8th Nov 2020 - Forgive Us Our Sins - Part 2

APC 8th November 2020                “Forgive us our sins as we forgive
those who sin against us.” (Part 2)
 
PART 1
Welcome and Introduction          
Good morning everyone and welcome to our Sunday morning worship.  Thank you to those of you who have contributed so generously to the Harvest Appeal.  From initial contributions we were able to give each charity 700 Euros.  Since then other donations have come in and as of Thursday this week the total received was up to 2200 Euros.  If you would still like to give but haven’t yet, please do feel free to do so this week.  Then we will divide the remaining balance between the two Charities and post them each another cheque. 
Today we will be thinking a little more 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
 
Living and loving God, once more we bring you our praise and our worship.  We acknowledge you as our God.  We recognise your greatness and power.  We marvel at your love and compassion.  We come before you with awe and wonder.
 
You are Lord of heaven and earth, of space and time, of this world and all of the universe, of life and death.
 
Living and loving God, draw near to us and help us draw near to you.  Come to us through your Holy Spirit and help us to open our hearts to the risen Christ.  Speak to us through the worship we offer today and through it, deepen our faith.
 
Living God we praise you that there is so much that speaks to us of your love and purpose – so much in our lives, in our daily experience, in the world around us, in the vastness of the universe, in the fellowship we share with one another and in the relationship we enjoy with you, through which you teach and guide and challenge us.  Forgive us that sometimes we do not hear your voice and that often we do not want to hear.  Forgive us that sometimes we refuse to listen and that often we are closed to anything but our own words.
 
So today open our hearts to all the ways you are at work.  Open our eyes so that we may glimpse your purpose more fully.  Open our ears so that we may hear your voice more clearly.  Open our minds to receive your truth more completely.  Help us to see everything that points to your activity in our lives, in our fellowship, in your church and in the world.  And speak through us as we work and witness for you, that others may come to know you for themselves.  Amen.
 
Join me as we say the Lord’s Prayer thoughtfully and sincerely together…
 
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.
Introduction to Kids Video
I do hope your children have been enjoying watching Douglas the puppet over the last couple of weeks teaching them a little about what it means to talk to God.  This is the part of the service especially for them, although I know many of us as adults really enjoy it too.  So if your kids aren’t beside you right now, why not pause the recording, and call them in to watch a puppet called Douglas explain what it means to forgive…And at the end of this video I’ve a few words to say to the children so don’t let them rush away.
(END Part 1)
 
Kid’s Video     Douglas Talks “Forgiveness”
Link         https://www.worshiphousekids.com/kids-church-videos/44427/douglas-talks-forgiveness
 
PART 2
 
Kid’s Talk Summary
Hey boys and girls.  I hope you enjoyed listening to Douglas as much as I did.  We all say and do things that hurt other people.  So it’s important to say sorry and it’s important to forgive.  The good news is if we pray and ask God He will help us to say sorry and to forgive.  Isn’t it so great to be able to talk to God?  I’ve put a link to a colouring sheet on the church website about praying for forgiveness for you.  So if your mam or dad hasn’t printed it off yet now’s the time to gently ask them to pause this recording and go and print it for you.  Hope you’ve enjoyed today.  Don’t forget to tune in again next Sunday.  Bye for now…
 
Colouring Sheet Link
 
http://www.supercoloring.com/coloring-pages/christianity-bible/lords-prayer (Sheet Number 4 - ‘Forgive us our debts’)
 
 
Bible Reading         Luke 23 v 32 - 43
32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”[a] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”
36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 
41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[b]”
43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
       
Reflection                       “Forgive us our sins as we forgive
those who sin against us.”
 
“Dear Charles,
 
I realise this letter may come as a shock to you.  However I sincerely hope you will give it your utmost consideration.  While it is not easy for me to write this letter, I also understand that it is possibly not easy for you to read.  I will start by introducing myself.  My name is Richard Moore and I live in Derry Northern Ireland.  33 years ago on 4th May 1972 I think we came across each other for the first time.  I was 10 years old then. Whilst on my way home from school I was shot and blinded by a rubber bullet.  I am glad to say that I have never allowed this experience to hinder me or make me feel bitter in any way.  As you are probably aware by now, not only from the first two paragraphs of this letter, but from the person who so kindly has delivered it into your hand, it is my understanding that you are the soldier that fired the rubber bullet…”
 
This is an extract taken from the book “Can I give him my eyes?”- the question Richard’s father asked when doctors broke the news to him that they could not save his son’s sight.  It describes the moving story of Richard Moore shot and blinded by a British soldier during the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.  Years later, in an extraordinary turn of events, Richard eventually meets and befriends the soldier who shot him.
 
It is stories like these that are at the very heart of what it means to be Christian.  Christianity is about God’s Mission to enable us to find forgiveness and reconciliation with Himself.  But it is also about God’s mission through Christ to bring Jew and Gentile together in Palestine, Protestant and Catholic together in Ireland, Hutu and Tutsi together in Africa, Republican and Democrat in America.
That is why Jesus teaches us every day to pray “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”
 
On Wednesday we reflected on the first part of this verse “Forgive us our sins.”  We reminded ourselves that we all say and think and do things that fall below the standards of God.  We acknowledged that at times we can all be too proud to admit our failures, either to God or to each other.  But we came to the conclusion that ultimately it is in our best interests to be honest and to regularly confess our sins to God.  It’s only when we do this that the leaves of sin can be swept spiritually from our lives allowing the living streams of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power to flow.
 
That was difficult enough, but today we are faced with an even greater challenge, and in my experience, for most of us, this is the greatest challenge in the Christian life – to forgive those who have sinned against us and deeply hurt us, even when they don’t deserve it, even if they haven’t said they are sorry and even when we would still consider them to be our enemies.
 
There is no greater ask in life, but this is what it will mean for us to take the Lord’s Prayer honestly upon our lips each week.  This is what it will cost to call ourselves, “Christian.”
 
For in this one sentence, Jesus not only teaches us to ask God to forgive us, but to ask in such a way that demands that we must also forgive others.  So He says, when you pray say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” 
 
What we are actually praying when we use these words is, “God forgive me in the same way that I forgive others.”  What that means is, we must somehow forgive others no matter what they have done to us, because if we don’t, and we take this prayer on our lips, we are actually asking God not to forgive us.
This is an extremely hard teaching of Jesus because the reality is that it is not always easy to forgive.  In certain circumstances the journey of forgiveness may be a long one.  We may even need the help of professional counsellors to explore the depths of hurt that someone else has caused before we are even at a point of contemplating the possibility of forgiveness.  But even in circumstances where an innocent child has been blinded by the actions of an adult, when someone finds the grace and courage to make the first move, the journey of forgiveness and reconciliation can begin. 
 
So it was that the British soldier who shot Richard Moore responded to his letter and months later the blinded man sat in the Hilton hotel in Edinburgh waiting…He writes,
 
“At about 11.50, I heard footsteps approach the area where I was sitting and a mature, cultured British voice said, “Hello Richard, it’s Charles.  I stood up to shake his hand.    “Hello Charles.  Good to meet you.  Thanks very much for coming to see me.”  The 33 year wait was over…
 
Richard Moore writes about that first meeting with the soldier who shot him and blinded him for life…He says…
 
“The best way to describe the conversation with Charles is that it was like being on a first date…  Eventually I broached the subject of the elephant in the room.”
 
Charles explained that he did mean to fire the bullet and felt justified because it was an attempt to get those who were rioting to ‘bugger off’.  “The truth is”, he said, “I did mean to fire it.  I just never meant to cause the damage that I did.”
 
Richard goes on to explain how the two men talked frankly and honestly about their feelings.  How they went for lunch.  How Charles guided him to the restaurant, even to the bathroom and insisted on driving him back to the airport.  He recalls how a few weeks later when he was in Newcastle on business that Charles and his wife invited him to stay at their home.  Eventually Charles agreed to take part in a documentary about Richard’s life. Since that first meeting, Richard and Charles have become good friends.
 
The truth is if we want God to forgive us then we must be willing to forgive other people, even those who have hurt us deeply.  The reason we must do this is because every time God forgives us that’s what He is doing.  The reality is that every time we break God’s laws the only thing we deserve is judgement.  The fact that God chooses to be merciful to us is out of the goodness and mercy of his heart.  None of us deserve God’s forgiveness.  He will grant it freely to us when we ask for it sincerely, but that’s despite the fact that we have grieved His heart and even though we don’t deserve it.  If that’s how God treats us and if that’s how we wish to be treated by God then we must be willing to do the same for those who hurt us.
 
None of this is easy, and none of this means that perpetrators of certain crimes should have reduced judicial sentences. Nevertheless, because God has forgiven us in Christ, despite the fact that we don’t deserve it, Jesus demands that by His grace we come to the point of letting go of those who have hurt us. 
 
Some may argue that we don’t have to forgive or that we can’t forgive unless someone is really sorry.  But this is not the Jesus way.  Who was sorry when they beat and mocked our Lord?  Who was sorry when they gambled for his clothes?  Who was sorry when they nailed Him naked to the cross?  No one.  And what was His response?  Instead of waiting for them to apologise, Jesus prayed, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing.”
So too it may seem unfair that we must forgive others even when they do not apologise but that was what Jesus did and that’s what he asks us to do. 
 
Ultimately when we forgive, it is for our own good.  When we let go and give that person over to God we are set free from the anger and bitterness and hatred that lies within.  Somehow, by God’s grace we must find the strength and courage to accept that God is the one to whom final judgement belongs.  Even if we never see justice this side of heaven we can be sure that the God of all the earth will do what is right.
 
Even when we have found it in our hearts to forgive and to place someone into the hands of God, there is still a final step on the journey that God challenges us to be willing to make.  This last part of the journey is perhaps the most difficult of all.  It’s to desire that those who have hurt us will truly repent and find God’s forgiveness.  And it is to contemplate the possibility of reconciliation. 
 
In particular cases these aspects of forgiveness may only seem possible well down the line.  It was 33 years after being blinded that Richard Moore had the desire and the courage to meet and seek reconciliation with the soldier who had fired the rubber bullet.  But the point is he eventually took that first step and God did what in our minds seemed impossible. 
 
Richard concludes his book with these words,
 
“I’ve come to realise that it doesn’t matter if you’re Protestant or Catholic, Unionist or Nationalist, British or Irish, the suffering is the same.  And if we’re to build a true and lasting peace in Northern Ireland, then one of the challenges will be to deal with the hurts of the past and try to ensure that they are not handed on to the next generation.”
If Richard Moore can give forgiveness and find reconciliation in such a painful situation, then by God’s grace so can we.
 
So can I ask you?
 
Is there someone that you need to approach gently to explain the hurt that they have caused you?  Is there someone that deep down you need to forgive?  Is there someone that you haven’t spoken to for years?  Jesus says to us this morning- “Be courageous, take the first step”.  Even if the words ‘sorry’ never come, reconciliation may still be possible and forgiveness will set you free.

Conclusion
 
Every time we say the Lord’s Prayer we ask God, “Forgive us in the same way that we forgive others.”  If we don’t forgive we are literally asking God not to forgive us.  If we refuse to forgive it shows that the grace of God has yet to penetrate our own hearts.  No matter how long the road or how difficult the journey, by God’s grace we need to come to a point of forgiveness, for only then can we truly receive the forgiveness of God.  If you are finding it hard to forgive then let me encourage you to go to the cross.  Think about everything that God has forgiven you in Christ and let His grace melt your heart in such a way that you are able to forgive those who have crucified you.
 
Let’s pray…
  
Prayers for others
 
Loving God, there are times when we look at people’s lives and we find it hard to believe things can ever change for the better.
 
We see them racked by illness, weighed down by anxiety, tormented by depression, crippled by debt, broken by alcohol, destroyed by drugs, scarred by bereavement, shattered through unemployment and we wonder what their prospects really are, what hope we can realistically offer them, what help we can possibly give.
 
Transforming God, may your light shine where there is darkness.
 
We pray for such people known to us now- family, friends, church members, work colleagues, neighbours, acquaintances, as well as the countless people unknown to us each struggling under their own particular burdens.
 
Transforming God, may your light shine where there is darkness.
 
We pray for our world- for those many people who face suffering, injustice, hardship and death.
 
Transforming God, may your light shine where there is darkness.
 
Reach out to all who are in despair we pray, all who long for change but see only hopelessness stretching before them.  Touch their lives and bring help, hope, healing and wholeness.
 
Transforming God, may your light shine where there is darkness.
 
Loving God it is hard sometimes to believe that those around us, still less the world around, can ever change for the better.  We see countries broken by war, people consumed by hatred, thousands living in fear, nations turned against nation, multitudes made homeless by disaster, continents facing famine and again we wonder what the prospects really are, what hope anyone can offer, what help can possibly be given.
 
Transforming God, may your light shine where there is darkness.
 
Help us to see beneath the surface, recognising you are at work and that things can change.  Help us to see beyond appearances, recognising you are a God able to transform even the most hopeless of situations.  Give to us and to all people the assurance that there is no one and no situation unable to be transformed by your power.
 
Transforming God, may your light shine where there is darkness.
 
We pray particularly for this Covid 19 virus.  Please help all of us to continue to do what we can to reduce its spread.  Please keep our hearts and minds from anxiety and depression.  Please enable the number of infections to rapidly decline over these next few weeks.  Please give great wisdom and success to those people who are currently trialling vaccines and grant that very soon one will be found that will give us immunity to this virus.
Lord, in your mercy, long term please cause this virus to burn itself out so that this will not be something that we will have to navigate in the future. 
 
Take a moment now to pray for one or two people you know who need God’s help at this time….
 
All this we ask in the name of the our Lord Jesus, the King of Kings, 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, “Father forgive me for my sins in the same way that I forgive….(PAUSE)…?”
 
Unfortunately with the new restrictions we are unable to meet for church services for the immediate future.  Until then I will continue to post reflections every Sunday and Wednesday to keep us encouraged and in spiritually good shape.  This Wednesday we will spend some time reflecting on what it means for us to pray, “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” and next Sunday we will have a focus on the United Appeal which is our denominations main way of supporting outreach in various forms throughout Ireland and in other parts of the world.
 
If you missed all the information about this year’s Shoe Box Appeals then please tune in to the service on Wednesday earlier this week.  Thank you to those people who have already made Babushka Shoe Boxes and who have placed them in the church for collection.  The deadline for the Babushka shoe boxes is technically the 10th of November but Erika Ravenscroft has kindly agreed to deliver shoe boxes on our behalf to Dublin on the 14th.  So if you would like to send a Babushka Box the good news is there is still time.  Please just drop the box into the foyer of the church some morning this week or alternatively you can drop it off at the manse some evening.
 
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   
As you have come to worship, so go now to serve, showing the truth in your lives of what we have declared with our lips.  May we forgive as Christ continues to forgive us, and may we do all we can to be reconciled with everyone.  And so…
 
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.”
 

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