Friday's Thoughts

"From Disgrace to Grace"

The sermon has three points. The third point needs help. Maybe you could help me with it.

I was struck with the comparison between Herodius, the wife of Herod, and Hester in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter. Herodius was angry at John the Baptist because of his criticism of the sordid affair between Herod and Herodius when Herodius was married to Herod's brother. Herodius had John killed because of his criticism.

There seem to me to be three stages of response to those times when we are humiliated or disgraced:
1. We want to retaliate; to get even. We want to hurt the people who have hurt us or to let them know that they have done harm to us. Sometimes it is important to retaliate. Sometimes to say nothing or do nothing is worse than the affront itself.

2. We can evolve into a posture of reconciliation. We can come to terms with things that happen and realize continued negative feeling will only continue the pain for us. The initial problem is made worse by the hostility and anger that builds up in us. Sometimes the best we can do is let it go and get on with our lives.

3. The third stage is the most difficult. How do we move from disgrace to grace? How do we take the times of humiliation and embarrassment to the level where we use it to define us in positive ways? There could come to us, as in Hawthorne's Hester Prynne the realization that we can take the worst we have been given and transform it. Hester's Scarlet Letter became a symbol of compassion and caring. She, who had made a mistake in her life, became a source for others who were struggling with difficult things in their lives.

If we can move from retaliation, to reconciliation, to the realization that we can transform the worst thing in our life into something good, then we have moved from disgrace to grace.

Does this make sense? Do you know people who have done this?
Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster