Day 61: A Time for Isolation, Reflection and Burying the Hatchet

DAY 61

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK NINE: THURSDAY 14 MAY 2020

A Time for Isolation, Reflection and Burying the Hatchet

“With more than three million cases of Covid-19 worldwide and over 200,000 deaths, with huge numbers of people coming to terms with their own mortality or the mortality of someone they know, many are excavating their pasts and reaching out to those they once knew and fell out with. Sometimes it’s just to say hi, other times they’re hoping for détente, and other times they want to mend a fence, or at least patch it with duct tape.” Newspaper article 30 April 2020

The phrase ‘bury the hatchet’ is an idiom found in American English taken from Native American tribes, a central sign of peace in numerous treaties between them and the United States government. Such a treaty was The Treaty of Hopewell in which my ancestors were participants. Signed in 1795, it established the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation in the southeastern United States.  Article 13 of that treaty reads: “The hatchet shall forever be buried, and the peace given by the United States, and friendship re-established between the said states on the one part, and all the Cherokees on the other, shall be universal.” As with all such treaties it was abrogated just 30 years later when President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act which initiated the tragic Trail of Tears, which my ancestors walked.    

As the isolation imposed by the coronavirus pandemic invites people to reflect on their lives and their relationships, ‘burying the hatchet’ is being experienced as healing and forgiveness. Every Sunday we ask God to treat us in the exact same way we treat others in this realm of forgiveness: “… and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us,” Matthew 6:12. Jesus covers all the bases when it comes to burying the hatchet, mending fences, seeking and offering forgiveness. If we need to ask someone to forgive us: “… if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, … first go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23-24. And if we need to offer forgiveness to someone: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.” Matthew 18:15. Either way, we are to initiate the forgiveness transaction.

Reflective question: To whom do you need to go and ask for or offer forgiveness?

Reflective Scripture: Colossians 3:13 – “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

Reflective hymn:

“Forgive our Sins as We Forgive” – Rosalind Herklots (1905-1987)

“Forgive our sins as we forgive” You taught us, Lord, to pray;

But You alone can grant us grace to live the words we say.

Lord, cleanse the depths within our souls and let resentment cease;

Then, by Your mercy reconciled, our lives will spread Your peace.