Excerpts From: The Messenger |
|
|
We are in the final stretch of our Lenten journey. If I were to ask you why God sent Jesus into the world? Almost everyone will say that Jesus came to die for our sins, to lead us to God, to teach us to love one another, etc. These are all correct answers and in addition to that, God sent Jesus to earth to live in us and in so doing transforms our lives to mirror the true character of God.
As human beings, one of the most dangerous and destructive things that Satan leads us to do is rate sin. By doing so we can always rate someone else's sin as worse than our own right!. However, we will someday find out that "anyone who hates his brother, or sister is a murderer." (1 John 3:15a) Isn’t it a sobering moment when we see our rating system breaking down and realize that to God sin, is sin, no rating, no five popcorn boxes for murder, and one for hate. (Mk. 7:21-23) Nothing like that ...just sin… plain and simple... hate, murder, envy, slander, pride, deceit, adulteries, covetousness, theft, immorality, wickedness all in the same package ...one is equal to the other. (Reference: Galatians 5: 16-21 (fruit of practicing sin) Galatians 5:22-26 (fruit of Spirit led life).)
Forgiveness is not:
1. Forgetting the situation
2. Pretending all is settled
3. A feeling that things are better
4. Bringing up the past
5. Demanding change before you forgive
6. Holy amnesia
So then, what is forgiveness?
Forgiveness is a full rejection of evil whether we are speaking of the “September 11th” or the person down the street, or the person next to you in church. We, as Christians, are commanded to break the cycle of evil, to walk in the light rather than darkness, to follow mercy, not revenge. Forgiveness is understanding where the enemy anticipates anger and revenge.
As Rev. P. T. Spomer puts it: "We must understand that when we forgive the bomber, we become less like him. When we hate him, we become more like him; we follow him back into the darkness whence he came."
I must admit, emotionally, we find forgiveness difficult. Like it or not even when we attempt to work with God to forgive and when we pray that he forgives our sin as we forgive those who sin against us, for most there is a time when the hurt and anger remain deep even after we say the words 'I forgive you.'
To help us with this we must understand that forgiveness is not an emotion and whether it takes a lifetime or an instant to change our feelings it is by the grace of God and working with Him that our emotions will change. We need to give ourselves time, don’t rush it to forgive. For only the offended can forgive.
God has wrapped up forgiveness as a gift in the Christ to us. He was born into this world destined to die as the Lamb of God. Today he comes to our world in a humble shape, acts in and through us to influence our world for good.
We need to find occasions to see that Christ is already living in us and among us, not only in the love we share but even in our struggle to forgive and to serve one another. Whatever joys or sorrows we might be experiencing, our lives are changing, growing to greater unity with Christ as we live out our Christian life. We are part of God’s church, a people waiting for the coming of Christ and the fulfillment of the kingdom.
In our blessings we have a foretaste of that kingdom; in our sorrows we look ahead in hope. C.S. Lewis once said, “God created us without our consent, but he will not save us without our consent.” We are always reminded that we all need a Saviour, even as we start up the fire of hope in His coming again.
When God teaches us to pray the Lord's Prayer, He tells us to ask forgiveness of our sins whatever they may be. We should also accept His forgiveness and realize that He would not instruct us to ask if He were not willing to freely bestow the forgiveness that He offers. And you can be sure that He would not instruct us in the same sentence to forgive those who sin against us if He did not fully expect us to show the same love and forgiveness to others as He shows to us.
He put no conditions on our forgiveness. He did not tell us to put 50 dollars in the offering. He didn't tell us to whip ourselves or even mentally anguish ourselves over our sin. He forgave us... no ifs... and... no buts. All He asks is that we forgive the other person. If that other person does not accept your forgiveness, let that person go. If you forgave him without condition your heart should be at peace. Forgiveness is not something we must demand, rather forgiveness is something we freely offer.
And as Christians knowing what Christ has done for us we surely must understand Paul's words in Romans 14:19, "Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification." and in Ephesians 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
And, oh what joy we receive when we know that our Lord and Saviour died for all sins -- yours -- mine -- the sins of the whole world are on the cross. The forgiveness of God will make us more aware of the marvelous grace of our God and Saviour. May God continue to bless and enrich us with the grace He freely gives us. Lord Jesus, thank you for the light that shows us the way.
Forgiveness is the heart of the salvation story and it stretches from Genesis to Revelation. Forgiveness was the core message of Jesus' ministry on earth. This is the Character of God. May you all have a blessed Easter!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Samuel King-Kabu
No one was stirring when I awoke at 05:00, under the pines of "Jellystone" campground, a tiny island of trees set amidst the open expanse of farmer's fields. I quickly and quietly packed up my gear and rode out of the park, to head west along the highway and back to Amherstburg. On the way in, I crossed over a small creek, whose importance I would discover later in the morning. Once in town, I found a busy breakfast restaurant along the main highway. Sheryl and I spoke on the phone, and arranged for her to meet me at the end of the day at Leaminton, Ontario. For her, it would be nearly a full day's drive.
I headed south after breakfast. The road led right along the river, on the high ground. I could see the ever-approaching mouth of the Detroit River and the opening up of Lake Erie beyond. I passed the ruins of another fort, built by the Americans as they briefly laid siege to the main British fort at Amherstburg in 1812 (before Detroit fell to the British and was held for the rest of the war.)
At a certain point, just a couple of kilometres from the lake, the main road turned sharply to the east. Ahead continued a small street along the beachfront houses, marked with a "Dead End' sign. I decided I might as well go to the end and have a look. As I descended the hill, there were beachfront houses to my right and a vast, forested marsh to my left. The trip odometer my wife had bought for me earlier in the summer, along with my new bike, turned 1000km and so I stopped in front of one of the homes to take a photo. As I saw the homeowner coming over, I prepared for grief: “Why are you stopping in front of my house?” I was pleasantly surprised when he told me to ignore the "Dead End" sign at the end, that bikes could get through along the levee. He must have been an angel. When I got to the end of the street, it certainly did not look like anyone could get through. I never would have tried it without his having told me. As it was, I had several kilometres of pleasant riding, right along the waterfront.
I was only forced back to the main road when I came out at a vast inlet and marsh. This was the tiny creek I had crossed earlier in the morning! I soon came to a cut off and took the smaller, less-travelled road along the shoreline.
Alas, there was no chance to really see the shore. All was blocked by trees. I took many of the access roads down to the water's edge, for it looked on my map like the shoreline roads met up. They did not. Each ended at a small inlet, to be continued on the far side. I had at least six of these false starts.
I came back to the main road at the quaint little town of Kingsville, which seemed a bustling tourist hub. Just before reaching town, I passed the first of what would be a series of enormous greenhouses. It was several stories high and seemed to stretch for the whole length of the farmer's field.
Once in town, I stopped along the main street for lunch.
The road between Kingsville and Leamington was quite busy and was set high and quite a distance from the lake. I could only get occasional glimpses of the vast, blue expanse to my far right. All along the road were fields of tomatoes, being harvested my armies of workers. I saw a mechanized device where rows of pickers lay flat as it advanced slowly through the field. I came upon an old gentleman in his eighties who was pulling a home-made, hand-drawn "camper" trailer. Whereas a car might travel 1000km in a day, and I might travel 100km, he was content with 10-15km a day. For him Kingsville to Leamington was his day's trip. When I asked him why, he just responded, "What else am I going to do in my eighties?" He was supporting the War Amps children's program, but they were not his official sponsors.
It was still early afternoon when I got to Leamington. I rode about the whole town scoping out the various motels and figuring out how to give my wife detailed instructions as to how to find me. I discovered the vast Heinz plant at Leamington and the fact that Spanish was the town's second language, given the influx of farm workers from Mexico. I rode down to the waterfront to check out the ferry for Pelee Island. (It would turn out that my wife and I would take the ferry over there a couple of days later, with our bikes, and stand on the absolutely southernmost point in Canada that is accessible.)
I ended up back at the motel towards evening. Sheryl was close, but my directions fell apart as key exits on the 401 were closed for construction. I soon found myself guiding her by cell phone, using my detailed map of the area, as she drove frantically along empty farm roads as dusk settled in. She was very happy to round the curve and find me sitting by the roadside in one of the motel's chairs I had brought out.
My bike ride was over.
(This ends the ongoing account of my three major bike rides of 2005. This account, along with those of earlier trips, can be found at http://rogerkenner.ca/Bike/Bike.html)
Roger Kenner
Web Page prepared by:
Roger Kenner
& Jette Blair.
Content-New Topics Last Updated: 2007/04/18
St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church - Montreal