Grace-filled Community
I do like some classic movie series and books, but 2 Samuel has been a real tearjerker: David found guilty of an affair and murder, Tamar's heart-wrenching abuse, Amnon and Absalom are dead, and I still cry.
Ernest Hemingway's short story, The Capital of the World, comes to mind. In it, we meet Paco and his father living in Spain, where Paco is a very ordinary, common name. After another unpleasant confrontation between the two, Paco packs his belongings and leaves home. After some time, his father can't stand it any longer and decides to go look for him. He travels to Madrid, for big cities always attracted Paco, and puts an ad in the most prominent paper of Madrid with a message along these lines: "Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana at noon on Tuesday. All is forgiven. Love, Papa." That Tuesday at noon he is astonished to discover 800 young men named Paco waiting to embrace their father's forgiveness.
Every person longs for forgiveness and grace, for a space where you're not held to account for what you have done or didn't do, where you don't have to earn love.
Our challenge is to be that graceful, grace-filled, correcting community, where your past will not all of a sudden mercilessly be used against you, where your real life, with what looks orderly and what is a chaos, unconditionally is accepted and loved. Where Davids, Tamars, Amnons, and Absaloms find a listening ear and a helping hand to dry their tears.
Photo: Emma van der Veen