to embrace. He said: “There are two men I am supposed to hate. One is a white man, the other is black……. and both are serving time for having committed murder. I don’t hate either one. There is no time for that, and no reason either. Nothing that a man does takes him lower than when he allows himself to fall so low as to hate anyone.”

Then came a question: “How can a man not hate when his wife and oldest son have been murdered? It seems natural and even proper to hate killers, doesn’t it?” The answer comes back, “There is no time for that.”

To hate is to live in the past, to dwell on deeds already done. Hatred is the most damaging emotion, for it gives the person you hate a double victory—once in the past, once in the present.

There is no time to hate? Not if you have learned how to forgive. Forgiving does not mean whitewashing the past, but it does mean refusing to live there. Forgiveness breaks the chain of bitterness and the insidious desire for revenge. As costly as it is to forgive, lack of forgiveness costs far more.” Sermon Ray Pritchard June 14, 2020

Each year our congregation sets a goal to read more in the bible this year than last year. Each week I have published “The Thought for the Week”, which encouraged you to watch a video than read a portion of scripture. This week we are beginning to read another letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Colossae. This is one of my favorite letters. In both his letters he reminds the new Christians from all ethnic backgrounds that under the banner of Jesus prejudice must cease to exist. “Neither Greek nor Jew, Scythian, slave or free, but all in Christ.” “Jesus is our peace, he has destroyed every barrier, any dividing wall of hostility.” Ephesians 2:14

In chapter 3 Paul provides guidelines for Christian behavior. In both letters Paul has a lengthy section on “rules for Christian behavior”. This was very important for people living in a pagan culture with pagan values. Pagan values involved worship of self, greed, filthy language, lying to others to get ahead, sexual immorality, prejudice & hatred, filthy language, rotten speech, stealing and cheating. Hatred, rage, & anger are not compatible when living the Christian life.