Friday March 4
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
When I arrived at Edwards Church almost 20 years ago, it took awhile to get used to praying the Lord’s Prayer with “trespasses.” Although I grew up in a church that used “trespasses,” I had just come from seven years serving churches in Winthrop and Malden that prayed using “debts.” Other churches, of course, use “sins.”
As I’ve prayed the Lord’s Prayer in different churches, I’ve come to appreciate the ways each of the three words can open us to fresh spiritual insights.
In Tuesday’s devotion, Dawn did a beautiful job reflecting on the meaning of the word “trespasses” as part of the prayer. Today, I will reflect on “debts” and “debtors.” When I pray “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” the prayer opens two helpful ways for me to think about forgiveness.
The first has to do with an ancient biblical concept: the Jubilee Year. According to the laws put forth in Exodus, every 50 years all debts were to be forgiven. The law, which may or may not have actually been put into practice, recognizes that human society tends to move toward stratification. The law builds in a “correction” to that stratification, about every two generations.
When we pray “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” the words call us back to that ancient law. We ask God to help us be part of healing our broken society, to bring justice and hope and opportunity to all.
The second message I take from praying the Lord’s Prayer with “debts” draws on a more metaphorical understanding of the word. I picture debts–whether monetary or emotional or some other kind–being recorded in a ledger, an accounting of who owes how much to whom. To forgive our debtors is to tear up the ledger, to make a conscious choice to stop keeping count.
This is a helpful image for me. When I “keep count” in a relationship–keeping track of who “owes” the next phone call or the next invitation or the next dishwashing–, the relationship becomes narrow and constrained. When I lose count, I experience an expansiveness.
When I pray to God to forgive my debts, I am expressing my faith that God doesn’t keep some cosmic ledger, recording all my mistakes and shortcomings. I open myself to the promise of God’s grace, God’s willingness to give me a fresh start over and over again.
Please God, don’t keep count. Please God, help me lose count. Amen.
–Debbie Clark