Thoughts for the Day

Then Peter came and said to Jesus, ‘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.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I have tried to count up how many churches I have worshipped and served in (whether as a chorister, choir master, or priest), and to be honest I lost count at 40 plus. 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 that occurred, for example I would receive phone calls saying:

• "Someone has removed the stones from around my Dad's grave". (Answer: The mower needs to cut the grass, which is why stones are removed!)
• "Someone taken my flowers". (Answer: The wind blew the plastic flowers away, which is why plastic flowers are discouraged!)
• "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. I can remember one such over candles and another over bells hung from a tree! 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 each other, not letting disagreements get out of hand.

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

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 if they affect us.
Amen.