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<\/a>For years, churches (including the ELCA) and other groups have urged wealthy countries and international banks to forgive debts that cripple the economies of emerging\/developing nations. Large debts, often built up by oppressive past regimes, saddle countries like Haiti, Liberia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and others, with large interest payments. In Honduras, for example, an estimated 12.3% of the total value of exports goes to service the interest payments on their $5.1 billion in debts.<\/p>\nDebt relief in Liberia frees up resources to rebuild the country from years of conflict; in Haiti, forgiven debt frees up $20 million in interest payments for 2010 alone, which will help that country rebuild after the horrific January 12 earthquake.<\/p>\n
Although there has been some progress on debt relief in recent years, there are still many heavily indebted poor countries in the world. In Haiti, for example, the $1.2 billion that was just forgiven is just over half of what they owe \u2013 the country still has $1.051 billion in outstanding debt.<\/p>\n
Under HIPC, indebted countries have to show that they are creating stable economic growth and establishing sustainable programs to reduce poverty. Several nations continue to work toward these goals and having their debts reduced or forgiven. Activists and churches continue to work with them and to lobby wealthy governments and banks to make faster progress on eliminating these heavy debt loads.<\/p>\n
For further information consult these sources:<\/p>\n
(http:\/\/af.reuters.com\/article\/topNews\/idAFJOE65T09220100630<\/a>)<\/p>\n (http:\/\/www.jubileeusa.org<\/a>)<\/p>\n Genesis 18:20-32<\/a><\/p>\n Colossians 2:6-15 [16-17]<\/a><\/p>\n Luke 11:1-13<\/a><\/p>\n (Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser<\/a>. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year C at Lectionary Readings<\/a>.)<\/p>\n For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.<\/a><\/p>\n You probably noticed that the version of the Lord\u2019s Prayer that Jesus taught the disciples that day is a little different from the one you normally pray during worship. (There\u2019s a long reason for that; ask your pastor about it sometime!) It\u2019s also a bit different from the other place where Jesus teaches people how to pray (Matthew 6:9-13 \u2013 check it out). One interesting place where they differ is in the part about forgiveness:<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Matthew: \u201cAnd forgive us our debts<\/em><\/strong>, as we also have forgiven our debtors.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Luke: \u201cAnd forgive us our sins<\/em><\/strong>, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0Debt was a big deal in Jesus\u2019 day. It was very easy to fall into debt \u2013 crop failure, bad business, death of a husband\/father \u2013 and very hard to get out of it. When you owed someone something, that gave them control over your life and your future \u2013 which was, of course, a huge distraction. More than that, it could lead to becoming a slave or prisoner. It\u2019s not surprising, then, that one of the first things that happened when some Jews in Jerusalem attempted to overthrow the Romans was to burn all the records of debts.<\/p>\n It\u2019s interesting that Luke uses \u201csins\u201d instead of \u201cdebts\u201d in his version of Jesus\u2019 prayer \u2013 but when talking about our relationship to others, they both agree that forgiving debt is the primary way that we practice forgiveness with our neighbors. There may be many reasons for that \u2013 here\u2019s one guess:<\/p>\n Since God gives us daily bread \u2013 whether we deserve it or not \u2013 it is strange to think about us \u201cowing\u201d God, at least not the way we \u201cowe\u201d the bank or our neighbor. God gives and gives \u2013 and we could never begin to pay it back. Instead, God asks that we live our lives in a loving relationship with God and with our neighbors.<\/p>\n \u00a0Unfortunately, we aren\u2019t always good at loving God or our neighbors. That\u2019s sin \u2013 a broken relationship with God and others. And in this prayer, we ask God to heal that relationship \u2013 to forgive the ways that we fail to respond lovingly to God\u2019s grace.<\/p>\n And when that relationship is healed, it puts our other relationships into perspective.\u00a0 We realize that we have a role to play in helping clear the way for people to be in relationship with God. One of the biggest distractions that get in the way of our relationship to God and each other is debt,\u00a0 both literal debt and all the other ways we make people depend on something or someone other than God (grudges, revenge, unhealthy or abusive relationships, and on and on).<\/p>\n So sin (broken relationships) and debt (belonging to someone other than God because of what we owe) are\u00a0connected. God can\u2019t heal our broken relationship with God if we\u2019re spending all our energy and time owing and owning each other. And so we pray for the strength to cancel debt \u2013 to forgive each other and free each other to be in a relationship with God.<\/p>\n \u00a0The writer of Colossians got this, too. To a community that fought about all kinds of silly stuff, the writer tells them to remember who\u2019s really in charge \u2013 and what really matters: \u201cGod made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,\u00a0 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross\u201d (vv 13b-14).<\/em><\/strong> In Jesus, all debts are forgiven. All the records of sin and broken relationships have been erased by God\u2019s grace \u2013 so we are free to set aside all our own grudges and debts and broken histories with each other. And thanks be to God for that.<\/p>\n God in heaven, your Name is Holy. Build up your power among us, and take us where you want us to go.\u00a0 Thank you for feeding us\u00a0 day by day with all that we need \u2013 and for forgiving us for all the ways we break your heart by giving our allegiance to people and things other than you.\u00a0 Help us to forgive people for anything and everything they owe us, and keep our feet on the path of mercy and grace.\u00a0 Everything we are, and everything we have, belongs to you, O God, forever and ever. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Contributed by Jay McDivitt, Grace Lutheran Church, Thiensville, WI Warm-up Question Have you ever owed someone something? Has anyone every owed you? How does it change a relationship when people owe each other? Debts Forgiven The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank agreed on June 29 to back $4.6 billion in debt relief for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1400],"tags":[1735,5880,1170,378,505,509,390,394,536,512,907],"class_list":["post-1809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-post","tag-debt","tag-debt-forgiveness","tag-forgive","tag-forgiveness","tag-free","tag-freedom","tag-generosity","tag-gods-love","tag-lords-prayer","tag-serve","tag-sin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDiscussion Questions<\/h3>\n
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Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, July 20, 2010 (Ninth Sunday after Pentecost)<\/h3>\n
Gospel Reflection<\/h3>\n
Discussion Questions<\/h3>\n
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Activity Suggestions<\/h3>\n
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Closing Prayer<\/h3>\n