As a family, we spend a third of the year in Barbados. We attend St Francis of Assisi church on what is called the Platinum Coast, or West Coast, of the island. The church sits serenely on the beach front, next to chattel houses – brightly coloured, small, movable houses which some locals occupy. Although they appear charming today, these houses are, in fact, a legacy of the slave trade. They are bizarrely perched next to billionaires’ mansions, all jostling for their spot of paradise on the seafront.
All live in peace and harmony here and the church is splendidly indifferent to its surroundings. All souls are welcome and all sorts of souls attend the services. A warm trade wind blows through the church, whose windows are always fully open. The perfect turquoise sea, glistening outside the windows that frame the altar, gently ebbs and flows in front of us. The dogs from the house next door bark like crazy when we sing, and the hum of the “Reggae Bus” whooshes along on the road behind us as Fr Michael preaches his sermons. They are always of a high quality, theologically loaded and spiritually connected. Nothing like a slick European Mass, but full of Caribbean charm. We are happy here.
Recently we celebrated the Epiphany of the Lord in the parish. Each family was given a small book by the bishop called Everybody Needs to Forgive Somebody. Later, faced with a gigantic queue to get even into the security section of the airport coming back to Britain, I was compelled to reach for this book to pass the time. It contains 11 short stories of, as the subtitle says, “Real People who Discovered the Underrated Power of Grace”. I always find that fact is better than fiction and I was moved to tears by some of the amazing stories of forgiveness and repentance.
In true British style, I did my best to hold back the tears, to resist the sheer power of the Spirit at work in these stories. It would have been unbecoming, I thought, for a man to be seen to be so moved in public and so I struggled to control myself. American presidents may do this kind of thing, but an Englishman? No, God forbid! I did manage to contain myself (just about), but clearly I felt the work of the Spirit flooding through me with a need to confront aspects of my past.
The book’s author, Allen Hunt, is a former megachurch pastor who is now a Catholic and serves as vice president of DynamicCatholic.com, which is devoted to evangelical renewal in the Catholic Church. In this simple book, he has certainly awakened demons from my past that I can now attempt to deal with.
The book’s narrative arc is simple. The first preaching of Jesus is reported in Matthew 4:17 as: “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, ‘Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ” And one of the very last things He says before His death on the Cross is reported in Luke 23:34 as: “Then said Jesus,‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’ And they parted his raiment, and casted lots.”
If you could put the entirety of the Gospel in a 140 character tweet, as the modern attention span demands, Jesus naturally does it perfectly: the Gospel, though about many other things, is replete from top to bottom with the message of forgiveness (140 characters!). Forgiveness replaces hate with love, and Satan with God. Too many times in my life I have let hatred stay in my veins and pollute me. Notice I write, “I have”. Yes, this is the other takeaway from the book: we all have the power to put corrupting hatred into ourselves, but we also all have the power to expel it.
People can tell you this. You can theorise about it until your grey cells ache. The horse can be taken to water. But only the horse can decide if it wants to drink. When you want to get any hatred out of your system, truly invite the grace of God into yourself – then it is a simple matter of stepping over and above that hatred. Forgiving what someone has done to you, accepting the free power of grace, and refusing to let that sinful negativity pollute your life is empowering. Your life is worth more than the polluting corruption of the soul eating away at you that a lack of forgiveness breeds. Above all, confront those demons and disarm them with the power of forgiveness. Let them have no hold over your life.
I was always culturally Christian, but in my 30s I really got to grips with what I call the God of the Philosophers. This is a technical God, the great architect of the universe, the Prime Mover. In my 40s I made an effort to get to know the living God of Jesus Christ. I read the Bible from cover to cover, seeing the clear thread of Jesus predicted time and time again in the Old Testament, and fulfilled in the New Testament. It was a liberating experience.
The redeeming Gospel of love and hope changed my life, and made me a better person. Or so I thought. This little book reminded me that, while I might possibly be a “better” person, I still have a lot more to do. We probably all do, if we are to rid ourselves fully of moral pollution as we attempt to reach the standard set by Jesus of a morally unpolluted, truly free life.
Like painting the Forth Road Bridge, this is an endless process of renewal. It’s like doing your ablutions in the morning and evening: it just happens. You don’t need to think about it. To be truly happy, we must all embrace forgiveness, and embrace it continually, until it becomes a natural part of our lives. I dare you to let God’s grace into you and forgive somebody today. This book has given me the courage to go that one step further. That, I don’t doubt, is what we all must do.
Toby Baxendale is an entrepreneur and investor. Everybody Needs to Forgive Somebody is available from DynamicCatholic.com
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