From the Pulpit: Forgiveness is the food we need

By: 
Pastor Greg Johnson, Beaver Valley Lutheran

Many Christians (I know we are not alone in this emphasis as Lutherans) speak of a life of faith as best lived “daily.” If we look out ahead too far, we will most likely miss the people that are ours to serve right in the middle of that very day.  

To stay strong and focused in our daily walk, we need to be given the strength we need when we need it. That strength comes through what God has promised to do for us: forgive.  

Talk of forgiveness is everywhere in the Church. At the beginning of most orders of worship, there is the time of cleansing: for us the Brief Order of Confession and Forgiveness. It’s how we get ready to hear the word of God, standing as we do for the reading of the Jesus story, the Gospel. We confess that we have too often failed to serve as we are called to serve. The promise of forgiveness must not be taken for granted. It is, in the words of Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a “costly grace” (verses a “cheap grace”) that sets us free to let our lights shine in this world.

The Lord’s prayer has as its center the theme of forgiveness: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The ordering of grace of which we speak reminds us in this most famous prayer that the forgiveness that comes to us must become the person that we are: we forgive because we have been forgiven (Col. 3:13). Jesus would have us remember that we are all worth forgiving and so, too, is our imperfect neighbor. 

Holy Communion, one of two sacraments instituted by Christ, is God’s gift of forgiveness to the believer as we participate in the receiving of Christ really present in the bread and the wine. To come to the altar knowing you need forgiveness and to leave the altar cleansed and free to go and be “little Christs” (Luther) to the world that needs you is what the perfect meal does.   

There are wonderful and varying worshipping communities across the landscape. Yes, we vary greatly in worship style and message. But one meal that any Christian must look forward to again and again is the meal of grace captured in the word forgiveness. We can’t be followers of Jesus without it.

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