Forgiveness

 

Shame:

“A painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the

Consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.”

Unfortunately, religion has a way of instilling shame in its followers,

Even though the truth is supposed to set one free.

 

For years, I have struggled to overcome deeply-rooted shame.

I have always been very conscious of my wrong or foolish behaviors

And, therefore, have internalized them,

Along with the thoughts that

“I was born into sin” and

“I am just a sinner saved by grace.”

 

For most of my life,

I have genuinely, truly believed that I am bad

And unworthy of God’s love,

“But for the grace of God through Jesus Christ.”

 

I’m not trying to start a theological argument here.

I know that we could argue about the goodness vs. depravity of humanity for days.

I’m simply trying to say that,

For me,

The beliefs that humanity is utterly deplorable were so damning that they paralyzed me.

And being paralyzed emotionally, spiritually, and mentally is not a good place to be.

 

Over the years, as I both expanded my view of religion and spirituality and went to therapy,

I started to figuratively walk again.

Somewhere in the process,

I realized that I had steered away from the word “sin” all together.

It wasn’t that I thought myself perfect or un-needing of forgiveness,

Rather, my focusing on my shortcomings was not helpful or healthy at all.

And so…I subconsciously abandoned the ship that I had been riding my whole life and

Treaded water with the help of a Life-Preserver until I found a new ship.

 

And my new ship has a confession and forgiveness of sin every Sunday morning.

Every Sunday morning, as a collective whole,

We ask forgiveness for the ways we’ve fallen short—

From personal affronts to global neglect,

We pray for grace to cover the things we’ve done and left undone,

And then we are reminded that, through the grace of Jesus Christ,

We are forgiven.

We. All of us. Have missed the mark. And yet.

We. All of us. Are forgiven.

And we can let go of the guilt, heartache, and shame that too often we carry,

Bit by bit, piece by piece,

Sunday after Sunday,

Time and time again,

Until it’s gone.  

We. All of us. Each one of God’s beloved children. Including me.

Don’t have to internalize our wrong or foolish behavior to the point of

Shame.

Because.

We. Are. Forgiven. And.

We. Are. Loved.

Forever. And ever. And ever.

Amen.