Touchpoints on Forgiveness
No Stopping God
“Listen to the Passion story once again. Once in history, God took on flesh and walked on this earth proclaiming love and forgiveness to all he met. And we didn’t just reject him. We didn’t just ‘not believe’ him. We killed him. We crucified him. And do you know what he said as he hung from the cross? Father, forgive them.'”
A World of Forgiveness
“God isn’t just content to take sin away, as we might understand it. Sin isn’t just removed. That which is broken is healed. That which is wayward is sought out and found. This is much more than a bookkeeping, scorekeeping adjustment. The Spirit is at work healing, restoring, uniting.”
Father, Forgive US, For WE Know Not What WE Do
“What if we, as a Church, as Christians, focused not on saving ourselves and others, what if we focused on our being forgiven and forgiving others? Do you think the world might see us differently?”
Who Wants to Be a Saint?
“And one Sunday, it finally dawned on me: “I’m an addict. Only I’m addicted to socially acceptable things. Things like money, the status quo, and prestige.” I’m addicted to avoiding being seen as weak. As a LOSER. And then I realized that the only difference between those addicts and me was while they were ‘recovering addicts’ … I was an ‘uncovering addict.’”
The Refiner’s Fire
“Sometimes I wish Jesus would have just come to earth and said, “This is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you.” I would have been good with that. But Jesus is not a Pollyanna. He’s a realist. He will undergo a death and resurrection. And so will we. There’s no way to do an end run around Good Friday to get to Easter. For him or us.”
Lord, You Want the Impossible!
“Life is so much easier when God calls on me to do things I understand, like, and agree with. How will I respond to the things I don’t understand, the things that make me uncomfortable, the things that others tell me are wrong?”
Forgiveness Leads to Repentance
“But here’s the thing. We don’t need to run and hide like Adam and Eve. We don’t need to live in fear and dread. We know what kind of God we have. We know whether God, at God’s core, is forgiving or vengeful.”
Wounded Touch
“You see, the problem may not be that people don’t want to belong to the church. The problem may just be that the church doesn’t want to belong to the Christ. Perhaps we’ve been so busy worshipping Jesus we’ve forgotten to follow him.”
Unstoppable
“That is what this week is about. That is what the passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is about. God will simply not stop being a loving, gracious and forgiving God. And not in some theoretical, metaphysical, mystical way. God will simply not stop being a loving, gracious and forgiving God here on earth – to us and with us.”
The Prodigal Sons
“We have bastardized the Mystery’s grace, the Father’s love. But guess what, there are no bastard children in the family of God. And the door into the house is always open, and the feast never ends. Deniers and betrayers, doubters and cowards are welcome…”
Let It Be
“Now I’m not sure what this says about God the Father, but I am clear on what it says about God the Son. He will not go back on forgiveness. He will not go back on grace. He will not deal with us on the basis of reward and punishment or getting what we deserve. Not now, not next year, not ever.”
Give Credit Where Credit is Due
Grace and Peace from the Mystery in whom we live and move and have our being. I know I read from “The Message” interpretation by Eugene Peterson for our passage today, and I did so because it is such a good one. But I am going to use the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) translation for this Touchpoint, because I think it shows how we have used and misused this passage. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate…
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