A grown man weeps during a skit on forgiveness. What triggered such a response? Meg Guillebaud tells John's story. 
Meg Guillebaud(Photo: © CMS)I have learnt so much about forgiveness from Rwandans.
While training church leaders in Rwanda, the wounds inflicted by the genocide there would emerge with such intensity.
One of the tools we used to teach reconciliation took the form of a skit. It aims to help people to understand the nature of forgiveness and depicts two people, one of whom refuses to forgive the other. The two are tied together and wherever one goes, the other has to follow.
People recognise as we do this skit that the constant presence of the unforgiven cannot be forgotten. The only way to be rid of the 'enemy' is to tie your end of the rope to the Cross, where you place all your anger, hurt and pain at the feet of the crucified Jesus.
You are then free --- but that does not mean that your 'enemy' has escaped the consequences of his actions. He is tied by the rope of cause and effect to the Cross and is under God's judgement throughout his life and beyond. "Vengeance is mine. I will repay," says the Lord. Forgiveness means leaving him to God's judgement.
It becomes evident in the skit that the only way the 'enemy' can escape the consequences of what he has done is to repent and put his trust in Jesus.
When he ties his end of the rope to the Cross, indicating that he has placed his sins on Jesus, he too is set free.
This skit has become a very powerful tool in bringing about reconciliation in Rwanda.
Once I was preaching on this theme and so we performed it. One of my students stood up in front of his congregation and wept. My ‘stiff upper lip‘ trembled wildly.
John explained, "For 10 years I have harboured hatred in my heart. Today I release it to Jesus and receive his forgiveness, which will enable me to forgive those who killed my family."
In 1991, when he was 15, militia of the Rwandan Patriotic Front party, predominantly Tutsi, invaded his home area. His father and two elder brothers were shot.
For 10 years he had held his hatred of the Tutsi in his heart. He tried never to be in the same room as a Tutsi or even to speak to one.
Then one day he came for one of my courses and appeared to be the only one to have turned up. I told him to wait 24 hours to see if anyone else would arrive. During that time, five did, so we held the course.
However, during those 24 hours, John met a Christian Tutsi, who was there for a separate course. They started talking and John realised that this male Tutsi too had lost loved ones in the genocide, but God had enabled him to forgive those who had murdered his relatives.
That Sunday, John came with me and heard my message on the power of the Cross, which enables us to forgive. As we drove home, he said, "Today ranks for me with the day I first believed. I have the same lightness in my spirit that I had then."
Three years later, he was given someone else to hate when a man raped his two-year-old daughter. John proved that he had truly learned to deal with bitterness when he visited the rapist in prison. Horrified by the conditions in which he found him, John arranged to feed him.
I was simply staggered at the understanding of forgiveness he'd gained.