Amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.
I once was lost, but now am found
was blind, but now I see.

Just over twenty years ago,
I was invited to preach a retreat
for the preachers of Isaiah Ministries
on the topic of reconciliation.

We started the day with a reconciliation celebration,
a penance service without the sacrament.

After a break,
we re-gathered in a large conference room
where we broke up into groups of six to eight people per group.

Each group was given a different scripture reading,
and one of those groups had the first part of today’s gospel.

When everything was over
one of the women in the group approached me
and said, “I think hate you.”

Then she shared with me her story.

Over ten years earlier,
her husband was having an affair.
They had both been very active in their Church
and were part of a charismatic prayer group.

When she discovered what was going on,
she went to her husband, confronted him,
offered him forgiveness,
and had hoped that they might be reconciled.

When that failed,
she asked two of their mutual friends to go with her
as she once again asked him to come back home.

When that failed,
she asked the entire prayer group to help.

When even that failed,
she decided to treat him like a tax collector or Gentile.

She never spoke to him again,
and began to hate him in her heart.

She thought that she had don everything today’s gospel required of her.

She thought that Jesus would be proud of her efforts.
She thought that God was certainly on her side.

Then someone in that small group at the retreat asked a simple question,
“How hid Jesus treat tax collectors and Gentiles?”
In fact this gospel passage was written by one of those tax collectors
whom Jesus had called to be one of his disciples,
one of the Twelve he sent as apostles
to tell others that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

She said that she hated me
because now she would have to figure out
how to forgive and even to love the man
who had broken her heart.

A few years later,
she called and asked me to preach a parish mission
at the parish where she was serving as a pastoral minister.

When me and my preaching partner arrived
the day before the mission was to begin,
she told me that she no longer hated me
nor did she hate her ex-husband anymore.

Though their marriage was over,
they had learned to come together
to celebrate special occasions with their children,

to care about each other in new ways.
She also said that once she stopped hating him,
she was free,

She no longer had to carry around the burden
that hatred had put on her shoulders.

She said that she had become a better person
and a better Christian,
and a better pastoral minister,
all because someone had asked the people in her small group
at that retreat,
“And how did Jesus treat tax collectors and Gentiles?”

She said that it wasn’t easy,
but that God had placed just the right people in her life
so that when two or three people were gathered in Christ’s name,
Jesus was right there with them,
and she also learned that when we loosen the burdens of others,
our burdens are also let go.

Such amazing grace can come about
hen we truly seek reconciliation
and follow the example of Jesus.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound
that saved and set me free.
I once was lost,
but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.