|
Introduction to the Healing Power of Forgiveness Issue |
 |
 |
 |
|
Written by Vicki L. Hollon, D.Min.
|
|
 So far in the 21st century there have been many events that have magnified the need for us to understand what it means to forgive, to exercise the capacity to forgive, and to experience the healing power of that forgiveness. Whether in the shadows of 9/11/01 in the United States, in the villages of Darfur, in an Amish school yard in Pennsylvania, on the campus of Virginia Tech, in the streets of an impoverished community, or behind closed doors; we are becoming increasingly aware of our need to understand forgiveness as a means for living life and alleviating suffering.
The following series of articles invites the reader to consider the hard work of forgiveness and its importance for each of our lives. With stories ranging from the death of a child in an automobile accident, the conviction of first-degree murder, and the devastation as a result of political and military violence, the reader is invited to learn from the experiences of others who have encountered and offered radical forgiveness.
|
|
|
The Unforgiven: A Psychiatrist's Story |
|
|
|
|
Written by J. David McNeely, M.D.
|
|
Monday, 09 February 2009 12:20 |
|
 Simply put, when life presented me with the “forgiveness lesson,” I flunked and had to have remedial instruction.
On October 23, 1990 at 7:42 AM, our fifteen year old daughter Amy was killed in an automobile accident on her way to school. A young woman rushing to her workplace ran a stoplight and struck the car in which Amy was a passenger. It was little comfort to her parents, sister, and grandparents that she was where she was supposed to be and doing what she was supposed to be doing. Her life essentially ended right away although her body was kept alive long enough to make it to the University Hospital Emergency Room. She had very rigorous and competent trauma care, but to no avail.
|
|
Finding Forgiveness in Prison |
|
|
|
|
Written by Dennis L. Ugoletti, M.Div.
|
|
Monday, 09 February 2009 12:27 |
|
 In the fall of 1992 I went to prison for the first time and ended up on death row. It was a set up. Like everyone else, I didn’t want to be there. But I was drawn to a certain cell like an unseen magnet pulled me. The inmate stared at me through the thick glass. I was a very reluctant prison ministry volunteer from Bible school; he was a convicted murderer. He looked me square in the eye and said, “The Lord told me I’d be getting a visitor today and to tell him my story.” Then he began to share how he ended up on death row.
|
|
Give Us This Day Our Daily Forgiveness |
|
|
|
|
Written by Annie Bellinger Hammon
|
|
Monday, 09 February 2009 14:09 |
|
 Give us this day our daily forgiveness:
for things done and undone,
for words said and unsaid,
for being much less than we know how to be.
Give us this day the forgiveness we need
to sleep through the night,
to arise in the morning,
to live through each day as if it were the first.
Give us today belief in forgiveness:
the grace to accept it,
the love to bestow it,
the wisdom to hold it essential for life.
Amen.
|
|
This Matter of Forgiveness |
|
|
|
|
Written by William R. Tolbert III, M.A.C.E.
|
|
Tuesday, 17 February 2009 10:12 |
|
I currently serve in Liberia, West Africa, as the West Africa Coordinator of the African Council of Religious Leaders (ACRL) – Religions for Peace (RfP). In the sub-region, our organization supports development and implementation of projects related to peace building, conflict transformation, and advancing sustainable development, by the IRCs in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire. We are also working with faith communities toward formalizing IRCs in Senegal, Benin, and Nigeria.
|
|
Living with Sarah's Voice: Forgiveness and Traumatic Parental Grief |
|
|
|
|
Written by Sue Wintz, M.Div., BCC
|
|
Tuesday, 17 February 2009 10:22 |
 In December of 2003 our daughter, who was 17 and a senior in high school, died as the result of a car accident. Sarah was a beautiful and talented young woman who was eagerly looking forward to college; she was planning to be a teacher of developmentally delayed preschoolers. She and her boyfriend were on their way to dinner after enjoying a drive to see the Christmas lights; Christmas was Sarah’s favorite holiday. An adult driver sped around stopped cars at a red traffic light and t-boned Sarah’s door at over 60 miles an hour. Sarah died and her boyfriend sustained life-altering injuries. The driver who hit them walked away from the accident without a scratch.
|
|
Forgiveness and the Centering of Self |
|
|
|
|
Written by Mary Fraser, Ph.D.
|
|
Monday, 09 February 2009 12:13 |
|
 The path is steep up the side of the hill where Jeremy sits with the Sacred Drum, calling members of this gathering together in Spirit. At the foot of the hill, beside the sweat lodge made from willow branches and blankets, the gathered community earlier made prayer ties from pieces of colored cloth and pinches of tobacco. Into each center of cloth, the tobacco held a prayer for someone or a situation. In the sweat lodge they are burnt up, with the smoke rising to heaven, taking the prayer to the Great Spirit. The Ceremonial Pipe also carries prayer to the heavens during this intense focusing on letting go of things temporal to expose only things eternal.
|
|
After Violence and Abuse: What About Forgiveness |
|
|
|
|
Written by Kathy Manis Findley, M.Div.
|
|
Tuesday, 17 February 2009 10:36 |
 "I have prayed and prayed – for years on end. I know I should forgive the abuse. I know all about “forgive those who hurt you.” I know in the very depths of my spirit. I want to forgive him, but I honestly don’t know how. It is tormenting me."
|
|
|
|
|
|
