Word to the Wise
Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - 1st Week of Lent - Tues
[Isa 55:10-11 and Matt 6:7-15]TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017 TUESDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT [Isaiah 55:10-11 and Matthew 6:7-15] "If you forgive men their transgressions, your Heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions." [Matthew] At the parish mission Reconciliation Service I will preach this evening, I will ask the people, "How many times in your life have you said the Lord's Prayer?" I usually get a bemused look because the number would be in the thousands for most of them. It is one of the first prayers we learn as Christian children. It is a kind of spiritual 'comfort food' that we take for granted. Yet, there is a line that we might find very challenging if we looked at it more closely: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us..." This is the one line of the prayer that Jesus reinforces with the words that follow the prayer! I quoted those words above. Do we want God to take us seriously? If we do, then we have to ask how willing are we to forgive, or to ask for forgiveness from others and not just from God. Forgiveness does not begin and end at the confessional. Jesus' own words make that clear. The 'examination of conscience' that I will use at the service focuses not on deeds but on persons whom we need to forgive or from whom we need to ask for forgiveness. The list includes God, self, family, friends, co-workers, pastors, professional people..... It includes forgiving the one person who has hurt us the most - the one whom we swore we would never forgive. The impact of this examination of conscience is considerable and shows in the individual confessions that follow. It may be easier for us to feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty and clothe the naked than it is to forgive the one person who has hurt us the most. However, a Lent in which this happened may be one of the best we've ever experienced. AMEN