“We freely offer up our appetites, wealth, and
pride to relieve the suffering of the world, for the sake of our neighbors and
God’s joy.”
- In confrontation and conflict I will seek justice and reconciliation rather than victory, and I will make any necessary sacrifice of my own person, pride or property to achieve reconciliation and justice.
“All too often I see victim’s families
consumed by hate.” Judge Martin Gonzalez understands compassion and hope are a
powerful oddity and conveyed that fact to the young sixteen-year-old receiving his
sentence. “The forgiveness of [this victim’s] family has reverberated
throughout this case… You have had a shield around you of forgiveness and love
by the victims that is phenomenal. They have been your guardian angels.”
Cindy and Herm Weaver and children Hope
and Dillon lost their daughter and sister in October 2010 when she was hit and instantly
killed by a pickup truck while out on her bicycle. Chloe Weaver was with
Mennonite Voluntary Service in Alamosa, Colorado when she was struck from
behind by young driver, Kyle Stotsky. Yet, in this wrenching tragedy an
inspiring story of Christ’s transformative love has beamed through the
responses of the Weaver family. The Weavers stressed their hope for restoration
and reconciliation with Kyle rather than incarceration and retribution. Herm, the
conference minister with Mountain States Conference of Mennonite Church USA,
made it clear that Chloe would have had no desire to have two lives ended and
would rather have Kyle continue Chloe’s legacy.
 |
| Chieftain Photo/Matt Hildner |
“I want you to have the courage to take responsibility for your life and actions, honestly and humbly,” Herm told Kyle at the final sentencing. “I want you to carry on, in some small way, the work Chloe came here to do, to make it a better world.” This radical restorative love has rippled through many lives beyond just Kyle’s.
District Attorney Dave Mahonee noted the
interaction between the Weavers and Stotsky as incredible. “The love they
showed for Kyle almost brought me to tears,” he said. “It showed the strength
of their faith.”
Julia Wilson, covering the story for the
Valley Courier, admitted that in
their shoes she probably would have wanted the perpetrator to suffer, to answer
legally and emotionally in proportion to her pain. She marked the unusual
witness of love, compassion, forgiveness and hope by the Weavers. “I have known
a multitude of people who claim to be practicing Christians, people who claim
to live their lives by ‘the Book’… when it’s obvious that only applies to
Sundays during church time….[But the Weavers’]religion is not just a Sunday
habit; it is as much a part of their daily lives as breathing.”
Such radical forgiveness is our calling as
well. Herm claimed that this offender-love is not really something
extraordinary for Christians, but what we should have deeply instilled in us. Through
Christ’s strength may we regularly nurture in our churches such healing responses
of forgiveness, of restoration over retribution. Today’s vow seeks to nurture just such a
response: “In confrontation and conflict
I will seek justice and reconciliation rather than victory, and I will make any
necessary sacrifice of my own person, pride or property to achieve
reconciliation and justice.”
[A version of this story entitled “Consumed by Forgiveness” was used in the
August 2011 edition
of the Virginia Mennonite Conference and Missions joint newsletter,
Connections.
Quotations in this story come from
articles in the Pueblo
Chieftain
and Valley
Courier of CO and Mennonite
Weekly Review]
For
Reflection and Action:
Consider the familiar Matthew 5:38-48 (focusing
especially on verse 41-42).
- Think of a conflicted situation or legal issue where you sought amends, punishment or repayment for some wrongdoing committed against you. How did it turn out? (Perhaps you’ve even taken someone to an actual court, or maybe you've been the one taken to court.)
- In what ways did you feel a sense of justice or victory? In what ways did you still remain unreconciled or unsettled with yourself or the other party?
- Read again 5:38-42. In your next conflict large or small, whether you are the victim or the accuser, ask God to provide the strength to give more than what is being asked, to go the extra mile, to love the one at odds with you (your “enemy”) by making sacrifices for reconciled relationship rather than eye-for-an-eye retribution.
Prayer
Focus
Avenging God, your apostle
Paul has asked us never to avenge ourselves.
Your very Son Jesus said to
offer the very coat off our back,
to let the opponent hit us
again,
to give to whoever asks,
to go beyond what they
demand of us.
We are to let you be the avenger and we are to feed our hungry
enemies.
This is all too hard for
us!
Too hard, too foolish, too
unrealistic … too hard.
Forgiving God, thank you
for the strength you will give us
to respond in company with
the Weaver family! Amen.
