When I was speaking on Sunday I encouraged my listeners to join the conspiracy of forgiveness. Some have wondered: Is it appropriate to speak of a 'conspiracy'?
I use the word because it suggests the undermining of the status quo. Conspirators gather together and plot about changing the way the world is seen; about changing the world itself. Conspirators need to be careful, because their plotting might be a threat to the world's prevailing powers. Conspirators explore, rehearse, develop and ultimately implement a new way of being.
In Jesus' skin, we offer forgiveness to the world as a fundamental dimension of human existence. The world's ills cannot be pinned on some external group. I am part of the problem too. Scapegoating is out. This undermines much of the world's systems. Social life in South-West Surrey and the British presence in Iraq both have this in common: there are good guys and bad guys; there are nice people and nasty people; there are cool people and uncool people. The conspiracy of forgiveness says we're all good guys and we're all bad guys.
The conspiracy also allows you to accept yourself. Whatever your talents, characteristics and gifts, you will most probably also be aware of some of your flaws and failings. To forgive yourself is tough. To conspire deliberately against all that supposes your acceptability stems from your own merit is to be in touch with the classic foundation of faith: being rescued through trusting God's forgiving nature. There are very likely voices within you that insist you are an unworthy, unacceptable human being. If so, you must conspire against these voices.
The conspiracy of forgiveness furthermore challenges us to be radically hospitable towards anyone. If we are ourselves accepted on the basis of divine grace, we are called to follow this through in our relationships with our fellow human beings. Again, 'conspiracy' is a helpful term, because it is all too easy to overlook our own prejudices. We need to be conscious, reflective, deliberate and discursive as we seek to live in Jesus' skin encountering people who are far from acceptable according to the world's dominant culture.
Finally, the conspiracy of forgiveness suggests a form of prayer. In prayer we conspire with God's Spirit against all mean-spirited judgmentalism in ourselves and in the wider world, yearning in our deepest being for the new reality of the Kingdom of God to be more deeply and widely experienced.
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2 comments:
According to one on-line dictionary a conspiracy is "any concurrence in action; combination in bringing about a given result". To most people however, it suggests two or more people agreeing to comit an illegal or unlawful act. I question though whether it is an appropriate word to use to describe forgiveness, which seems to me a unilateral act - almost by definition one which is not (possibly cannot)be achieved by any form of agreement. Indeed forgiveness is possible against the wishes of the person being forgiven. Clearly it is possible to rejec that forgiveness, but the forgiver receives the benefit of imparting the forgiveness.
Thank you. To respond again: I am suggesting a conspiracy is an appropriate term because relative to an unforgiving culture it is an unwelcome act - though not unlawful or illegal. A group of students might conspire against a dictatorial teacher - this does not mean their conspiracy is illegal or unlawful - merely, in this context, that it undermines an existing power.
By 'conspiracy of forgiveness' I mean not that a particular offender conspires with the one offended, but that God's people conspire to create a culture in which forgiveness is nourished and valued.
Yes, forgiveness is possible without the approval of the one forgiven. I'm suggesting that God's people encourage one another to forgive, to live as forgiven by God, to offer forgiveness to the world, to value forgiveness as a fundamental dimension of human existence as seen thru Jesus' eyes... etc!
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