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Sermon January 12, 2020
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers,
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of our Lord, Year A
http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Epiphany/AEpi1_RCL.html
All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’ Acts 10:43
Please be seated.
This past week a friend posted an article from Womans Day Magazine from the February 19, 2016, issue. The title was My Son Shot 10 Amish Girls in a Pennsylvania Schoolhouse. In the article Terri Roberts, the mother of the shooter in the Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting, shared her story. The shooting occurred in October of 2006.
Mrs. Roberts and her husband were horrified by what their son had done. Her husband thought they would need to move away and have a home elsewhere. How could they continue to live in the same community with the families who had experienced this terrible tragedy? Didn’t people blame them? Weren’t they somehow responsible for what happened? Could they have prevented it from happening?
In almost unimaginable acts, the families in this Amish community came around to the Roberts family, assuring the family that their son was forgiven. Members of the Amish community sat with the Roberts family members. They cried together. They supported each other. Members of the Amish community attended the funeral of the Roberts’ son.
The understanding in the Amish community was that they needed to forgive the shooter or else how could they expect to ever be forgiven?
Mrs. Roberts died in 2017. The Lancaster newspaper re-published a portion of a 2016 video interview they had done with Mrs. Roberts. She shares how angry and bitter she was towards her son for what he had done. However, since she experienced the forgiveness of the Amish community, she reasoned she had to forgive her son or she would be as angry and bitter as he had been. Plus, if the Amish community could forgive her son, she needed to do likewise.
In our readings today, we are told that God is doing a new thing, not only in sending Jesus, but also after Jesus’ resurrection, in creating a new community. The teachings and life in Jesus Christ are available to everyone…everyone! No one is left out.
In our reading from Acts, Peter says: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Acts 10:34 When we do what is right and when we respect and follow God, then we are acceptable to God. When we are acceptable to God, we receive forgiveness of our sins.
It is hard to imagine the forgiveness demonstrated by the Amish Community in the aftermath of the Nickel Mines shooting. Hopefully that kind of forgiveness is something we are never tested with. However, that forgiveness is so powerful. Every time I read something about what happened after the shooting, I am moved to tears.
Not forgiving ourselves or others flies in the face of how God is asking us to behave. Not forgiving ourselves or others separates us from the living and loving relationship with Jesus Christ.
A couple of days ago, I watched the Netflix movie, Two Popes. It is based on a true story about the relationship between Pope Benedict and now-Pope Francis. At some point in their relationship, they confessed their deepest sin to each other. What a burden each of them had been bearing. Their individual experience had taught them much and changed their lives going forward. Yet, each believed those sins made them unworthy to be the spiritual leader of their denomination.
I suggest that not forgiving…not confessing and asking for forgiveness…is what is most damaging. It is most damaging to our relationship with God and it is most damaging to our relationship with each other.
God, in sending Jesus Christ, showed us how to live in a new and different way. We are assured of forgiveness. We are assured of God’s love and acceptance of us. May we live into that assurance more deeply.
Amen
My Son Shot 10 Amish Girls In a Pennsylvania Schoolhouse
After her son committed a horrific crime, Terri Roberts expected rage and calls for vengeance. What she was greeted with instead healed an entire community.
BY TERRI ROBERTS Feb 19, 2016
Obituary and video of Terri Roberts talking about forgiveness and the aftermath of the shooting: https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/terri-roberts-mother-of-nickel-mines-shooter-dies-after-battle/article_6fb56626-86c0-11e7-b95a-33ca32d336dd.html
