{"id":223,"date":"2020-10-19T10:05:07","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T10:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/?p=223"},"modified":"2020-10-21T09:12:28","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T09:12:28","slug":"forgive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/2020\/10\/19\/forgive\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgive!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear Benedict,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forgive me for not\nwriting for a few days. I do a thing called retirement though I\u2019m\nnot sure it was a concept in the 6th century, or in monastic\ncommunities much at all. In 21st century Britain it\u2019s a somewhat\ncontested concept due to inequalities: some people get more\nretirement than others. Having been doing it in what I think is a\nmodest way from nearly two years it often includes long distance\nwalking. We have been walking a new route in Derbyshire along the\nDerwent Valley and that has taken me away from letter writing for a\nfew days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m writing to you\nabout the Prayer of Jesus in morning and evening worship (and at\nother times too I\u2019m sure) that you mention in chapter 13. You\nadvocate saying it aloud as every word is a pledge or promise by\ncommunity members to each other. You mention how \u2018thorny issues\u2019\nmay grow up between people and recommend the words \u2018Forgive us as\nwe forgive\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forgiveness itself\nis one of the thorny issues of our day. People ask, how do I forgive?\nIs it enough to say \u2018I forgive you\u2019 or is more required? What if\nyou can\u2019t say such words, can\u2019t forgive? For some people it seems\na straight forward matter: I forgive you and that\u2019s it? For others\nit has qualification: I forgive you but I can\u2019t forget. How does\nthat seem? Others say they can neither forgive or forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of the Rule you said this school for God\u2019s service wouldn\u2019t be harsh or a burden (end of Prologue) but you urged us not to run away from the opportunity for a way of life that might seem narrow to begin with but would be found accommodating enough with perseverance. I think perhaps this issue of forgiveness is one of those heartfelt aspects that is both tough and yet also liberating. In referring to the Jesus Prayer you put forgiveness in context. Jesus was teaching this prayer to his followers: it\u2019s one of our direct links to him. The daily need for forgiveness was to him as vital as bread itself. However, not every loaf is perfect, not every hunger satisfied and not every forgiveness lived out but we have the opportunity to pray for it again tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A narrow way in the Derwent Valley, Derbyshire.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I think of those who carry huge burdens of inequality and I wonder how they can be expected to forgive those who will not equally share bread with them. What of those who bare massive burdens of grief due to the destructive activities of war or other injurious practices: just carrying on in itself may occupy most of life let along forgiveness. Forgiveness for what? Even the church doesn\u2019t get clean away with this one. Such are my distractions from my own forgiveness issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your own world was\nsmaller, although even a few relationships in a community can be\ncomplex. Maybe we need to think of starting with our immediate\nsurroundings. I can only start with forgiving those closest to me\nand hope they do the same. Forgiveness one step at a time, one word\nat a time, one prayer at a time. How many times might we say these\nwords in a life time? I\u2019ve no idea but we have the opportunity and\nthat could be world changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the remembered\ngospel: Jesus said \u2018Father, forgive them\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forgive me.\u00a0Help me to forgive.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a Friend of\nScholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Benedict, Forgive me for not writing for a few days. I do a thing called retirement though I\u2019m not sure it was a concept in the 6th century, or in monastic communities much at all. In 21st century Britain it\u2019s a somewhat contested concept due to inequalities: some people get more retirement than others. … Continue reading “Forgive!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forgiveness","category-walk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foowr.org.uk\/notesfrombambi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}