Worship April 9, 2021
Let us worship!
What can I give back to God
for the blessings he’s poured out on me?
I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God!
I’ll pray in the name of God;
I’ll complete what I promised God I’d do,
and I’ll do it together with his people.
When they arrive at the gates of death,
God welcomes those who love him.
Oh, God, here I am, your servant,
your faithful servant: set me free for your service!
I’m ready to offer the thanksgiving sacrifice
and pray in the name of God.
-Psalm 116: 12-18 (The Message)
Let us worship God.
A prayer to center you
Loving God, from the beginning of time when you breathed your first breath into human kind,
you showed love and care for us.
From the time you knit us together in our mother’s womb,
you have shown us compassion and grace.
Come to us now.
Breathe your breath over us once again.
Give us strength, courage and wisdom
to be your people, even in the midst of this hurting world—
especially in the midst of this hurting world.
Move over us Holy Spirit!
Breathe on me, Breath of God
Amen
Holy Words from John 20:19-23 (the message)
19-20 Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” Then he showed them his hands and side.
20-21 The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were awestruck. Jesus repeated his greeting: “Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you.”
22-23 Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. “Receive the Holy Spirit,” he said. “If you forgive someone’s sins, they’re gone for good. If you don’t forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?”
Reflection:
Forgiveness is hard—really, really hard.
So often we like to hang on to our hurts for one reason or another.
Sometimes holding on to our hurts brings us some measure of comfort, helping us feel justified.
Sometimes it makes us feel powerful, as if it the hurting gives us some advantage on someone else.
And sometimes the hurt is just so deep we don’t even know how to start letting go of it.
There are lots of things that make forgiveness hard.
It is hard to forgive others. It is hard to forgive ourselves. So many of us walk around clinging to elements of the past. We replay moments, conversations, actions that left us hurt or where we know we hurt others either purposefully or on accident, those moments we would love to take back or wish had never happened. We have all acted or been acted upon in ways in which forgiveness is needed.
Forgiveness is hard.
I was talking with a friend the other day and she said how her mother would often ask after saying the Lord’s Prayer, “Ever wonder what would happen if God forgave like we did?” That is nothing either of us want to imagine for sure. So when I read this Scripture this week the forgiveness part hit me hard. I give thanks again that God is so much better than I am. But I am still left with a challenge. Forgiveness.
Alone in a room on the very same day as the resurrection, Jesus breathes over the disciples, he sends them his peace and the Holy Spirit and bids them to forgive, saying, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Forgiveness.
Forgiveness is task that is important in Christian faith. Forgiveness is important to God. The opportunity to give and receive it comes to us again and again. Yet it is so hard to do. The emotional strings that are linked into the act of forgiveness can pull us backwards even if we try our hardest to step forward into a place of forgiveness and peace. We all have sins/struggles/debts/trespasses that we struggle to fully let go of. Things that we cannot forgive in ourselves or in others that hold us down, that keep us from moving forward, that we allow to continue to hurt us. We cling to the broken.
God wants more from us. God challenges us to more. Forgive the sins of any, and they are forgiven. Retain the sins of any and they are retained. God has already forgiven us long before we are ready to forgive or even ready to be forgiven. God frees us to forgive other and to forgive ourselves. God bids us to lay our burden down, our burden of hurt, of anger, of resentment, of unforgiving—God bids us to lay in down and let go. To lighten ourselves that we may live more fully into God’s glory.
Forgiveness is hard—really, really hard.
It is hard to forgive others. It is hard to forgive ourselves.
But God has already forgiven us. So let us lay the burdens down and work towards forgiving as we have been forgiven.
What do you think...
Has there been a time when you could not forgive someone else? Who suffered the most? What would help you step into true forgiveness for that situation?
Is there something in your past that you cannot forgive yourself for? What could help you step forward to receive forgiveness for yourself?
Action Challenge.
Write a note of forgiveness to someone you need to forgive (this could include yourself). Let the hurt go. Turn over the anger and sorrow. Let go of the pain. If you are super brave you can send the note, if you are not super brave, you can ripe it up and let it go!
Forgive the sins of any, and they are forgiven. Retain the sins of any and they are retained.
Go forward and be free!
Psalm 116:6-9
God is gracious—it is he who makes things right,
our most compassionate God.
God takes the side of the helpless;
when I was at the end of my rope, he saved me.
I said to myself, “Relax and rest.
God has showered you with blessings.
Soul, you’ve been rescued from death;
Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears;
And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.”
I’m striding in the presence of God,
alive in the land of the living!
Hymn: Breathe on me
Holy Spirit, breathe on me, until my heart is clean;
let sunshine fill its inmost part, with not a cloud between.
*breath on me, breathe on me, Holy Spirit, breathe on me; take though my heart, cleanse every part, Holy Spirit, breath on me.*
Holy Spirit, breathe on me, my stubborn will subdue;
Teach me in words of living flame What Christ would have me do.
*
Holy Spirit. Breathe on me, till I am all thine own,
Until my will is lost in in thine, to live for thee alone.
Going out.
Breathe in God’s mercy.
Breathe out God’s mercy for other.
May the love of the cross, the power of the resurrection, and the presence of the Living Lord, be with you always.
And the blessing of the Eternal God, Creator and Sustainer, Risen Lord and Savior, Give of holiness and love, be upon you now and evermore.
Let all God’s people say: AMEN
