Thoughts for the Day

Then Peter came and said to him, 'Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times'.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I have tried to count up how many churches I have served in, in some capacity, and to be honest I lost count at about 40, and then of course there were the churches across a whole Diocese where I worked for seven years. I have also lost count of the arguments about churchyards, for example I would receive phone calls saying:

1. "Someone has removed the stones around my Dad's grave". (Answer: The mower needs to cut the grass, which is why no stones are allowed!)
2. "Someone has removed my flowers". (Answer: The wind blew the plastic flowers away, which is why no plastic flowers are allowed!)
3. "Someone has tried to dig up my husband's grave". (Answer: It was a mole trying to come to the surface all around the cremation stone!)

These arguments can get taken up by Church Council meetings, and escalate into village rows. Hurtful things are said, and people begin to side with one faction against another. The point is Jesus says we should be patient with one another, and forgive one another, not letting disagreements get out of hand.

Be honest, when You ask God's forgiveness, how many sins does He have to forgive each day? And how many of these sins do you (and I) repeat every single day?

Heavenly Father,
we ask You to forgive us our sins -
sins that we commit each and every day -
the same sins, over and over again.
Help us to be generous to others,
and forgive them their sins
particularly when they affect us.
Amen.