03.15.07
Inspiring Story of Amish Forgiveness
In her sermon Faith of the Heart, Minister Cheryl M. Walker tells the story of how the Pennsylvania Amish community responded to the Oct. 2 murder of five of their community’s young girls in a schoolhouse.
We see the examples of radicals of all ilk who react with violence in the name of their faith. But not all people use their faith in this way. When the Amish children were viciously murdered by a madman, the reaction of that community of faith was astounding. As they prepared their children to be buried in their Sunday best, they also prepared meals to bring to the widow of the man who had murdered their children. Their faith demanded that they find forgiveness not revenge. So they sought to bring comfort to the family of the person who had devastated their community. Would we have done the same?
Mohandas Gandhi aptly pointed out that, “’An eye for an eye’ makes the whole world blind.” To stop the cycle of violence, more acts of forgiveness are needed to create a more just and peaceful world.
• Are you holding a grudge against anyone? How do you benefit, and how are you harmed, by keeping this grudge? What would it take for you to be able to let go of the grudge? If it requires the perpetrator to do something, does that give them power over you?
• While we may be able to forgive wrongs committed against ourselves, it is often harder to forgive people who harm innocent victims. Who gains and who loses when we do not forgive? How do the victims and oursleves lose or benefit when we do not forgive? How does the perpetrator lose or benefit when we do not forgive?
Listen to Minister Cheryl M. Walker’s sermon as a podcast.
This text was written in 2007 by Freeman Wicklund of FreemanWicklund.org, and it may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any e-zine, e-mail, newsletter or blog as long as this sentence and Web link are included.