All of us have been wronged by others to varying degrees. When it happens, how do we handle it? Do we allow the hurt to fester within us, or do we forgive the offender, and thus move on with our lives? Today we shall contemplate the concept not merely of forgiveness, but of extravagant forgiveness. How do we forgive major intentional or even unintentional damage to our physical or spiritual well-being? Let us, in gratitude to our Creator, worship the God of extravagant forgiveness.
Pastoral Prayer
When we bow before Thee in prayer, Lord God, and when we contemplate Thy nature compared to our own nature, we are struck by the enormity of Thy being and the acute insignificance and smallness of our own nature. Nevertheless, Thou dost love us with a love which never fails, regardless of how willfully and openly we offend Thee. Grant to us the fullest measure possible to become the most like Thee of which we are capable, and to reflect in our lives the life that was in Jesus, the Christ.
We thank Thee for Jesus, and for the remarkable qualities in him and in his life which radiate throughout the earth even two thousand years after his life was savagely taken from him. We reflect on his life, and on the gentle yet powerful message he exhibited by how he lived. We reflect on his words, words which still find a home in our hearts and give direction to us and all that we attempt to do. We reflect on the depth of his spirit, the grandeur of his mind, the kindness of his heart, and we are both profoundly grateful for all that he was and profoundly regretful that we are so frequently unlike him in almost every way. Help us more faithfully to live in his light, and to walk in his way.
We pray for each person in this congregation this morning, and ask that Thou wouldst be with us in our needs and our shortcomings. We thank Thee for the lives of those who are no longer with us, whose lives on this earth have ended and whose eternal life with Thee has now begun. Be with their spouses and the members of their families, and with all who knew and loved those who have left us. Be with those among us who feel constant pain, whose spirits are assaulted by heavy burdens, who reach out to Thee, wondering if Thou art there and if Thou dost truly care for them. Deepen our faith, O God, when hard times surround us and huge questions attack our most long-cherished convictions. Implant Thyself in our wavering minds and hearts, so that we may move forward, confident once again in the power of Thy love. These things we ask in the name of him who is Thy love made flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, our truest elder brother. We join together now in words he taught his disciples, saying, Our Father….