Festo Kivengere (1919-1988) and his wife Mera attended a Good Friday service at All Souls Church in London. The sermon centered on Jesus’ words from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23.34). Festo carried in his heart hatred for one of the twentieth century’s most brutal dictators who had terrorized his country and plotted Festo’s death. A year earlier, Festo and fellow Anglican bishops in Uganda wrote to dictator Idi Amin challenging his human rights abuses. Festo preached on “The Preciousness of Life” to high government officials and rebuked the state for abusing the authority given it by God. Days later, a close friend and fellow bishop was murdered because he spoke out against illegal executions. Festo’s friends warned that he was next on Amin’s hit list. He and Mera fled to neighboring Rwanda where he continued his message of reconciliation while nursing hatred in his heart.
The enormity of Jesus’ prayer for his betrayers at the Good Friday service at All Souls Church couldn’t be avoided. Festo hadn’t let go of the bitterness and resentment that was eroding his soul. He remembered praying, “Lord, I am here and now forgiving Idi Amin.” A deep sense of release and empowerment come over him in that moment to extend forgiveness.
He later wrote a book with the shocking title, I Love Idi Amin. A reporter asked him how he could compose a title about a man often described as Africa’s Hitler. Festo said, “I may not like him, but I am obliged as a Christian to forgive him. As long as he is alive, he is still redeemable.”
We join today in a seventh century prayer of forgiveness: