JOHN LEWIS ON CHANGE & FORGIVENESS

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith for the Years of Winter… ©

We heard Congressman John Lewis speak last night about the comic book, “March,” about his experiences practicing non-violence in the days of the Civil Rights Movement.

Comic books, aka “graphic novels,” are a way of communicating with people who would not hear the story any other way.

Lewis was beaten more than 20 times. Once he was on a bus freedom ride, sitting with a young white man. When they got off the bus in a southern town, they were jumped and beaten.

Forty-five years later, an old man appeared in his congressional office. He had his middle-aged son with him.

“I was one of those who beat you in that town,” he said. His son began to cry. The man began to cry. “I am asking for forgiveness,” he said. Of course, Lewis said, “I forgive you.”

“There is still much to do to accomplish justice for all,” said Lewis, “and there are always those who want to turn back the clock to the darker ways of oppression, but if you don’t think people can change, if you don’t think this country has changed for the better, then walk in my shoes.”

Except for money, Jesus talked about forgiveness more than any other subject, because it is so important. If we are so sure of our own righteousness, we never ask for forgiveness, and we never receive it.

John Robert McFarland

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

I started this blog several years ago, when we followed the grandchildren to the “place of winter,” Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [The UP]. I put that in the sub-title, Reflections on Faith from a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter, where life is defined by winter even in the summer! [This phrase is explained in the post for March 20, 2014.] The grandchildren, though, are grown up, so in May, 2015 we moved “home,” to Bloomington, IN, where we met and married. It’s not a “place of winter,” but we are still in winter years of the life cycle, so I am still trying to understand what it means to be a follower of Christ in winter…

I tweet as yooper1721.

My new novel is VETS, about four homeless Iraqistan veterans accused of murdering a VA doctor, is available from your local independent book store, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, KOBO, Books-A-Million, Black Opal Books, and almost any place else that sells books. $8.49 or $12.99 for paperback, according to which site you look at, and $3.99 for Kindle. Free if you can get your library to buy one.