"Forgiveness Math"

Pastor Laura Guy

September 21, 2008

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We read Matt 18:21-35 to learn what Jesus had to say about forgiveness. Peter asked if we should forgive someone seven times, a generous number. But Jesus said it is much more than that - a number beyond counting. In the parable of the unmerciful servant, he warns us that God expects us to forgive others because we have been forgiven much.
We admitted, however, that forgiving others is hard. We are wounded by the words and actions of others. Like the scene in Spirited Away where a great dragon was injured by hundreds of paper cuts, we can also be injured by the constant injustices others do to us. Forgiveness is not easy.
We realized that we hold on to our abacus of pain, keeping track of the times others hurt us. But Jesus said that God does not keep a heavenly abacus of our sins. We need to practice God's forgiveness math. When Jesus taught us the Lord's Prayer, he said, "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."
We learned that the Greek word for forgiveness is "to let go." We have to make a conscious decision to let go of the pain. Sometimes that can even mean walking to the river and dumping our emotional baggage into the swift current, never to see it again.
We heard the story of Pastor Laura's friend Kay who had a mother-in-law who was very critical of her. Kay could never please Pat, and she became bitter toward her. But Kay decided she would have to find a way to live in peace, so she vowed to look for things to appreciate about Pat. She forgive her for all the little barbs she threw at her. Eventually their relationship improved, and when Kay was very sick with cancer, Pat was constantly by her side, even being her "dancing partner" as they swayed their way to the bathroom together. Kay realized that, much to her surprise, she had come to love Pat.
We remembered that Jesus offers us living water, and living water flows through us and out to others. It is the water of grace. If we allow it to flow through us, it can wash away the hurts and smooth out the rough edges so that we can truly "let go."
We prayed for God's help to forgive those who hurt us.
We celebrated communion at the table of forgiveness.