Forgiveness, The Reverend David R. Williams, Pentecost XVIII---Year B---October 5, 2006

“Amish forgive killer,” reads a newspaper headline. The persistent voice of “forgiveness” from this quiet, humble Amish community in Pennsylvania challenges us as we try to absorb the unspeakable horror of this past week’s events.
 
Ten little girls gunned down.  Five die. All shot as they attend their simple one-room schoolhouse.
 
The trauma to the Amish community brings to mind the biblical story of Job, a person of God, losing everything of any value. During the next four weeks, we shall hear various pieces of the Job story provided through our Lectionary. 
 
A biblical book of Wisdom, not of history or prophecy, the book of Job speaks to questions about suffering, forgiveness and enduring faith.  Ironically, the book creates even more questions for our curious souls about God’s relationship to tragedies and human suffering.    
 
Using our imagination, for a moment let us picture being in a theater.  On stage is the scene of Heaven, and once we meet the characters of this heavenly drama, dialogue begins. 
 
The first character--God--is center stage.  Several angels and archangels arrive and begin moving around the stage, tending to the heavenly needs of God. 
 
Abruptly, a new character enters from the side.  Not dressed like the rest of the angels and archangels, this character is different--brash, irreverent and boisterous.  This actor happens to be one of the archangels, part of the heavenly chorus yet quite odd.  God has his hands full with this character.  Knowing who he is and not intimidated in the least by him, God speaks,
 
“So, Satan, where have you been?”
 
“Going to and fro on the earth; walking up and down on it,” the archangel Satan replies. 
 
“Have you seen Job recently? Blameless and upright, he is a person who respects God. There is no one on earth like him,” God says to Satan.
 
“Aw, Job’s loyalty and faith are skin-deep,” Satan says. “Test him just a little and Job will curse you, God,” Satan says. 
 
God takes up Satan on his dare and gives Satan the power to do as he pleases with Job; however, Job’s life must be spared.
 
Thus begins the drama into darkness for Job, this innocent man of God. 
 
In the book of Job, Satan is not portrayed as a force outside creation or beyond the Creator’s power.  In this portrayal, the grand, evil force of people happens to be a participant of the heavenly team.  Both good and evil are laid at the doorstep of God.
 
“We believe what happened was God-ordained,” an Amish farmer says, “We do not want to be trapped in bitterness.”
 
From our parish church in North Carolina, we ask, “How can this be possible?”  We are flabbergasted with such a self-assured, calm and loving response. We know that, if our daughter was a victim in that classroom, we would be tormented, even paralyzed by grief and rage.
 
“Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?” Job says to his doubting, bewildered spouse during those first bouts of suffering and loss at the hand of the dark Satan.
 
In times of tragedy, we often hear from some people, “It was God’s will.”  Such comment is well-intentioned as all of us wrestle with questions of “why.”  Why did the plane crash?  Why do I have cancer?  Why would anyone shoot innocent school children?  Why is there such unspeakable pain on this good earth, among good people?
 
It is appalling to think of a God who creates opportunities for suffering.  How could God possibly have a hand in these tragedies?  Our heart of hearts cries, “Saying it is God’s will is a cop-out.  A merciful God does not wish for suffering.” 
 
And yet, there, on this imaginary stage, God sits in dialogue with Satan and gives Satan permission to test, over and over again, Job’s patience and devotion to the Almighty. 
 
A stranger bursts into one of the most humble, sheltered and faithful communities of the Western world and deliberately fires his gun at ten little girls, killing five of them.
 
“We forbid having cameras,” an Amish woman says. “Having your picture taken, especially for television, is sign of vanity.”
 
Imagine the number of television and still cameras in the faces of these peaceable people this past week. During all, we hear not one harsh word of resentment.
 
“We don’t know what God’s purpose is, but we believe there is a purpose.  We’re very concerned that no message of revenge comes from us.  We believe in forgiveness,” an Amish woman says. 
 
At our mid-week Healing Service in the Children’s Chapel of Holy Comforter, we end with a prayer for guidance:
 
“Almighty and eternal God so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you and then use us, we pray, as you will….”
 
Is this not a prayer of giving in to the omnipotence of God?
 
But we are not giving up ourselves to a manipulative puppeteer. Our God does not pull strings, absolving us of freedom and mindfulness. Our God is the One Source of sources; the Healer of all healers; the Creator of all creation. 
 
The Amish people, a quaint community of Christian people committed to fundamental principles of humility and family to the extreme of separation from the modern world, are as contemporary ascetics – not unlike the desert hermits of the first centuries who lived in caves, dedicating their lives to the will and mercy of God.
 
Hostility, revenge, anger, resentment and bitterness are foreign to the Amish way of life. But the Amish certainly know sadness and tears, the need for consolation and embrace.
 
Not every story of the Bible has Satan on the same stage and living in the same heaven as the book of Job. We know Satan does get his way from time to time in real life. In such critical moments, more or less intense, we are tested, face-to-face with darkness
 
Jesus recognizes the hand of Satan in the challenges of the Pharisees. Speaking to certain rules of the day whereby the children had to keep distance from Jesus, he holds up the little ones: the children are the way into the Kingdom.
 
“Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”
 
“We believe the children who died are with God,” says an Amish farmer. “We believe that death is as real as birth.  When death comes, whenever it comes, is not always for us to understand.  God is with the children and God remains with us.  We now have to focus on forgiveness and then we have to move on”.
 
We have much to learn from the immense faith of this humble Amish community. 
 
“Jesus took the children up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.”
 
Amen.