Murder and Forgiveness in Sherwood

Yes, yes, here I go again on forgiveness. Cut me some slack, it is at the very heart of our Christian faith and vital to other faith traditions as well, so please read on. 

Sherwood, a six-part BBC drama which arrived as one of those happy accidents of discovery in TV-land. It's based on the actual events of two baffling murders in a small UK town in the early 2000s. It's really well written and wonderfully acted by a cast which is made up of actors we've seen in just about every British series made through the years. While its a murder mystery its also about the stuff people who have known one another seemingly forever carry around with them --forever. There are plenty of secrets and overwhelming burdens of shame which are tragedies in their own right, a form of soul death. 

There is the suspicion that the first murder is related to enmity caused by a coal mine strike years before resulting in an "us and them" mentality which is never buried. As a result of this communal alienation two sisters who live side by side are barely on speaking terms and have missed just about all the signficant events in the lives of the other. It takes tragic events for both households to erode the resentments, although that doesn't happen in a hurry. 

                                          Lesley Manville and Claire Rushbrook in BBC's Sherwood.

In a poignant scene these sisters played with such skill by Leslie Manville and Claire Rushbrook speak, haltingly, across a wall, both with a hand on the bricks, unable to see each other. At one point Manville's character vaguely reaches upward but the gesture goes nowhere -- that would be too easy even though what we want is some glimmer of reconciliation.  

While this encounter didn't last long it was a powerful reminder of what I saw in ministry so often. There were occasions when I was taking off guard when I discovered that good people who cared about their faith were alienated from children or siblings or despised their exes to the point they couldn't agree on anything. Sometimes the figurative walls went up brick by brick over time, but they also went up overnight. These feuds were often cautionary tales for me in the realities of my own relationships. Walls that go up are often considerably harder to take down. 

I could say much -- much more -- but that wouldn't be fair, would it? I encourage you to do a "seek and ye shall find" search for Sherwood. No Robin Hood, just really good storytelling.