Forgiving the Church, a Reflection by Henri Nouwen

There are times when we are hurt by the Church, a church, the assembled body of Christ in one place and at one time. On large scale or small, through the words or deeds of a member or the collective declaration of the "large C" Church, we have been wounded. Theologian Henri Nouwen suggests we do the following to grapple with our pain in his rich and beautiful devotional book, Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith

When we have been wounded by the Church, our temptation is to reject it. But when we reject the Church it becomes very hard for us to keep in touch with the living Christ. When we say, "I love Jesus, but I hate the Church," we end up losing not only the Church but Jesus too. The challenge is to forgive the Church. This challenge is especially great because the Church seldom asks us for forgiveness, at least not officially. But the Church as an often fallible human organization needs our forgiveness, while the Church as the living Christ among us continues to offer us forgiveness.

It is important to think about the Church not as "over there" but as a community of struggling, weak people of whom we are part and in whom we meet our Lord and Redeemer.  

This is a difficult challenge. Some of the wounds run very deep and are quite appalling. We do not attempt to whitewash any of that. Speaking simply for myself here, let me say I'm sorry for the wounds you have received from the fallible, struggling folk who make up the various churches of Christianity. I wish you well in your journey through life. I invite you to come back, to find a church community that is more supportive of your needs and through whom you may discover the balm of forgiveness that will help ease the pain of those awful wounds from the past.