Sunday Prayer, after the election

  

          “Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of
humans even as I exclude myself from the community of sinners. But no one
can be in the presence of the God of the crucified Messiah for long without
overcoming this double exclusion — without transposing the enemy from the
sphere of the monstrous… into the sphere of shared humanity and herself from
the sphere of proud innocence into the sphere of common sinfulness. When
one knows [as the cross demonstrates] that the torturer will not eternally
triumph over the victim, one is free to rediscover that person’s humanity and
imitate God’s love for him. And when one knows [as the cross demonstrates]
that God’s love is greater than all sin, one is free to see oneself in the light of
God’s justice and so rediscover one’s own sinfulness.”

-       Miroslav Volf

Both sides of American politics will have much to forgive of the other in the coming years.  Grievance can lead either to hatred and then bitterness or to forgiveness and then peace.  No matter how wide the political divide, we all live in the community of sinners, each of us usurping God as king of our lives, called to kneel before the throne to find true redemption and peace. 

Lord, may my soul lay prostrate before Your divine love.  

Amen