Easter Alive: Living in Forgiveness
This past week, I have had the immense honour of being a part of Easter Alive.
Throughout the week there were three things that struck me: the honour of participating, not getting lost in the part, and having to live forgiveness everyday.
I am fortunate enough to live in a country where it's not illegal to be Christian. Nor is it illegal to gather believers, or to evangelise to the wider community. Easter Alive is a bi-yearly walk-through dramatisation of the story of Jesus death and resurrection, starting with his arrival in Jerusalem. And this year I had the part of Peter, the denier of Jesus.
I view it as a true honour to be allowed to act the part of someone who was so important in the Bible, and was a true and close friend of Jesus, in the physical sense. I really tried to capture what I thought it would have been like for Peter in those times, as he watched his friend die. And let me tell you, it's really easy to get caught up in the mechanics of the acting to the point that you forget about the feeling it evokes.
There are three teams who rotate through the various scenes for each run-through of the play. And it wasn't until about the 3rd run-through that I realised the significance of what I was doing. Not only was I helping to show the story of Jesus to children (some for the very first time), I was also partaking in Communion up to 6 times a day. And it stopped being just an acted moment for me, and became a chance to reconnect with God in a more regular, and meaningful way.
It's so easy to get caught up in the daily routine of following God, that I think we sometimes take Him for granted, without reaching out to Him as we would a friend. Easter Alive drove this home for me powerfully. Throughout the production, I had to lean heavily on God to get through it without feelings of anger or blame.
Why, you might ask?
Without going into too much detail, one of the cast members had fairly recently caused a lot of hurt and grief for my family, and could only blame us for making them feel bad about how we'd treated them. No remorse or admission of any wrongs have ever been forthcoming from this person.
Going into the production, I knew there was a chance I'd be working closely with this person, and so it came to be. And rather than get upset, refuse to work with them, or spread around any reasons why I didn't want to work with them, I prayed for help with my feelings.
These feelings are very raw, because the problem this person made far, far worse is still ongoing for my family, and causing daily problems for us. It'd be so easy to meet this person again after 4 months, and just let fly with my feelings. But I couldn't. Not that I didn't want to, but rather, I was there for something more important than my problems with one person.
I was there to help children see Jesus and how he treated others. It turns out I wasn't there to be an actor; God had put me there to rest in Him, and show His forgiveness to people around me.
I've learnt a lot about forgiveness this past week. Jesus sat and ate with Judas, even though He knew He'd be betrayed. He ate with Peter, who would deny Him. He told them what would happen, but He didn't shun them. He treated them as friends in the face of their actions.
This is the forgiveness I was given the strength to show this week. In the face of one who has hurt my family deeply, I chose to be friendly. I didn't bring up my hurt, and I didn't condemn them for it.
I have found out a hard truth of forgiveness this week. When you forgive, it is you making the decision. When you forgive, the other person doesn't have to admit any failing. When you forgive, you need to forgive in thought, action, heart and words.
When you forgive, you need God to help.
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| Jesus on the cross as depicted for Easter Alive. (Credit: www.facebook.com/npeasteralive/) |
Throughout the week there were three things that struck me: the honour of participating, not getting lost in the part, and having to live forgiveness everyday.
I am fortunate enough to live in a country where it's not illegal to be Christian. Nor is it illegal to gather believers, or to evangelise to the wider community. Easter Alive is a bi-yearly walk-through dramatisation of the story of Jesus death and resurrection, starting with his arrival in Jerusalem. And this year I had the part of Peter, the denier of Jesus.
I view it as a true honour to be allowed to act the part of someone who was so important in the Bible, and was a true and close friend of Jesus, in the physical sense. I really tried to capture what I thought it would have been like for Peter in those times, as he watched his friend die. And let me tell you, it's really easy to get caught up in the mechanics of the acting to the point that you forget about the feeling it evokes.
There are three teams who rotate through the various scenes for each run-through of the play. And it wasn't until about the 3rd run-through that I realised the significance of what I was doing. Not only was I helping to show the story of Jesus to children (some for the very first time), I was also partaking in Communion up to 6 times a day. And it stopped being just an acted moment for me, and became a chance to reconnect with God in a more regular, and meaningful way.
It's so easy to get caught up in the daily routine of following God, that I think we sometimes take Him for granted, without reaching out to Him as we would a friend. Easter Alive drove this home for me powerfully. Throughout the production, I had to lean heavily on God to get through it without feelings of anger or blame.
Why, you might ask?
Without going into too much detail, one of the cast members had fairly recently caused a lot of hurt and grief for my family, and could only blame us for making them feel bad about how we'd treated them. No remorse or admission of any wrongs have ever been forthcoming from this person.
Going into the production, I knew there was a chance I'd be working closely with this person, and so it came to be. And rather than get upset, refuse to work with them, or spread around any reasons why I didn't want to work with them, I prayed for help with my feelings.
These feelings are very raw, because the problem this person made far, far worse is still ongoing for my family, and causing daily problems for us. It'd be so easy to meet this person again after 4 months, and just let fly with my feelings. But I couldn't. Not that I didn't want to, but rather, I was there for something more important than my problems with one person.
I was there to help children see Jesus and how he treated others. It turns out I wasn't there to be an actor; God had put me there to rest in Him, and show His forgiveness to people around me.
I've learnt a lot about forgiveness this past week. Jesus sat and ate with Judas, even though He knew He'd be betrayed. He ate with Peter, who would deny Him. He told them what would happen, but He didn't shun them. He treated them as friends in the face of their actions.
This is the forgiveness I was given the strength to show this week. In the face of one who has hurt my family deeply, I chose to be friendly. I didn't bring up my hurt, and I didn't condemn them for it.
I have found out a hard truth of forgiveness this week. When you forgive, it is you making the decision. When you forgive, the other person doesn't have to admit any failing. When you forgive, you need to forgive in thought, action, heart and words.
When you forgive, you need God to help.
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