Modus Operandi

Have you ever taken umbrage?

Umbrage??

No, I’m not asking whether you ever stole something from the produce department at Wegman’s (although it does sound like something brought in from the garden). Or whether you cheated on a table game or slipped some foreign coins into your pocket… To take umbrage means to take offense to something. To become resentful, hurt, angered by someone’s words or by what they did – or didn’t – do.

“Umbrage” comes from the Latin umbra – a shade, shadow. It gives us our word “umbrella” – a shade from the sun. Umbrage, however, is a darker kind of shade, a shadow that blocks the light of joy and freedom and communion with people and with God.

You’ve seen umbrage in the resentful glower of a child who has been reprimanded. You’ve heard it in the cold silence of a friend. You’ve tasted it in your caustic response to a perceived insult… A shadow that can be seen and heard and tasted is a powerful thing, isn’t it?

Pastor Mearl Bradley, a wise and godly man, once commented on his pro-active approach to umbrage: “I have made a vow to the Lord – I refuse to be offended.” Regardless of what somebody said or did, he had determined that umbrage was not an option for him.

Pastor Mearl wasn’t naïve enough to believe that he could humanly meet every offense with a gracious spirit. But he believed that he could make a decision. He could establish a modus operandi, a pre-determined method of operating. And he could do it before the wrong was done and the pain had pierced and the hurt had risen… before he ended up sitting in the dark, shaded by resentment, struggling with his response.

I don’t mean to downplay the challenges of such a vow, and he didn’t, either. It can only be kept by the grace of God, and sometimes only after long struggle and dogged perseverance. But maybe if Mearl’s formal vow is more than we feel able to commit to, we might consider this prayer:

“Lord, by Your grace, no matter what You allow to come my way, I intend to forgive. I do not intend to replay the offense, nor give it any of my time and energy, but instead refer it to You and continue walking in step with the Spirit.

“I cannot do this, but I can choose it – and trust You to make me able to do it by Your grace. When I struggle, may Calvary be my example. And when I fail, rescue me from the shadow and bring me into Your light again, in the strong name of Jesus.

“Amen.”