Reflection on Ephesians 4:31-32

 

It is your turn.  Throughout the scriptures we have seen how God is merciful and forgiving.  We have seen how God has granted forgiveness when we have not deserved it.  We have seen how God has completely forgotten our sins.  God cannot even remember them, though sometimes we can.  We have seen how Jesus has come to bring forgiveness to the world.  We have seen how forgiveness is a part of God’s very being.  God would not be God without forgiveness.  Jesus would not be our Lord without the cross.  It is all about forgiveness.

We are made in the image of God.  So, if God’s image is forgiveness…if Jesus reflected that forgiveness in all he did and said…then I guess we are forgiveness also.  We are a people anointed with forgiveness to be the people of forgiveness.  So, it is your turn, and my turn.  It is our turn to be God’s people of forgiveness.

“Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice…” The wording for “put away” is very rich visually.  The writer of Ephesians wants us to pick up and haul off to another place entirely any bitterness in our souls.  He wants us to pick up and chuck desires for revenge, and kick away our heated hearts of anger.  Also, the writer explicitly desires us to have no more endless arguments and verbal tussles either literally with other people or within, like when you mutter to yourself why people are so stupid.  The anger, and vengeful thoughts, and arguments are over.  They are gone.  They are to be carried away to be seen no more.

It is your turn now to forgive, and mine.  And, if we have the desire to be the people of Jesus Christ, we will need to take the time to first stop, consider our resentments, and arguments, and anger against other people, and we will need to find a nice, dark basement where they can be dumped to be seen no more.  That is the first step.

Psalm 103 says that God has put all our sins “as far from us as the east is from the west.  And as far as sunrise is from sunset…”  So, it is our turn to do the same, putting all the hurt feelings and resentments away.  We need to clear the way because something new is about to take shape in our lives.

And, the writer knows exactly what that new thing looks like.  It looks like being kind and compassionate to one another.  “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”  God has forgiven you.  It is now your turn to forgive, and mine.  Resentment and anger has been replaced with actions that show kindness, understanding, and forgiveness.  Notice how I said “actions.”  Our actions have been replaced.

The Biblical writers are not talking about your feelings here.  You may not feel very forgiving right now, or ever.  And, that is the problem.  If we waited until we felt like forgiving before we actually did something to show forgiveness, there would be a lot of anger, resentment, and closed doors filling up the world.  You cannot simply change your feelings.  Your anger is your anger!  But, you can change your actions.  You can act with kindness to your enemy.  You can open your ears and be understanding when you currently do not understand.  You can let go of the anger and hurt, and you can forgive even if you do not feel like it.  Forgiveness is an action of love.  The feelings may come later.

So, the author instructs us to do the things we need to do to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.”  Like I said, it is your turn, and mine.  It is our turn to be the image of forgiveness that others need to see so that they too can live in the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ our savior. 

What do you need to pray that God do for you so that you can be an image of divine forgiveness?

Reflection on John 11:1-45

 

If you have ever wanted to have a glimmer of what the resurrected life might look like, if you have ever wanted to see what eternal life and peace could be, then we need look no further than the story of Lazarus.  The story of Lazarus gives us a glimmer of what eternal life is all about, just as it gave Lazarus a glimmer of that life with Jesus.

But, to show you that life, I want to start by looking at the scenes immediately following the raising of Lazarus.  We see scenes that show Lazarus and Jesus sitting at the table together.  But, the image of tables and chairs created in our modern heads is not quite the image for which the writer of John was going.  In the Greek, it says that Lazarus is reclining with Jesus at the table.  You see, in the ancient world they did not use tables and chairs as we do today.  Rather, people ate at low tables or on large, fancy rugs, and they lay at these low tables filled with food, reclining next to one another, with their heads facing the middle, facing the food.  So, Lazarus is lying close to Jesus at the table.  In fact, during one of these meals, the disciple that Jesus loved (the man who I am convinced is Lazarus, ask me to do a Bible study with you to show you why later) that beloved one is lying with his head against Jesus.  So, the image that I want you to have in your head is one where Lazarus is leaning against Jesus; lying as close to Jesus’ heart as one can get. 

It is an ancient image of close friendship.  It is an image of compete trust.  It is an image of being as close to a person as you can possibly get.  It is an image of what the resurrected life is all about.

I like that image.  I need that image.  It is an image of trust, and rest, and hope in the middle of a dark and threatening world.  Lazarus is reclining at peace near Jesus, even though religious leaders are plotting to take this newly raised man’s life.  Jesus is holding onto Lazarus, unwilling to depart from him, even though the cross looms in the near future.  Like a flower that clings to its lily pad even in the roughest of seas, Lazarus clings to his savior as the waters rage and roar around.  And, as he does so, he is at peace.  He is at peace as he reclines at the table, close to his savior.

I just happen to know that the waters of many of your lives have definitely raged and roared recently, if not raging and roaring right now.  For some of you, illness is creating a wave of uncertainty and fear.  Death also knocks on the door of some of your lives, creating a wave of uncertainty and fear.  Some of you have seen long time relationships fail in mere moments, threatening to drown you with sorrow.  It all makes me think of a man that I worked with who used to say, “If there was nothing to worry about, I would worry about that.”  I suppose he has a point, you never know when the next wave is going to crash.  The dark waters are always there, threatening to drown us. 

Yet, Lazarus is a peace, resting near his Lord.  How?  How can he be so at peace?  Maybe, it is because he has been raised from the dead.

Apparently, knowing that you will be raised changes things. 

Remember, at the beginning of the story, Lazarus was sick and a message was sent to Jesus, telling him that he needed to come quickly.  However, Jesus did not come quickly.  Jesus stuck around where he was even longer.  Lazarus was not healed.  Lazarus died.  And, this would all seem to go against the point I am trying to make: that Lazarus trusts the Lord.  It actually seems like Lazarus and his family would learn from this that the Lord does not care.  But, that is not what Lazarus and his family learned. 

Apparently, God had better things in mind that Lazarus and his family could not possibly know about at the time.

When it was the right time, Jesus does come.  We should be surprised by this because Jesus is choosing to come to a region that is dangerous for both he and his disciples to enter.  The authorities are already onto Jesus, and they are waiting for a chance to capture him.  Jesus’ decision to come and do signs in a region that is dangerous to him and his disciples will end up having tragic and amazing cross related consequences, but not yet.

First, Jesus meets up with his good friends, Mary and Martha.  The anxiety and sadness of the days explode onto Jesus as they both accuse him: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”  They know that God gives Jesus whatever is asked.  He has healed a blind man.  He has changed water into wine.  He and the Father are one.  God the Father will do whatever Jesus asks.  So, why was he not there?  Why was he not present when he was needed?  Why did Jesus not stop the tide from raging in and drowning them all?  The anger that comes with grief crashes upon them all.

And, I want to stop right there for a moment and just allow that anger to exist.  Because, it is real.  Sometimes grief crushes us and we do not understand why it happened.  Why were you not there Jesus?  Why did you not stop a terrible thing from happening?  I do not have answers for you, but I just want to point out that the Bible shows us that it is OK to be angry and it is OK to ask those questions.

To Mary and Martha’s anger…to their rebuke of his ministry…Jesus answers their accusations, not with anger of his own, not with words of rebuke, not with words of defense concerning what he is up to; rather he answers with a promise, “I am the resurrection and the life.”  And then, he answers with tears. 

Jesus is not unaware of their pain.  He feels it too.  Jesus is not unmoved by their loss.  He grieves his friend too.  Jesus is not distant from them.  He is right there, sharing their pain.  And, Jesus will soon join the rest of the world’s pain on the cross, but not yet.  First, he will give life, and give it abundantly.

Coming up to the tomb, Jesus calls out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  And, Lazarus comes out!  Lazarus is given new life!  And, as the scraps of burial cloth which are reeking of death are unwrapped from his eyes, Lazarus gets to see Jesus, his savior.  Lazarus sees the one who can overcome pain and death.  And, those first glimpses of his savior give the most important gift on this earth, the gift of trust. 

When the waters rage and roar, he can trust that through it all, he will see the Lord.  We in the church call this faith.  But, it is not the sort of faith that believes in a set of dusty doctrines or musty smelling beliefs.  Rather, it is the sort of faith that trusts in a person.  It is the sort of faith that trusts in the one who brings resurrection and life.  It is the sort of faith that trusts in the one who accomplishes the right thing at the right time, especially when the waters rage and roar. 

Why is Lazarus so peaceful in a time where his very life is threatened?  Jesus.  He trusts Jesus.  He trusts the one who came and raised him from the dead.  After-all, if the Lord cares enough to raise you from the dead, then what else is there to fear?  What amount of drowning water could cause you concern?  As the Apostle Paul puts it in Romans, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (NRSV, Romans 8: 35).  Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  Life is found in him.

So, as the chaos of the world threatens and crashes and rages, I will take a moment to picture that flower clinging to its lily pad in the raging waters.  I will take a moment to think of the peace on Lazarus’ face as he rests his head against the Lord while at a table filled with good things.  I will ask Jesus to hold me close.  And, when I do, Jesus will remind me, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

Reflection on Matthew 18:15-22

 

One day Peter came up to Jesus and asked him the very question that most of us ask at some point in our lives of faith: “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” (NRSV, Matthew 18:21).

After-all, it is hard to dole out forgiveness multiple times when a person keeps failing in the same way over and over again.  It is hard to watch that person hurt themselves and others over and over again.  It is painful even. 

“Is there some point, Jesus, when we can just say enough is enough?  Is there some point, Jesus, where we can stop forgiving?”

Come to think of it though, if there was a point where Jesus ever said, “Enough is enough!” to forgiving us, we would never be able to sing about the one who “saved a wretch like me.” Jesus did save a wretch like me, and a wretch like you, and a jerk like your neighbor. 

Jesus tells Peter that he must forgive, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times’” (NRSV, Matthew 18:22).

After-all, that seventy-seventh time might be the one time that finally changes a person’s life.

There was a man, true story by the way, who embezzled over $70,000 from a charity that he was helping to set up.  Understand, he had no intention of embezzling that money.  It all started when he accidentally pulled out the wrong card to pay for a meal.  He intended to pay it right back the very next day, but when nobody noticed the money missing, he just kind of let it slip.  From there, it was a hotel room here, and a gas fill-up there, all of which he fully intended to pay back.  But, as these things go, it got out of hand, and he started to see a total amount that needed to be paid back that far exceeded his ability to do so.

The man was caught and sentenced to two years in prison, plus fines.  His generous victims who gave large amounts of their savings intended for the charity were out of luck.  They had lost $70,000.  Years later, the man very publicly stated that he was sorry for stealing from the charity.  He asked for forgiveness, but expected to get none because, in his own words, “I wouldn’t be understanding of me.  I wouldn’t forgive me.”

But, do you know what?  Jesus is serious about this forgiveness thing.  Jesus gives multiple chances to for people to repent and turn around their lives.  Look at the instructions that he gives us, his followers, regarding attempting to provide forgiveness.  If someone sins against you, you should take it up with them one on one, and hopefully they will repent and receive forgiveness. 

If they do not repent, Jesus urges you to give them another shot.  He says to bring someone along with when you speak to them, so that there are more people to give support to the whole situation.  And, if they still do not repent and accept the gift of forgiveness, then bring the larger faith community in so that the community might be able to help bring them around. 

Do you notice how in each of these circumstances Jesus urges more and more contact; more and more support surrounding the person?  This is the opposite of writing off the person.  Alcohol and drug interventions seem to work in this spirit.  Those who love you, surround you when confronting you about your substance abuse.  They are right there to be supportive as you take your first steps in a new direction toward healing. 

“Forgive seventy times seven times.”  Look at all of the chances that Jesus gives us to repent, receive forgiveness, and start our lives again.  But, even if none of this works and we still cannot see a better way to live life, Jesus is not through with us yet. 

Jesus says to treat the offending person as “a Gentile and a tax collector.”  That is precisely to whom Jesus says he is sent.  It is a tax collector that Jesus invites to follow him.  It is the gentiles to whom the apostles are sent to baptize and teach.  The person who is trapped by sin is not to be disposed and never seen again, like last night’s trash; they are to be the target of our love and the target for teaching the basics of following Jesus.  They obviously need to start again.

Have you ever had to start again from scratch because the first time did not work out?  When baking cookies, have you ever mistaken the baking powder for baking soda?  Did you ever grab the wrong wrench set from the shop and need to go back and try again? 

Sometimes, Jesus does that with us.  Sometimes, we did not latch onto the faith the first time around.  Sometimes our faith is like a seed that falls on rocky soil and it seems to shoot up fine, but it soon withers under the sun because the soil is too rocky. 

Sometimes, Jesus just needs to start from scratch with us so that we can grow and flourish under the new love and grace that he provides.  Sometimes, trees that bear no fruit need to be cut down and replanted.  Sometimes, we need a reset in life.  But, a reset…a restart…a replanting does not equal throwing away.  Jesus’ love is too great to just give up and dispose of us.  Forgiveness is too powerful to just give up.

The people who were defrauded of over $70,000 wrote to the man who wasted away their money.  They responded: “Please forgive us for the years we have simply disregarded you.  You deserve more.  You deserved forgiveness.  You deserved a second chance, and we did not give it.  You are forgiven.  Now, have a good night’s sleep, free from guilt.” 

They followed Jesus and forgave the man the 77^th time, and the man’s life changed because they did.  How can life not change when the power of Jesus’ forgiveness is with you?

Jesus did save a wretch like me and a wretch like you and a jerk like your neighbor.  And, this saving forgiveness changes everything. 

So, as a follower of Jesus, I urge you to give it a try…really.  Forgive many times over, not because they deserve it, but because Jesus has forgiven you many times over.

Reflection on John 9:1-41

 

Everyone who sees this blind man sees a scandal, but Jesus sees a person.  The disciples see the blind man and wonder whose sins caused the man to go blind; the man’s own sins or the sins of his parents?  It is like when I saw a guy with a rat’s nest for hair walking down the street the other day.  I uncharitably thought to myself, “What is that guy on?”  He was a problem.  He was a scandal.  He must be nasty in some way. 

Of course it was completely possible that the man was actually very sick and just needed to get out of the house for fresh air.  Maybe, he had done nothing wrong.  I did not think of that possibility at the time.  I was too interested in imagining the scandal. 

Like the disciples, wondering if the blind man’s life is tainted by sin, I wondered what this crazy haired man had done wrong.  We tend to see scandals walking past on the sidewalk, but Jesus sees a person.

As he and his disciples are walking along, Jesus sees the blind man.  He sees his distress.  He sees his need.  He sees that the blind man needs to be restored.  In sort of a flashback to the beginning of creation where God takes some mud and shapes and forms a human, Jesus spits into some dirt, mixes it into mud and spreads in on the man’s eyes. 

I have seen my children do something like this.  A beloved creation made out Play-Doh gets broken.  Let us say that an arm gets broken off of a person they have made.  So, they will open up the same color of Play-Doh and fashion a new arm. 

Now, my kids could have gotten distracted by trying to find out who broke the arm off of their creation.  Who caused the harm?  Who caused the scandal?  And, then a fight could ensue where one says, “She did it!”  And, another says, “No, you did it yourself.”  And, the bickering could go on and on and on and on until a certain parent’s head starts to pound.  Not that this has ever happened before.  But, if it had happened, guess what never takes place?  That is right, the creation never gets fixed.  The scandal becomes a distraction to seeing the need.

But, Jesus sees and fixes his beloved creation.  Jesus works the mud to heal the blind man’s eyes.  The blind man goes and washes in the waters just as instructed.  And, after the man has washed, he can see!  It is amazing.  This man, who has been blind from birth, can finally see!  It should be a wonderful day, but that is not how the world works.  Remember, where Jesus sees a person, the world sees a scandal.

            “Is that the guy who was blind?”

            “It’s not him.  It just looks like him.”

            “I’m the man!  I’m the man!  I’m the man!”

            “You can’t be.  How did your eyes get opened?  It is impossible.”

 “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to     Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.”

            "Where is this man Jesus?”

The man was healed of a lifetime of blindness.  It was supposed to be a day of rejoicing.  Sadly, the people do not see him, not really.  They only see the scandal.  They only see a hoax being played on them.  They are blind to the man.  They do not see him.  They do not rejoice with him.  They do not welcome him, and eat with him, and discover his amazing story.  They become fixated on the scandal.

Here is the scandal: Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath.  Jesus had done work.  The Pharisees forget about the man and become fixated on the scandal of Jesus.  “Is the formerly blind guy who he says he is?”  “Did the healing actually happen?”  They drag the man’s parents into things to establish that he really was blind and was healed.  Then they turn their attention back to Jesus and what a sinner he must be because he healed on the Sabbath.  And, though they are giving the formerly blind man lots of attention, thoroughly interrogating him, they do not actually see him.  They are distracted, worrying about establishing how sinful Jesus is for healing on the Sabbath, against the Law of Moses. 

They are blind to the formerly blind man.  They cannot see him.  And, that is why in the end of the story these accusers have failed.  Sin is still clinging to them.  The scandal has blinded them to a very real person.  The scandal has blinded them to the work of the Lord to restore the world, one person at a time.  The scandal has blinded them to the amazing goodness of Jesus.  And, because the scandal has blinded them to Jesus, it has blinded them to God.  They cannot see.

When I first saw the young teen, I glanced briefly into her room in the children’s psychiatric ward at the hospital where I served as a chaplain.  She was singing quietly to a young girl, cradling her, rocking her back and forth as the young girl cried over and over about how she missed her mom and dad.  The nurses had placed the little girl into the bottom bunk of the teen’s room, and they were wise to do so.  She was a gift to that psychiatric ward.  She was a gift to that little girl.

Later, in the children’s spirituality group that I led, I had a chance to talk to the loving teen.  The little girl was still clinging to her arm, even at group time.  I asked the teen why she was in the children’s psychiatric ward.  She responded, “I do not always make the right choices.  I am here a lot.  But, lots of kids don’t make good choices.  Do you want to know what I actually think?  I think it is because my parents can’t see the good that I do.  They can only see the bad.  Plus, I think they wanted a vacation and couldn’t convince someone to take care of me.” 

Of course, you and I know that parents cannot just admit children into a psychiatric ward because they want to take a vacation, but there was still some truth in what the teen thought.  It seemed as if her parents did not really see her.  They did not see her the way the staff saw her, as a loving asset; someone who would love a little child in the throes of grief.  They did not see her the way the little girl saw her either, as a loving someone to whom she could cling. The parents seemed distracted by the scandal of their own daughter, and the scandal caused them to push her away.

The formerly blind man would understand.  If the teen could write a letter to the man, he would have nothing but sympathy because the Pharisees drove him out of his community also.  The formerly blind man tried to convince the Pharisees that Jesus could not possibly be a sinner, because God does not obey sinners.  Jesus must be the real deal because God listened to Jesus and healed the blindness.  The Pharisees did not buy it, and they threw the guy out of their community, even though he was telling to whole truth.

Everyone who sees this blind man sees a scandal, but Jesus sees a person. 

He found the man; Jesus that is.  Jesus searches for the man who had been cast out.  The man was lost, but not because he had done anything to become so.  The man was pushed into being lost. 

I wonder how many good, good people are pushed out for no good reason, and become lost.  How many people have nowhere to go and no one to care about them?

But, the formerly blind man had someone who cared.  The formerly blind man had someone who would search and find.  The Bible literally says:

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”

Everyone who sees this blind man sees a scandal, but Jesus sees a person.  And, because Jesus sees him as the beloved child of God that he is, someone who needs healing, someone who is lost through no fault of their own, because of all of this Jesus welcomes the man into his fold.  The formerly blind and scandalized man is found. 

What if we, the followers of Jesus, did a little more seeing of people rather than scandalizing?  What if we, the followers of Jesus, committed ourselves to look at a person, not as a problem to be taken care of, but as someone who needs to be healed?  What if we admitted to Jesus that sometimes we are the blind ones, only seeing the scandal and not the person? 

What if Jesus came and found us?  What if Jesus seeks us out whenever we become lost, like a sheep who has wandered away?  What if Jesus walks into our dark valleys and finds us, not wanting us to live in fear?  What if we who are lost are found?  After-all, we are.  We are found.  Jesus finds us, and draws us near.  The world pushes people away, but Jesus embraces us all.  That seeing, that finding, that embracing of the people of the world, is called, “grace.”  It is a grace that opens its arms wide on a cross to embrace us all.  What if we embraced that person of grace back?

In words that embraced Jesus back, the man declared to Jesus, “’Lord, I believe.’  And he worshiped him.”  And, so do we.

Reflection on Matthew 6:7-15

 

There is no question that you know the words to the Lord’s Prayer very well.  You could recite them in your sleep!  But, every single time that I read the prayer out of the Bible, and not by memory, I am caught off guard by Jesus’ immediate reminder following the prayer to forgive. 

Maybe, I am just too used to concluding the prayer with the traditional “for thine is the kingdom…”  But, more than that, it is as if Jesus intentionally stops us in the middle of our settled, calm, and collected mode of prayer, shakes us back into reality, and reminds us of something important.  And, those important words are:

“¹⁴For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; ¹⁵but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).

It is almost as if the words, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors,” is not quite enough to get through our heads just how important forgiveness is to Jesus, our Lord.  Just to press the point home, Jesus carefully spells out that we will not be forgiven unless we have forgiven others. 

And, this seems awfully harsh.  “Really, God is not going to show me any forgiveness unless I make up with my neighbor…who is extremely terrible and is probably the vilest, rottenest, and evilest piece of trash that this world has even seen and will ever see?  And, who has shown no remorse by the way!”  In truth, my neighbors are great, but you get the point.

But, then I think about the woman who I heard complaining to a group of five people in the grocery store the other day.  She was talking about her mother and expressing to the group of five around her how she was never going to forgive her mother, and that her mother would never come to know any of her children either.  She was going to make sure of that. 

Now, I did not know the woman, nor did I have any idea who her mother was.  I did not hear why she was so unforgiving and I have no idea what her mother did to her to earn such distain.  But, what I did take note of was that her hatred of this woman was explicitly going to affect her three children, and was already affecting the lives of those five people who were standing, listening, and nodding their agreement.  All I saw was a small community of people being built up by word of hate rather than words that could save or restore.  There was no love being expressed in that small group, and that has to have an impact on this world in some way.

Let me say clearly, though I know nothing about the situation, I am guessing that the mother deserves all of the hate coming her way.  The person doing the hating was her own daughter!  But, forgiveness has nothing to do with deserving it.  Romans 5:8 reminds us: “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”  God’s forgiveness comes to us as a gift.  Almost by definition, forgiveness is something that we do not deserve.  The mother does not deserve it.  Her daughter does not deserve it.  You and I do not deserve it.  The forgiveness God gives us is a gift.  And, it appears that Jesus expects that our forgiveness would be a gift also.

In fact, forgiveness is a part of who God is.  It is a part of God’s very being.  God’s forgiveness starts in the very first chapters of the Bible and appears again and again.  So, if we want to have any part in the life of God, then is seems that forgiveness will end up being a very important part of our life. 

Now, what Jesus has to say to us is more than simply chiding us or guilting us into offering forgiveness.  Rather, Jesus reminds us that our very lives with God have everything to do with forgiveness.

It is like when I was really little and was playing kick ball for the very first time.  My very first kick sent the ball flying a whole two feet.  It was quickly picked up by another player, and I was out within mere moments.  I was so frustrated that I had already been tagged out that I declared, “I am not playing anymore!”  I stomped away.

One of the older kids ran after me, held me by the shoulders, and told me to come back.  “How can you have fun playing the game if you are not even willing to play?” 

Forgiveness is not just a thing that we do; it is a reality that we live in.  Either we live in it or we do not.  Either we participate in it, or we do not.  How can we expect to have forgiveness tossed our way if we refuse to even be on the playing field?

Forgiveness is God’s game; if you refuse to forgive you are refusing to be a part of the game. That is just the reality of it all. But, here is the thing, if you want to be a part of what God is up to in the world; the offer to play is always there. In fact, there is a base on the field with your name printed on it already. Play the game. Forgive and you will be forgiven.