Monday morning isn’t where I usually expect to hear the gospel explained with vigour and vim. If I’m honest, I’m often not anticipating much in the way of either first thing.
So tuning into Radio 5 Live last week for a catch up on the weekend’s news, I didn’t have much in the way of evangelistic expectations. But then presenter Nicky Campbell announced that the focus of the show was to be forgiveness, following the interview of the former Archbishop of Canterbury on Sunday 30 March with Laura Kuenssberg.
It had been a wide-ranging interview. They considered the abuses by John Smyth and Welby’s remorse about so many aspects of the scandal – not excuses he said, but explanation. He blamed being "overwhelmed" and was clear he had got it wrong. His valedictory speech in the Lord’s, complete with jokes about Simon of Sudbury’s head rolling and how we should feel sorry for his diary secretary, was a memory that now makes him wince. He had "not been in a good space at the time" and conceded he shouldn’t have done a speech at all.
Mandatory reporting on safeguarding came up, as did social cohesion, and of course the coronation. The challenges of the Anglican Communion weren’t ignored either, but some of the inherent contradictions that Justin has tried to hold together during his tenure at Lambeth Palace were visible. A split in the family of the Communion would be a tragedy, he said; but he would have love to have waved a magic wand and "get it all right" and to have services of blessing for same sex-couples. The only reason he couldn’t get it though, he admitted, was the lack of votes in the General Synod.
But the headlines following the interview – and the discussion on 5 Live I was listening to – was about forgiveness. Why? Because Laura Kuenssberg asked the former Archbishop if he would forgive John Smyth and Justin said yes – while adding that it was not him who Smyth abused, but the victims and survivors.
"Radical forgiveness"
This was radical forgiveness, especially when from what we know of Smyth, there had been no signs of repentance or remorse – only the Lord knows what was on Smyth’s heart at the end. But the concept of forgiveness at all was staggering enough to provoke the debate on the radio that I tuned into. And the person who shared the gospel wasn’t the eminent theologian on the call (who instead described the former Archbishop as "a theological and philosophical illiterate"), nor the founder of a project focused on forgiveness. The person unpacking the gospel with such power was Su, a caller who was herself a victim of abuse by a then-trainee minister.
Su was disappointed that Justin hadn’t pointed people towards the upcoming celebration of Easter – when we celebrate our forgiveness, which is only possible because God sacrificed His Son to "the most brutal death". She acknowledged that the big words being thrown around, like repentance and reconciliation, maybe weren’t commonplace for lots of the station’s listeners, but tried to unpack them nevertheless. With three weeks to go until Easter, the focus should be on how "God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die, that we might have reconciliation with him"; this reconciliation with God is what had enabled Sue to draw on "His forgiveness, His grace, His strength". Presenting the show, Campbell didn’t interrupt or stop Su. The gospel of God’s grace was such an integral part of her story, and so powerful, that she was free to share it as she saw fit.
For those of us in church leadership, Su had a request. She would like us to stop just talking and love. What might that love mean? "It means putting yourself last. It means putting them first. It means giving it means listening. It means dropping everything. It means time. It means energy. It means commitment." Su wants us to show and share the love of God with everyone – and that love lived out can have a truly transformational impact on victims and survivors of abuse.
That sort of love isn’t easy to show – and nor is forgiveness ever easy. It is often a long and difficult journey. It cannot be forced. Justin Welby admitted in his interview that "to demand forgiveness is to abuse again". Not everyone will be able to forgive their abuser. Not everyone is able to forgive the former Archbishop for his treatment of victims and survivors. But God sent His Son so that He could forgive us for all our sins – as long as we turn away from them and towards Him. And whether we find ourselves in a pulpit, on the radio, or waiting at the school gates, that is a message each of us can powerfully share, this Easter and beyond.
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