Mike Rusch

Follower, husband, father, orphan advocate, in need of grace, wanna be farmer, not great at small talk, trying to be a person of no reputation, and restoring with Cobblestone Project

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2 posts tagged Never Beyond

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Masks.  We all have them.  If we are really honest, the question isn’t if you’re holding a mask.  The question is “what kind of mask are you holding?” For some the mask is held up to portray an image of who we want people to think we are.  For others the mask is held up so that we can hide the things that would cause others to reject us.  In either case, it is typically fear that holds the mask over who we really are. The question today is if we could accept the other if the mask was removed?  Despite all they have done to harm or defeat us, could we stop our fighting and offer them grace? Darth Vader may give us the ability to duck the question in the name of humor and silliness.  However, it doesn’t change the scars and wounds that remain behind our own masks or the mask of the other. Whatever the mask may be, this fact remains.   There is a life behind the exterior presentation that needs a hand of grace to help remove the mask of fear. Background: The People of the Second Chance “Never Beyond” campaign is designed to ask the question “Who Would You Forgive?”  Its purpose is to break down walls of assumptions, sometimes shockingly, and raise the hope of redemption for those on whom society has turned its back. It causes us to question why we hold so tightly to unforgiveness, and asks what price we’ve been willing to pay for it.

Masks. 

We all have them. 

If we are really honest, the question isn’t if you’re holding a mask. 

The question is “what kind of mask are you holding?”

For some the mask is held up to portray an image of who we want people to think we are.  For others the mask is held up so that we can hide the things that would cause others to reject us.  In either case, it is typically fear that holds the mask over who we really are.

The question today is if we could accept the other if the mask was removed?  Despite all they have done to harm or defeat us, could we stop our fighting and offer them grace?

Darth Vader may give us the ability to duck the question in the name of humor and silliness.  However, it doesn’t change the scars and wounds that remain behind our own masks or the mask of the other.

Whatever the mask may be, this fact remains.  

There is a life behind the exterior presentation that needs a hand of grace to help remove the mask of fear.

Background:

The People of the Second Chance “Never Beyond” campaign is designed to ask the question “Who Would You Forgive?”  Its purpose is to break down walls of assumptions, sometimes shockingly, and raise the hope of redemption for those on whom society has turned its back. It causes us to question why we hold so tightly to unforgiveness, and asks what price we’ve been willing to pay for it.

Never Beyond Forgiveness (first in a series)

We like to believe that we could never be beyond forgiveness.

We like to believe this because we are witness to our own hearts.  We know the series of decisions that were made that finally brought us to this place of failure.  Yes, we have done some really bad stuff in life, and we are not making excuses.   Justice requires the consequences to be paid, but we know that we deserve a second chance at making things right.

What I did isn’t who I am.

I didn’t start out with this end in mind.  I failed along the way, and now my only path forward is through a second chance.  I want you to hear my story, and I want you to here the sincerity in my voice.  I really need another chance as I am truly wanting to begin again.  Without a second chance and without grace, you will always see me for what I did and not the person that God created me to be.

What I did isn’t who I will be.

So, I slide into church on a Sunday morning in anywhere America leaving an open seat on both sides of me.  A few people make their way down the aisle, and I move over so they can sit together.  I offer a slight glance, and gentle “good morning” of welcome.

Wait…is that who I think it is?  What are they doing here?  Who do they think they are coming into this church after what they’ve done?  Unbelievable!  This can’t be happening!

I am not beyond forgiveness, but they may be.

So, what happens when we are asked to extend forgiveness to someone else, someone undeserving?  What happens when we are asked to forgive someone who is responsible for some of the most unthinkable actions and injustices of our human condition?  Justice is the cry heard in the streets, and forgiveness is pushed into the corners of impossibility.

Do they deserve a second grace?  Are they worthy of grace?  Are they truly “beyond forgiveness?”

The questions demands an answer.  Who would you forgive?


Background:

The People of the Second Chance “Never Beyond” campaign is designed to ask the question “Who Would You Forgive?”  Its purpose is to break down walls of assumptions, sometimes shockingly, and raise the hope of redemption for those on whom society has turned its back. It causes us to question why we hold so tightly to unforgiveness, and asks what price we’ve been willing to pay for it.

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