March 2, 2014

Please forgive me!

Romans 14:3-4

Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

Personal Challenge...

Today we celebrated Forgiveness Sunday in the Orthodox church. Tomorrow is the first day of Great Lent as we prepare for that sojourn to Pascha (Easter) and our early church fathers saw fit to start this journey off with a day and services set aside seeking and offering forgiveness amongst our brothers and sisters, our community. In this special service we hear the teachings of our Lord from Matthew 6 about forgiving those here on earth who have offended us and begin laying up rewards in heaven. Paul, in the letter to the Romans reminds us that God is the judge and not us. We cannot make it through life, especially the Christian life, without living in community. Today at church we had the opportunity to ask each individual to forgive us. We ask for forgiveness for what we have done or not done, whether known or unknown. It is a very moving experience if we choose to participate in it completely. And in response to our request for forgiveness we will hear, "May God forgive us all!" over and over again. This can be both very uplifting and freeing while at the same time very humbling.

I reach out to all who read this and ask you from the bottom of my heart, "Please forgive me for the offenses that I have committed against you and for the things that I should have done in our relationship that I have neglected to do."