Forgiving Families
Preaching/Speaking: Rev. Adam Hamilton
Date Presented: May 09, 2010
Sermon Series:
Forgiveness
OVERVIEW
“I’d like to share with you briefly what some of our members said about how they found forgiveness–the ability to let go of the desire or need for retaliation or redress–the letting go of the stones of anger and bitterness and hate….
Some of you asked how to forgive someone who died. One member, whose father was physically and emotionally abusive, wrote that a year after his dad’s death, “I took a lawn chair, some wine, a sandwich and sat at dad’s grave," and he talked to him–apologizing for things he felt he had done wrong, talking through his pain and letting it go.
Most found someone to help them carry the stone–in the form of therapists, counselors and friends who slowly helped them let go. One woman described how she decided she needed to write down her feelings to a parent who abandoned her–she said the very act of writing the letter and sending was like lancing a boil.
Most noted the importance of prayer–the Lord’s Prayer, the Eucharist, the daily giving it up to God. They came to see that God was their heavenly Father, that their lives had meaning and value, and that they were loved. They prayed and prayed for deliverance, and finally found it.
As is the case in the 12 Steps of AA, many said that when they began to look for ways to bring something good from their pain–when they asked that God use it for good in their lives and they began to help others–their pain had meaning and they could thank God, not for the inflicting of the pain, but for the opportunity to use it. ”--Rev. Adam Hamilton in “Forgiving Family”