Wednesday, February 5, 2003
Wednesday, February 5, 2003
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
One Sunday afternoon Kenneth's mother walked into the room with that file of debts in her hand
and announced. "Son there is something that is eating at me about these debts and I have
decided to do something about them."
Kenneth thought, we are finally going to get a lawyer. Kenneth asked, "What are you going to
do?"
She said, "I am going to forgive them."
"How are you going to do that?" Kenneth asked.
She said, "Follow me and I will show you."
They went out into the backyard and gathered some sticks and made a fire on an old cook-out
grill. Then she opened the file of debts, took one out, read their name out loud, tore the debt in
half and said, "I forgive you," and dropped it into the fire. She looked at Kenneth and asked, "Son,
would you want to try it?"
Kenneth said, "I don't think I can."
His mother said, "Son, you don't have a choice about it, if you want to be forgiven, you must
forgive them." Kenneth stood there in silence watching her burning those debts. Finally, he
slowly reached into the file, got out a debt, read their name out loud, tore it up and dropped it into
the fire. It took a good thirty minutes to complete the task, but when it was finished it was as if a
heavy burden had been lifted. As he forgave he was forgiven.
"Because of this demonstration in forgiveness," says Kenneth, "that phrase in the Lord's prayer,
'...forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us...' has taken on a
whole new meaning."
(Matthew 6.12
NRSV)
When Kenneth Godfrey of Locust Grove, Georgia was eighteen years old his father died. All of
his adult life his father had owned and operated a service station and people purchased items on
credit. After his father died his mother and he tried to run the service station. His mother opened
the station every morning and after school Kenneth went down and worked until they closed. As
he worked he began to notice a large file of debts that had accumulated through the years. Since
his father had died people were refusing to pay what they owed. It was as if his death canceled
their debt. This bothered Kenneth. Statements were sent and the statements were ignored. After
a year and a half Kenneth and his mother sold the service station and got out of the business.
They kept that file of debts, in hopes that those who owed them would someday pay. Another
year went by.
Dear God, thank you for forgiving me. Help me to also forgive. Amen.
