4th November 2020 - Forgive us our sins.

APC Wed 4th Nov 2020          “Forgive us our sins as we forgive   those who sin against us….”
 
Welcome and Introduction          
Good morning everyone and welcome to our Wednesday morning worship.  Today we will be thinking about what it will mean for us to pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”
But first let’s take a moment to pause and to talk to our heavenly Father, let’s pray…
 
Opening Prayer
Gracious God, Lord of all, we thank you that we can come to you in prayer, that for all your greatness and wonder and holiness we can speak with you as to a friend.
 
Hear now our prayer.
 
We thank you that we can open our hearts to you, that we can pour out our innermost souls and share our deepest thoughts, in the knowledge that you are there always ready to listen and to understand,
 
Hear now our prayer.
 
So now once more we lay our lives before you, open to your gaze – the bad as well as the good, the doubt as well as the faith, the sorrow as well as the joy, the despair as well as the hope.
Hear now our prayer.
We bring the anger as well as the peace, the hatred as well as the love, the confusion as well as the certainty, the fear as well as the trust.
 
Hear now our prayer.
 
Gracious God we bring these, not with pride or any sense of arrogance, but honestly, recognising that you know us through and through.
 
Hear now our prayer.
 
Help us to be truthful to ourselves and truthful to you and so may we discover the renewing love which only you can offer- a love that fees us to live as you would have us live and allows us to be the people you would have us be!
 
Hear now our prayer.
In the name of Christ…
 
Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name,
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
For ever and ever, AMEN.
 
Reflection       “Forgive us our sins as we forgive
those who sin against us….”
 
What could be more important than our relationship with God?  Actually nothing.  That’s because our friendship with God is the stream from which every other part of our life flows.  Who we are, how we think, what we say and what we believe can all be transformed for good through our regular times of prayer. 
 
At this time of year one of the things we notice are all of the leaves.  As they turn yellow and red and brown they paint a spectacular picture in our gardens, in the fields and along the roadside.  But in the wrong place, in the wrong amount, they can cause real trouble.  That’s especially true if they clog up a drain. 
 
Often leaves and debris blown down in a storm can cause a mountain stream to become blocked.  This can have devastating consequences for the waterways further downstream.  If the source of freshwater is prevented from reaching pools and rivers they can quickly become stagnant and are no longer good for drinking or for sustaining animal and plant life.
 
You know, sometimes it can be the same in our relationship with God.  Over time things that we say or do or think, or even things we should have done or said but didn’t, can gather in our hearts and lives like leaves in a stream.  The trouble is, like the falling leaves, this can happen without us even realising it, until one day our friendship with God seems like a distant memory or we do or say something that has significantly negative consequences – all because we have allowed the source of the Holy Spirit’s life-giving streams to become blocked by our failure to keep short accounts with God. 
 
That’s why this week’s reflections on the Lord’s Prayer are perhaps the most important reflections in this whole series.  The lessons that we will learn today and on Sunday, if we put them into practice, have the potential to transform our existence and the influence we will have on the people around us for good.
 
For today and on Sunday we will be reflecting on these words that Jesus says we should pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”
 
You see the leaves in my analogy are the sins in our lives.  Things that we say or think or do, or things that we have failed to say or think or do.  Things that are contrary to the way that God, in His wisdom, would want us to live.  Just as leaves can block a stream, so too our sins block the flow of God’s Spirit in our lives.  If we are to restore the Holy Spirit’s transforming stream in our lives, we must have the leaves of sin regularly lifted or swept away.  The only person that can do this is God.  But if this is to become a reality in our lives on a regular basis, the very first thing we must do is to be humble enough to admit that we have a problem.  We must be willing to acknowledge and confess our sins regularly to God and to each other.
In our modern society that is not something that is as easy to do as it sounds.  The reality is that in today’s world admitting failure or problems is often perceived as a sign of weakness.  Unfortunately this view spills over into our religious life.  We don’t like to think of ourselves as sinners, as people who have disobeyed and offended God.  It’s easier for us to point out the faults in others rather than spending time examining our own lives.  We’re also tempted to think more about the sins of others because if we’re honest, it makes us feel that little bit better about ourselves.  But as far as God is concerned, admitting our own weakness and failures is the very beginning of spiritual progress.
 
So why are we sometimes too proud to admit to God and to each other that we have done wrong?  Well, one of the reasons may be because we have a wrong view of what sin is.  We agree that the burglar, the murderer, the child abuser and the adulterer are sinners but when we think about ourselves we say, “Well I’m not like that.  I live a decent, ordinary, respectable life.  I try my best to do what’s right and not to harm anyone.”  As a result, we think sin doesn’t really have anything to do with us and in our day to day lives, we never feel the need to ask God’s forgiveness or apologise to anyone else.  But how does the bible view sin?
 
Well the NT actually has 5 different words for sin-
 
Hamartia-
 
This is a shooting word which means ‘to miss the target’.  This means that sin is the failure to be all that we could be.  In light of that let us ask ourselves, how good a student, son, daughter, wife, husband, employer, minister are we?  Can we say that we have always been what we should have been?  If not, then God says that we have sinned.
 
Parabasis-     
 
This means ‘to step across’.  So sin is stepping across the line between right and wrong.  Let us ask ourselves honestly, are we never slightly dishonest, by word or by our silence do we ever evade the whole truth?  Are we always kind?  Are we never selfish?  Do we never utter a harsh word?  Do we never have a wrong attitude or thought?  None of us can claim to have always remained on the right side.  All of us have sinned and do sin.
 
Paraptoma-    
 
This describes a slip you would make on an icy road.  These sins are not as deliberate E.g. a word slipping out.  The momentary loss of self-control.  Forgetting to do something.  The very best of us has slipped into sin when for a second we were off our guard.
 
Anomia-
       
This is lawlessness.  It is to know what is right but to deliberately do what is wrong.  If we’re honest at times this also describes all of us.  When we see signs like “Do not enter!” or “Don’t walk on the grass!” it’s human nature to feel a great urge welling up within us to say “No, I’m going to see what’s behind that door” or “one or two little steps won’t hurt.”   Even if you can say you’ve never broken the Ten Commandments can you say that you’ve never even wanted to break them?
 
Opheilema-    
 
This is a failure to pay what you owe.  None of us can claim that we have perfectly done all that we should to other people and to God.  Such perfection does not exist.
 
In his sermon on the mount Jesus tells us that if we are angry about someone when we shouldn’t be or when we lust after someone we are sinning.  So we can commit sin as much in our inner lives and attitudes just as in our outward words and actions. 
 
When we consider all of this there is only one conclusion that we can come to.  As Paul says in Romans 3: 23 ‘All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’
 
Whether we like it or not, we have all inherited a human nature which means that like a bowling ball we all have an inbuilt weight or bias.  No matter how straight we try to walk, at some point either in our actions our speech our thoughts or our attitudes we stray from what we know to be right.  We may not stray as much as some others, we may not end up in the gutter, but nevertheless we are sinners and because of that on a daily basis we sin.
 
It’s really important for us to think deeply about this and then to accept and acknowledge this truth about ourselves for several reasons.  For one, it prevents us from being self-righteous.  At the end of the day, whatever our eircode, we are no better or no worse than anyone else when we measure ourselves against God’s perfect standards.  Knowing this and believing it will prevent us from arrogance.  It will also enable us to develop a compassionate heart that seeks to reach out to those who have fallen into sin with serious consequences.  We will care, because we realise ‘but for God’s grace it could have easily been us’.
 
Accepting that we all make mistakes, that at times we will let each other down and that we will say things on occasions that we shouldn’t, will also help us to be realistic about life.  This in turn can prevent us from becoming disillusioned.  When that happens it’s all too easy for us to give up on our relationships, to hop from job to job or to move from one church to another in an effort to find a perfection that God has not promised us this side of heaven. 
 
But above all it’s only when we regularly bow our heads and confess our sins to God that He can sweep the leaves away and allow the stream of the Holy Spirit to flow unhindered in our lives.  When we do this we will experience the Holy Spirit’s presence in fresh and living ways, guiding us, gifting us, inspiring us and empowering us to live lives that are kind and good and that will cause people to want to know about this Jesus whom we talk about.
 
It’s only when we take our sins seriously and realise their potential to prevent the grace of God flowing in our lives that we will begin to experience God’s presence and power in our lives.  It’s only as we get on our knees regularly and ask God to show us our sin and confess it sincerely that will enable Him to sweep our sins away and allow the Spirit’s stream to flow.
 
So let me ask you as I’ve asked myself this week…
 
Do you feel the Lord’s presence and power in your life?
 
Have you checked your spiritual drains?
 
What leaves and debris do you need to ask God to clear away?
 
Let us pray…
 
Prayer
 
Mighty God, we thank you that we can come now before you that you are here waiting to meet with us and speak to us.
 
We thank you that though we have no claim on your love, and no right to expect any mercy you are always reaching out to us eager to forgive and forget.
 
Gracious God, open our hearts to your love.
 
We thank you that though we repeatedly fail you, and though we resist your will, you go on wiping the slate clean, offering us a new beginning, a fresh start.
 
Gracious God, open our hearts to your love.
 
We thank you that you love and care about each one of us, that for all our faults and weaknesses you accept us just as we are.  Poor though our faith may be, you are always ready to guide, to help and to bless.
 
Gracious God, open our hearts to your love.
 
Mighty God. Help us to open our lives to you, to be honest with you, ourselves and others.  Help us to see ourselves as we really are, the good and the bad, the strength and the weaknesses, the lovely and the unlovely.  Help us to recognise our sins and to confess them, throwing ourselves upon your mercy.
 
Gracious God, open our hearts to your love.
 
And so may we receive the cleansing, the renewal and the forgiveness you long to show us.
 
Gracious God, open our hearts to your love.
In the name of Christ, Amen.
 
Closing Words
 
It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today. Thanks again for logging on.  I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s reflection.  Please do spend some time in quiet over the next couple of days and ask yourself, what will it mean for me to pray, “Forgive me for my sins.”
 
Do join us again on Sunday morning as we will be reflecting on what it will mean for us to forgive those who sin against us and how that will impact on our prayers asking God to forgive us.
If you missed all the information about this year’s Shoe Box Appeals then please tune in to the service last Wednesday.  Don’t forget the deadline for the Babushka shoe boxes is the 10th of November and there is an email address and phone number to call on the bottom of the leaflet to arrange delivery or collection of your box.  A PDF of the leaflet can be found on our Website or Facebook page or you can email me for the details.
 
As the days get shorter and the nights get longer and the challenges of Covid continue I’m conscious that this is a very difficult time for us all.  If you are feeling particularly low, then please do reach out and let me know.  I’ll be more than happy to meet and pray with you in a safe and socially distanced way.
 
And let’s keep a special eye out for each other whether that means just picking up the phones and seeing how someone is.
 
But for now, let me lead you in a Benediction after which I invite you as always, to say the grace together…
 
Benediction   
To God who is always forgiving, always loving, always offering a new beginning, be honour and glory, praise and thanksgiving this day and forever And
 
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.”