Witnessing To The Truth
Stories
Object:
Contents
"Witnessing to the Truth" by Peter Andrew Smith
"The Bridge of Forgiveness" by Frank Ramirez
* * * * * * * *
Witnessing to the Truth
by Peter Andrew Smith
Acts 5:27-32
"Mom, we have a problem," John said as he and Sarah came through the kitchen door.
Betty stopped stirring the batter and looked up. "Is something wrong with one of the girls?"
John shook his head. "No, everyone is fine."
"Thank heavens. They were in such a good mood this afternoon." Betty began blending the ingredients again. "So what is the problem?"
John pulled out a chair for his wife but stayed standing. "I really don't know how to say this."
"Son, you know you can say anything."
John cleared his throat. "You're not going to like this though."
"I've heard lots of things I don't like. That hasn't stopped me yet. Just spit it out."
"You know that Sarah isn't a Christian."
"Yes, I know." Betty nodded at her daughter-in-law. "We've talked about it."
"We also know your faith is important to you." John cleared his throat.
"You haven't said anything we all don't know." Betty took out a cookie sheet and started shaping the dough. "You have a point there somewhere?"
"We've been talking." He took a deep breath. "We decided that we're going to let Charmaine and Lilly decide for themselves about spirituality when they get older."
"You know my opinion about that." Betty raised a hand before John could say anything. "They're your children to raise. I said my peace about it and even though I think you are wrong you are their parents and I respect that."
"This isn't easy for us to have to say." John looked over at Sarah for a moment before continuing. "We want you to stop talking to the kids about Jesus. We want them to make up their own minds and not feel pressured by you."
Betty stopped what she was doing. "Have I ever put either of you down for not going to church or believing in Jesus?"
"You've certainly made it clear you believe God is important and church is a crucial part of your life," John said. "I know you wish I still went to church."
"Certainly that is true, John, but I don't love you any less." Betty turned her focus on Sarah. "Have I ever done or said anything that would make you think I love you less than any of my other daughters?"
Sarah shook her head. "No, you've always treated me as your own flesh and blood."
"That because you are family." Betty turned her attention back to John "Would you like to know why I talked to Charmaine and Lilly about Jesus this afternoon?"
"It doesn't matter," John said. "We asked you not to."
"It may not matter to John but I would like to know," Sarah announced.
"Someone at school told them that Jesus hates teenagers who get pregnant before they are married." Betty shook her head. "I told them that was most certainly wrong."
"How can you be certain that is true?" Sarah asked.
"Because of what happened to me," Betty said. "I got pregnant when I was a teenager. I know Jesus didn't hate me because of it. In fact, the love and grace of Jesus was the only thing that got me through those difficult times."
John's eyes went wide. "Did you tell the girls you had sex before marriage?"
"They are five and seven years old. I certainly did not go into any details. I simply told them that whoever said that terrible thing was wrong about Jesus, because I know for certain that Jesus doesn't hate people who are going to have a baby even if they are not married." Betty got up and dished out the last of the dough. "That was when they asked me how they could get to know Jesus."
"And what did you say?" Sarah asked.
"I told them about the stories of Jesus in the Bible and about the church. They asked about what the service was like on Sunday and I told them." Betty took the cookie sheet and put it into the oven. "They asked me if they could go to church some week and see for themselves. I told them they should talk to you."
"Mom, you know we are going to bring them to church when we think they are old enough," John said. "We want them to be older before they start forming ideas about God."
"Son, they are already forming ideas about Jesus, God, and the church because kids talk about those things," Betty said. "You need to decide who is going to teach them -- people who know about God from personal experience and who believe or someone filled with something other than love."
John and Sarah looked at each other for a moment.
"Would you be willing to take the girls to church some Sunday?" Sarah asked.
Betty nodded. "They are always welcome. As are both of you."
"We'll talk about it and let you know." John gave her a quick hug on their way out the door.
Sarah paused. "How old were you Betty?"
"Seventeen. Daddy was killed in Vietnam and Momma was working two jobs. It was not an easy time," Betty said. "Jesus and the church got us through it."
Sarah gave her a hug. "I can't speak for John but I'll see you on Sunday with the girls."
Peter Andrew Smith is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada who currently serves at St. James United Church in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He is the author of All Things Are Ready (CSS), a book of lectionary-based communion prayers, as well as many stories and articles, which can be found listed at www.peterandrewsmith.com.
The Bridge of Forgiveness
by Frank Ramirez
John 20:19-31
"If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
-- John 20:23
Eric Lomax (1919-2012) lived a long, though not always happy life -- at least not until he embraced forgiveness and embraced the man who had tortured him as well. His was not an easy journey, but in the end it was an inspiring one.
Lomax, who was born in Wales, enlisted in the British Army in 1940. He was captured by the Japanese in 1942, following a major defeat in Singapore. With thousands of other POWs he was forced to work on the Burma (now Myanmar) to Siam (Thailand) railway. The movie The Bridge Over the River Kwai depicted the suffering of those prisoners, but Lomax would say later that in those days movies were not allowed to show the true depth of the brutality, torture, and degradation that was inflicted every day. At least one in three prisoners are thought to have died from the treatment.
After the war his life seemed to follow a conventional path. He served in the army a couple more years, then traveled to Ghana to work with the colonial office, went into personnel management, and eventually became a lecturer at a university before retiring in 1982. In some ways, outwardly all seemed normal. But as Lomax put it in his book The Railway Man, published in 1995, "If you are a victim of torture you never totally recover. You may cope with the physical damage, but the psychological damage stays with you forever."
Though many thought Lomax was coping well, he found he didn't trust anyone and was always suspicious and angry. His first marriage fell apart. He hated all Japanese. He imagined himself murdering one of the men who interrogated and tortured him, a man named Nagase Takashi.
"I became impossible to live with; it was as if the sins my captors had sown in me were being harvested in my family," he wrote. Then, after his retirement, he began to look for information about what had happened to those involved in his imprisonment. That's when he discovered the name of his tormentor, and that he was still alive. Nagase, he learned, was active in charitable work and had built a Buddhist temple in Thailand to benefit the people he had oppressed. But Lomax was unconvinced that he had changed. How could anyone Japanese repent?
In 1987 he learned about The Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture and for the first time received help for his spiritual wounds. His second wife Patti wrote to Nagase and a meeting was arranged at that bridge over the River Kwai. All the way there Lomax remained skeptical, but Nagase wept and begged for his forgiveness. Instead of putting his hands around the neck of his torturer, as he sometimes thought he would do, Lomax became friends with Nagase.
His 1995 biography, The Railway Man, will be released as a movie of the same name in 2013, with Colin Firth playing Lomax, and Nicole Kidman as his wife, Patti. In that book Lomax wrote: "After our meeting I felt I'd come to some kind of peace and resolution. Forgiveness is possible when someone is ready to accept forgiveness. Some time the hating has to stop."
He died on October 8, 2012.
(You can find out more about Eric Lomax on the web. Quotations from Lomax himself are taken from the Forgiveness Project website.)
Frank Ramirez has served as a pastor for nearly 30 years in Church of the Brethren congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. A graduate of LaVerne College and Bethany Theological Seminary, Ramirez is the author of numerous books, articles, and short stories. His CSS titles include Partners in Healing, He Took a Towel, The Bee Attitudes, three volumes of Lectionary Worship Aids, and Breakdown on Bethlehem Street.
*****************************************
StoryShare, April 7, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Witnessing to the Truth" by Peter Andrew Smith
"The Bridge of Forgiveness" by Frank Ramirez
* * * * * * * *
Witnessing to the Truth
by Peter Andrew Smith
Acts 5:27-32
"Mom, we have a problem," John said as he and Sarah came through the kitchen door.
Betty stopped stirring the batter and looked up. "Is something wrong with one of the girls?"
John shook his head. "No, everyone is fine."
"Thank heavens. They were in such a good mood this afternoon." Betty began blending the ingredients again. "So what is the problem?"
John pulled out a chair for his wife but stayed standing. "I really don't know how to say this."
"Son, you know you can say anything."
John cleared his throat. "You're not going to like this though."
"I've heard lots of things I don't like. That hasn't stopped me yet. Just spit it out."
"You know that Sarah isn't a Christian."
"Yes, I know." Betty nodded at her daughter-in-law. "We've talked about it."
"We also know your faith is important to you." John cleared his throat.
"You haven't said anything we all don't know." Betty took out a cookie sheet and started shaping the dough. "You have a point there somewhere?"
"We've been talking." He took a deep breath. "We decided that we're going to let Charmaine and Lilly decide for themselves about spirituality when they get older."
"You know my opinion about that." Betty raised a hand before John could say anything. "They're your children to raise. I said my peace about it and even though I think you are wrong you are their parents and I respect that."
"This isn't easy for us to have to say." John looked over at Sarah for a moment before continuing. "We want you to stop talking to the kids about Jesus. We want them to make up their own minds and not feel pressured by you."
Betty stopped what she was doing. "Have I ever put either of you down for not going to church or believing in Jesus?"
"You've certainly made it clear you believe God is important and church is a crucial part of your life," John said. "I know you wish I still went to church."
"Certainly that is true, John, but I don't love you any less." Betty turned her focus on Sarah. "Have I ever done or said anything that would make you think I love you less than any of my other daughters?"
Sarah shook her head. "No, you've always treated me as your own flesh and blood."
"That because you are family." Betty turned her attention back to John "Would you like to know why I talked to Charmaine and Lilly about Jesus this afternoon?"
"It doesn't matter," John said. "We asked you not to."
"It may not matter to John but I would like to know," Sarah announced.
"Someone at school told them that Jesus hates teenagers who get pregnant before they are married." Betty shook her head. "I told them that was most certainly wrong."
"How can you be certain that is true?" Sarah asked.
"Because of what happened to me," Betty said. "I got pregnant when I was a teenager. I know Jesus didn't hate me because of it. In fact, the love and grace of Jesus was the only thing that got me through those difficult times."
John's eyes went wide. "Did you tell the girls you had sex before marriage?"
"They are five and seven years old. I certainly did not go into any details. I simply told them that whoever said that terrible thing was wrong about Jesus, because I know for certain that Jesus doesn't hate people who are going to have a baby even if they are not married." Betty got up and dished out the last of the dough. "That was when they asked me how they could get to know Jesus."
"And what did you say?" Sarah asked.
"I told them about the stories of Jesus in the Bible and about the church. They asked about what the service was like on Sunday and I told them." Betty took the cookie sheet and put it into the oven. "They asked me if they could go to church some week and see for themselves. I told them they should talk to you."
"Mom, you know we are going to bring them to church when we think they are old enough," John said. "We want them to be older before they start forming ideas about God."
"Son, they are already forming ideas about Jesus, God, and the church because kids talk about those things," Betty said. "You need to decide who is going to teach them -- people who know about God from personal experience and who believe or someone filled with something other than love."
John and Sarah looked at each other for a moment.
"Would you be willing to take the girls to church some Sunday?" Sarah asked.
Betty nodded. "They are always welcome. As are both of you."
"We'll talk about it and let you know." John gave her a quick hug on their way out the door.
Sarah paused. "How old were you Betty?"
"Seventeen. Daddy was killed in Vietnam and Momma was working two jobs. It was not an easy time," Betty said. "Jesus and the church got us through it."
Sarah gave her a hug. "I can't speak for John but I'll see you on Sunday with the girls."
Peter Andrew Smith is an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada who currently serves at St. James United Church in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He is the author of All Things Are Ready (CSS), a book of lectionary-based communion prayers, as well as many stories and articles, which can be found listed at www.peterandrewsmith.com.
The Bridge of Forgiveness
by Frank Ramirez
John 20:19-31
"If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
-- John 20:23
Eric Lomax (1919-2012) lived a long, though not always happy life -- at least not until he embraced forgiveness and embraced the man who had tortured him as well. His was not an easy journey, but in the end it was an inspiring one.
Lomax, who was born in Wales, enlisted in the British Army in 1940. He was captured by the Japanese in 1942, following a major defeat in Singapore. With thousands of other POWs he was forced to work on the Burma (now Myanmar) to Siam (Thailand) railway. The movie The Bridge Over the River Kwai depicted the suffering of those prisoners, but Lomax would say later that in those days movies were not allowed to show the true depth of the brutality, torture, and degradation that was inflicted every day. At least one in three prisoners are thought to have died from the treatment.
After the war his life seemed to follow a conventional path. He served in the army a couple more years, then traveled to Ghana to work with the colonial office, went into personnel management, and eventually became a lecturer at a university before retiring in 1982. In some ways, outwardly all seemed normal. But as Lomax put it in his book The Railway Man, published in 1995, "If you are a victim of torture you never totally recover. You may cope with the physical damage, but the psychological damage stays with you forever."
Though many thought Lomax was coping well, he found he didn't trust anyone and was always suspicious and angry. His first marriage fell apart. He hated all Japanese. He imagined himself murdering one of the men who interrogated and tortured him, a man named Nagase Takashi.
"I became impossible to live with; it was as if the sins my captors had sown in me were being harvested in my family," he wrote. Then, after his retirement, he began to look for information about what had happened to those involved in his imprisonment. That's when he discovered the name of his tormentor, and that he was still alive. Nagase, he learned, was active in charitable work and had built a Buddhist temple in Thailand to benefit the people he had oppressed. But Lomax was unconvinced that he had changed. How could anyone Japanese repent?
In 1987 he learned about The Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture and for the first time received help for his spiritual wounds. His second wife Patti wrote to Nagase and a meeting was arranged at that bridge over the River Kwai. All the way there Lomax remained skeptical, but Nagase wept and begged for his forgiveness. Instead of putting his hands around the neck of his torturer, as he sometimes thought he would do, Lomax became friends with Nagase.
His 1995 biography, The Railway Man, will be released as a movie of the same name in 2013, with Colin Firth playing Lomax, and Nicole Kidman as his wife, Patti. In that book Lomax wrote: "After our meeting I felt I'd come to some kind of peace and resolution. Forgiveness is possible when someone is ready to accept forgiveness. Some time the hating has to stop."
He died on October 8, 2012.
(You can find out more about Eric Lomax on the web. Quotations from Lomax himself are taken from the Forgiveness Project website.)
Frank Ramirez has served as a pastor for nearly 30 years in Church of the Brethren congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. A graduate of LaVerne College and Bethany Theological Seminary, Ramirez is the author of numerous books, articles, and short stories. His CSS titles include Partners in Healing, He Took a Towel, The Bee Attitudes, three volumes of Lectionary Worship Aids, and Breakdown on Bethlehem Street.
*****************************************
StoryShare, April 7, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
