JourneyOnline
Janet Staines explains how an oft-repeated line from a Disney song reminds her to forgive.
I recently saw a sign outside a school classroom that read, “This classroom has gone 28 days without singing the song from Frozen: ‘Let it go’.”
If you have children or grandchildren you will know well the award-winning song from Disney’s animated film Frozen and perhaps you have been haunted by it! It is not unusual in my home for someone to break into song, “Let it go, let it go!” when a family member becomes fixated on a problem or an offence and it seems an appropriate call to discipleship when it comes to the topic of forgiveness.
In the past few months the world has seen war and terrorism on a broad and varied scale. The idea of forgiveness can sound naïve amongst geo-political conflict simmering for generations, repeating cycles of violence, division and scapegoating. But without forgiveness we are unable to move away from using violence to end violence or to find the path, which alone can bring peace and healing.
In our own personal relationships forgiveness might also seem naïve, especially when they are entrenched in conflict and marked by avoidance, coldness and irritability. But the way of Christ calls us to begin the process of reconciliation, regardless of how the distance or the alienation began. If any relationship has cooled off or has weakened in any way, it is always our move. We are responsible to reach out to repair a tattered relationship.
Christians in community are to never give up on one another, never to give up on a relationship, and never to write off another believer. We must never tire of forgiving (and repenting!) and seeking to repair our relationships.
Perhaps “Let it go” could be more than a pop culture cliché and the first step in this process of reconciliation. For to make the first move we have to let go of our need to be exonerated and our need for revenge. We must let go of our pride and our understanding of how the world should be and we must let go of power and risk vulnerability. In this process of letting go we un-centre ourselves and become re-centred in the being and action of God. We centre ourselves in the God who forgives, the God who heals and the God who engages us with warmth and compassion.
Janet is pastor with Sherwood Uniting Church.
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