What is Forgiveness?
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For March 30, 2025:
Note: This installment is still being edited and assembled. For purposes of immediacy we are posting this for your use now with the understanding that any errors or omissions will be corrected between now and Tuesday afternoon.
What Is Forgiveness?
by Dean Feldmeyer
Luke 15:1-3,11b-32
In her book Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, Immaculée Ilibagiza, a member of the Tutsi ethnic group, tells of how, during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, she survived by hiding in a small bathroom with seven other women for 91 days. Tragically, during that time, her entire family — except for one brother — was murdered by Hutu extremists.
After the genocide, Immaculée chose to forgive the people who murdered her family. She even met the man responsible for her parents’ and brother’s deaths in prison and told him she forgave him.
Her choice to forgive, she says, was deeply rooted in her Christian faith and a desire to break the cycle of hatred. That raises important existential questions for those of us who call ourselves Christians in other, less threatening places.
Primary among those questions is this: “What, exactly, is forgiveness?”
In the News / Culture
Forgiveness. Empathy. Forgetting. Reconciliation. Clemency. Mercy. Compassion. Pity.
These terms are often used interchangeably but are they the same? Does one necessitate the other? Do we have to forget when we forgive? Do we have to reconcile with the one we have forgiven? Is empathy required for forgiveness? What is forgiveness, anyway?
Greater Good Magazine is published by the University of California, Berkley, and applies science-based insights to the search for meaningful life. In a recent article it defines forgiveness as “a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.”
The article goes on to point out that experts who study or teach forgiveness make clear that when you forgive, you do not “gloss over or deny the seriousness of an offense against you.” Forgiveness is not forgetting; it does not condone or excuse offenses. It does not require reconciliation and it does not release the forgiven person from legal accountability.
Forgiveness is more about the forgiver than the forgiven. It creates peace of mind and “frees the one who forgives from corrosive anger. It involves letting go of deeply held negative feelings and it empowers you to recognize the pain you suffered without letting that pain define you. It enables the injured party to heal and move on.”
When forgiveness is devalued in a culture, the culture is left with the anger, resentment, and negativity that naturally flow from being hurt or betrayed. It suffers from open moral and emotional wounds that never heal but fester and become infected with grief and despair. When a society’s leaders value revenge and retribution above forgiveness and reconciliation, the society itself will follow its leaders. When the leaders take delight in hurting those who have hurt them, whether the hurt be small or large, their followers will soon adopt that same attitude.
Given this scientifically proven data, we cannot help but wonder what the effect will be on our national values and behaviors when our president is a self-described wielder of vengeance and demonstrates almost daily his willingness to wield the “vorpal blade” of retribution.
Peter Wehner is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. In his March 20, 2025 article for The Atlantic, “Trump’s Appetite for Revenge Is Insatiable,” he enumerates the dozens of actions the President has taken to visit revenge upon those who have disagreed with, opposed, and sought to counter his actions before and during his current presidency.
Wehner also calls out those Christians who forgive and enable his refusal to forgive. He criticizes the politicians on the right who encourage and applaud his actions, as well as those on the left who sit silently by and watch as his fetishistic collecting of personal slights and petty insults and his refusal to forget or forgive them as he poisons the political culture of the country. If the President can do it, we all can do it, right?
If such an attitude about forgiveness can poison the political culture of an entire country, how much worse might the damage be to our personal relationships, our families, and our collegial associations?
Scripture advises that if we are waiting for someone else to lead us in forgiving before we can forgive, our culture, our families, indeed, our entire lives will be awash in anger and resentment. Forgiveness, as it turns out, is a decision of which we are all capable, if we only have the will.
In the Scripture
The story of the Prodigal Son and the Forgiving Father is (I hesitate to use the worn-out word) iconic in the Christian faith. It is paradigmatic and exemplary, the very definition of what it means to act like a Christian.
You will want to tell it again to your congregation and please do. Take your time and enjoy the telling of it. It comes around only once every three years in the lectionary, after all. As for the present article, however, we will touch on it only briefly. For our purposes, the context in which it is told is more important.
The story itself is simple enough: A man has two sons. Already your congregation knows where you are going. They’re way ahead of you. The younger son is unsatisfied by life on the farm and asks his father to divide up the inheritance and give him his portion now, so he can go out into the world and make a life for himself.
The father does so, reluctantly, and the son does as we expected he would. He blows it on frivolous things, sinful things, stupid things, and finds himself destitute, hungry, and alone. So, he decides to go back home in the hopes that he can get a job on his father’s farm because the lowest slave there has it better than he does.
He returns to the farm and before he can apologize and beg forgiveness for being such a greedy jerk, his father runs to him, embraces him, forgives him, gives everyone the day off and declares a big party to celebrate the return of this one who was lost and now is found.
Wouldn’t it be great if the story ended there? No, it wouldn’t. Watch…
Enter the elder son who represents all of us who have been responsible, reasonable, hard-working, and loyal — all of us who have played by the rules and done our duty — all of us good kids. And we — that is, he — is angry.
Now let’s pause for a moment and go back. Before this story there are, you will recall, two others.
There’s the shepherd who has lost one of his sheep and leaves the 99 in the open field while he goes to get the one that is lost. Jesus says, “And wouldn’t you do the same thing?” And they all answer… “NO! That’s nuts. You don’t leave 99 unprotected while you go schlepping off looking for that one stupid one that didn’t have sense enough to stay with the flock. That’s crazy!”
And Jesus says, “That’s right. You wouldn’t. But God would. Because God is crazy about you.”
And then there’s the woman who loses her gold Krugerrand, which she has been holding as an investment and is worth about $3,800 per ounce. She’s desperate to find it because it represents a hefty piece of her retirement fund. She looks everywhere she can think of and finally, to her great relief, she finds it in her coat pocket. She screams with joy and calls all of her friends and invites them to come over and help her celebrate. She ends up spending more than the coin is worth to have a party (reception hall, caterer, band, open bar) for herself and her friends to celebrate the return of the Krugerrand.
And, Jesus says, wouldn’t you do the same thing? And they answer, “NO! That’s nuts!”
And Jesus smiles and says, “Gotcha! Of course, you wouldn’t but God would. That’s how nuts God is about you.”
And there was a man who had two sons…
And the father runs to him and “falls upon his neck” (King James Version, I love that line) and kisses him and weeps with joy and welcomes the prodigal, the wastrel, the goof off son back without so much as a tsk, tsk! He forgives his son. And Jesus says, that’s what you’d do, right? And everyone says, “NO! He doesn’t deserve to be forgiven. He’s just gonna do it again if you forgive him without making him pay some kind of penalty, some kind of punishment.”
And Jesus winks and says, “Of course you wouldn’t. But God would. God does that all the time.” That’s how much God loves us.
In the Sermon
Mercy is when you don’t get a bad thing you deserve.
Grace is when you get the good thing you don’t deserve.
I don’t know who said that. I don’t even know if it’s technically true or not. But it rings true. The whole point of this story and the two that introduce it is that our God is a God of grace and love and, yes, forgiveness.
We aren’t. It’s not our nature to forgive. We want vengeance. We want retribution. We want people to pay for the sins they’ve committed. We want people, especially bad people, to get what they deserve.
Who knows, maybe that’s what God wants, too. But God doesn’t give in to God’s wants. God reaches out beyond justice and decides to forgive because that’s God’s nature.
Does that make God a pushover? Does that make God a snowflake? Does that make God woke? Well, so be it. Because it also makes God, God. The loving, forgiving, welcoming, embracing father.
“…we HAD to rejoice and celebrate,” he says. “Because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”
It is to that kind of decision, the decision that reaches out beyond our nature, beyond our desire, beyond our inclination, and chooses to forgive, that God is calling each of us who call ourselves Christians.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Reconciling Christ
by Katy Stenta
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
The radical perspective of reconciliation is such that once you are reconciled to Jesus Christ, your entire perspective is changed. As Paul says, you become a “new creation.”
I take comfort in the fact that in pretty much all of the Pauline letters, Paul is writing to squabbling and diverse followers of Christ, who have not yet figured out what it means to be Christian. I also find it kind of sad that we are in the same boat some 2,000 years later. The political divide in the United States has become so that it is hard to admit who you vote for and still love one another. It feels like the gap is too wide. There are entire articles written about how to be close with people who voted for the other side. In an era where my sister, my brother-in-law, and my best friend have all taken time off from their parents, sometimes estrangement does indeed seem to be a trend. I talk to people of all generations, and everyone seems to know some family members who “aren’t talking anymore. ”
And yet, we Christians are the people who believe in reconciliation. And, as the linked-to article points out, it is easier to keep one’s beliefs if you aren’t talking anymore. To maintain relationships and contact, to continue to do the work, instead means to have moments to come together even though the relationship is not equitable or perfect. (On the world stage maintaining this sort of thing would be called “soft power.”) However, you value something, so you maintain the relationship and find ways to be together — and perhaps by finding time to enjoy entertainment, meals, even church together, could be the entryway to each other’s hearts.
In the Catholic world it is traditional to call every twentieth year one of Jubilee and forgiveness to remember that reconciliation is a practice. Though the ceremonies can seem a little hollow, it is good to remember that humans need rituals and places to try on these kinds of practices. While it seems like there is a new “permission” to be mean, it stands in stark contrast to the beauty of ceremonies of forgiveness.
So, too, perhaps this is why empathy has become such a hot button for certain conservative politicians these days. Empathy has been quoted as being “a sin” by many conservatives. Joe Rigney wrote a book on it and Elon Musk said, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” However, all evidence points to it leading to the very reconciliation that we find in Jesus Christ. I came across a good article on how progressives can be more empathetic toward conservative Republicans. Thus, empathy is conservatives’Achilles heel. It is where we are able to change one another’s minds. No wonder conservatives, who want certainty and authoritarianism, find it so terrifying. Mr. Rogers was a great teacher of empathy. He put it this way: “Listening is where love begins: listening to ourselves and then to our neighbors.” Hopefully we can take the time to truly listen to why we are making the decisions we are, and to hear the reason behind what others are doing, and find our way to love from there. Empathy and reconciliation, what a way to create the new thing that is the Kin(g)dom of God.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Invited in
In a powerful moment of mercy, the father in the parable runs to the son and invites him into the home as a treasured guest. Sister Marilyn Lacey tells about the power of an invitation like that.
Her organization, Mercy Without Borders, started classes for women in the remote villages in Sudan. Sudan is a country with a lot of leprosy because of the lack of healthcare in the country, and a low level of literacy. So, she says, “we hired a first grade teacher to come every afternoon at four in the afternoon to come for an hour with a portable blackboard and chalk, lean it against a tree and a circle of women from the village would come who were interested in learning.” As they were studying, a woman with leprosy traveled nearby, and watched the group. She saw them having fun and she was intrigued. She came back the next day and she watched again, later admitting, “I was bitterly jealous.”
This woman had become a thief to survive, saying, “If I saw a pot of cooked food, rice or something, I would go up and stick my finger in it. Knowing that, ’cause I’m a leper and I had touched the food, they would throw it out so I would get it.”
The third day, when she came to watch this group of women, one of the women from the group called out to her and said, come on over. “Come and have a cup of tea with us. Come and have a cup of tea.” The woman said that this was the first time in her life that she had been invited in by normal people.
* * *
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Advice for the Older Brother
Henry Cloud has advice for the older brother in the parable, and for anyone who feels like the older brother:
Unforgiveness can turn you into a bitter, vengeful person. It causes you to lose aspects of your soul and life to the person who betrayed you. As long as you hold on to what wrong they did, they still own you. As I heard someone say once, “When you remain angry, you are just a character in someone else’s story.” When you let go and forgive, you are free to write your own story. You do not have to be worried about settling an old score. Resolving anger is one of the biggest aspects of forgiveness. It is essential to the process, in both directions: you must have anger to get better, and at some point you must give up the anger to get better. By “have anger” I mean that to forgive someone, you have to be honest about blaming them. They are guilty. Period. They did something harmful or painful to you. You cannot deny what they have done and expect to forgive them well. Forgiveness requires a wrong. So call the wrong what it is, and name it.
He adds, “Forgiveness cleans out the past so you can evaluate what you want to do with the future. Just because you forgive someone does not mean you trust them. Forgiveness is free. It’s something you grant a person for no reason having anything to do with them. You do it for your own good, so you can move beyond the pain of what they did to you.” (from Trust: Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken)
* * *
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Advice for the Forgiving Father
There are lots of ways to think about the family dynamics in this parable, as we line up behind our favorite characters. As Britt Frank writes, ““Dysfunctional family” is not a category — it’s a continuum…Every family falls somewhere on the continuum of dysfunction. If you’re the product of an egg and sperm collision, you’ll inevitably sustain emotional injuries from your family. Why? All human families are made up of people, and people aren’t perfect.”
She offers, “You’re 100 percent guaranteed to mess up your kids because you’re 100 percent human. But you don’t have to beat yourself up for making mistakes and messing up. As someone who is child-free by choice, I don’t speak the language of parenting. But as a trained play therapist I’m fluent in the language of children. I can attest that mess-ups (unintentional mistakes) do not mess up kids. What messes up kids are intentionally inflicted injuries, parents who refuse to address their mess-ups when they mess up, and environmental factors outside parental control.”
Her colleague, Vanessa Cornell, a mother of five, says, “I’m proud to be an imperfect child of imperfect parents. And an imperfect mom to imperfect kids.”
Frank adds, “In The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom writes: “All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces.” The point of parenting is not perfection. Healthy parents don’t avoid mistakes — they identify and do their best to correct mistakes.” (from The Science of Stuck)
We can find ourselves in any of the characters in this parable.
* * *
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Better Vision
In this letter, Paul is exhorting the followers of Christ in Corinth to learn to see differently. Understand people as embodiments of Jesus, he urges, not as you first saw them. Molly Phinney Baskette describes her grandfather’s system for clear seeing. “My Grampa Phinney was a health nut. Long before hippies existed (which he, an engineer with his crisp white button-down and pocket protectors, never became), he trumpeted the benefits of mega-doses of vitamin C and apple cider vinegar. He was also certain he knew how to prevent the vision loss that comes with aging. His daily practice: to hold a pencil vertically about 2 feet in front of his face, and toggle between focusing on the pencil and focusing on the farthest thing his eye could see. He himself never wore glasses, even well into old age.”
Like Paul’s advice, this works for people, too. She adds, “Grampa’s advice works metaphorically for these tempestuous times. Lots of us are on a news diet … but to look away from what is happening far from us is to abdicate responsibility for far-flung people who are suffering, and deserve compassion and advocacy. But then again, if we only look far away, we get overwhelmed and shut down. The human psyche has not evolved to take in so many threats far beyond our immediate neighborhood. Toggling between near and far, á la Grampa, is the exercise that may keep our vision (and sanity) intact. Look far, look near. Look far, look near.”
Look wide, look deep, Paul urges.
* * *
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Getting Rid of the Old
As he writes to the believers in Corinth, Paul is working to change the way they view the world, urging them, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him in that way.” The old divisions of the outside world don’t apply, as Paul says, “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God.”
Melissa Florer-Bixler observes, “Paul’s letters are often penned to communities in crisis because they have brought the hierarchies of the old order into the life of the church. These are moments when we see asymmetry between “virtuous tolerators” and “powerless recipients” warping the possibility of true communion and shared life. In these letters we get a sense of what is intolerable for a diverse people whose purpose is to display God’s good news for the world.” (from How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace)
Paul’s vision of reconciliation isn’t just because it feels good to us. It has a much deeper purpose: to display God at work to the world around the church.
* * *
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
New Creations
Paul writes to the churches in Corinth, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view…if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!”
Anne Lamott talks about how this happens to people who are in recovery. “In the recovery community we say, “The opposite of addiction is not sobriety, it’s connection.” Some people find true connection at work, in motorcycle gangs, mosques or churches or synagogues or yoga studios. Some people have found it working in soup kitchens, at town cleanups, mentoring, with mountain bikers. People like me, left to my own devices, keep judging who is or isn’t fine enough to audition for our herds. I find this instinct repellent when I see it in others. It keeps me separate from you, from me, from life.
This new creation happened in her own life through community, she says:
I found my way into two seriously spooky groups when I hit bottom: I joined my church drunk, and a year later I got suckered into trying to stay sober for just one day, thirty-seven years ago. I’d always loved being alone and still do. I used to feel there was something mythic in being insulated, fending off life’s dangers alone, the hero in a Jack London story, by myself in the woods with only a fire and courage, the eyes of wolves glinting upon me. The lone wolf watching it all from a distance is such a romantic image, but he is actually the most vulnerable in the pack. Isolating from the herd does not keep you safe, except from disease. The isolating instinct is what mortally injured animals do, those who don’t want to be a burden on the group. But hardly anyone would be a burden to any of the groups I belong to. In community, lines of difference blur.
She advises, “You don’t have to get it together to find a community; in fact, you might not be able to get it together until you join. You’re a human being and that’s enough. We’re damaged and beautiful, egocentric, loving, driven or not driven enough, and we all have work to contribute. We all have a lot to learn, as individuals and as a body.” (from Somehow: Thoughts on Love)
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:
Psalm 32
Acknowledging our sin
Psalm 32 hints at the intrinsic connection between repentance, forgiveness, and physical wholeness. This is not to suggest that illness is the result of sin, but rather a reminder of how wholeness is the accompaniment to our repentance. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that forgiveness can reap significant physical rewards.
Physician Karen Swartz points out these connections in a Johns Hopkins preventative health website. ““There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed,” says Swartz, director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Researchers point to the ways that harboring even a slight grudge can lead to devastating medical effects. “It’s the true mind-body connection,” says professor Loren Toussaint of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
* * *
Psalm 32
Addressing reparations
Last month, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), introduced a bill calling for a new study of reparations for slavery, even as the Trump administration continues to scale-back federal diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. H.R. 40 has been continually introduced over the past decades, and is unexpected to advance under the current Congressional leadership. It was first introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) in 1989.
Many scholars point out the deep connection between reparations, atonement, and forgiveness. University of San Diego Law School professor Roy L. Brooks notes that reparations for slavery will send a “signal that (the federal government) understands the magnitude of the atrocity it committed against an innocent people, that it takes full responsibility, and that it publicly requests forgiveness--in other words, that it apologizes. Making that apology believable, Brooks continues, involves “a tangible act that turns the rhetoric of apology into a meaningful, material reality, that is, by reparation.”
* * *
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Feeling lost
Luke 15 centers around stories of being lost and found. Following his instructions in Luke 14:34 that “if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored,” Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep (15:3-7), and the parable of the lost coin (15:8-10). The well-known parable of the lost son completes this trio in this week’s lections — a powerful reminder of God’s deep concern for the lost.
Yet what does it mean to be lost? If you were to ask my mother, my father had a predilection to getting lost. If you were to ask him, my father would say that not all who wander are lost! In today’s world, reliance on GPS technology provides hope for the chronically lost. Yet our reliance on high-tech satellite guidance may negatively impact our brains. Some studies show that our reliance on technology for directional assistance bypasses our inclination to rely on the brain’s hippocampus and may put human beings at greater risk for diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease. A 2024 episode of the Outside In podcast maps out how GPS has revolutionized the world, and also names everyday stories of getting lost and being found.
* * *
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Sharing meals
Jesus’ story of the lost son concludes with the father hosting a celebration for the son who has returned. Like many family celebrations, however, this dinner is filled with differing emotions. The older son remains suspicious, and his brother could still be a bit self-conscious about his wayward past. Yet Jesus makes it clear that God welcomes all, and captures this welcome through the image of a feast.
Kitchens and dining rooms become the symbolic center of reconciliation. Food plays an important in promoting peace and negotiations between persons. Meals offer a chance to enact the rituals of forgiveness in communities and among people. The healing role of food is often seen as integral to the entire reconciliation process—a reminder that the best way to forgiveness is often through the stomach!
Adrian Jacobs, a leader in Canada’s movement for justice for indigenous people, calls attention to the role meals play in promoting reconciliation among indigenous persons. “The kitchen, alive with laughter and communal meals, has always been a place where Indigenous communities find connection and healing. It's a space where stories are shared and the ‘dish with one spoon’ principle is honored—a recognition of the earth's abundance and our interconnectedness, all partaking in its blessings.
* * *
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Understanding the new creation
A story that has passed through the Catholic community for many years helps illustrate Paul’s admonition in 2 5:16 that we regard “no one from a human point of view” as we understand our new circumstances as those reconciled by Christ.
In one version, a New York priest happens to be in Rome for an audience with the late Pope John Paul II. On his way to the audience, the priest stops by a church to pray. As he enters the church, he notices a beggar sitting on the steps. Something about the beggar struck him as familiar.
After leaving the sanctuary, the priest approaches the beggar. “I know you,” says the priest. “Didn’t we go to seminary together?” Surprisingly, the beggar nodded. “So you are a priest then?” he said to the beggar. The man replied, “Not anymore.” He said that he had “crashed and burned” in his vocation. “Please leave me alone,” the beggar said. The priest was mindful of his approaching appointment with the Holy Father. “I’ve got to go — I’ll pray for you.” The beggar replied, “A lot of good that will do.”
One writer recounts how the priest dared to approach the Pope during the audience to ask for his prayers for his old friend.
“Pray, Holy Father, for this particular man. I went to the seminary with him and now he is a beggar. He’s lost. Pray for him.” The priest told the Pope the entire story. The Holy Father looked concerned and he assured the priest that he would pray for his friend. As he moved on, he whispered something to an aide.
Later that day, the priest was contacted by the Vatican. They told the priest that he and the beggar – the former priest – were invited to see the Pope for dinner. Excited, he rushed back to the church where he last saw his classmate. Only a few beggars were left, and as luck (or grace) would have it, his former classmate was among them. He approached the man and said, “I have been to see the Pope, and he said he would pray for you. And there’s more. He has invited us to his private residence for dinner.”
“Impossible,” said the man. “Look at me. I am a mess. I haven’t showered in a long time… and my clothes …” The priest said, “I have a hotel room where you can shower and shave, and I have clothes that will fit you.” Again, by God’s grace, the beggar priest agreed. The Pope’s hospitality was wonderful. At the close of dinner, the pope’s secretary whispered to the priest, “He wants us to leave,” at which point the priest and the secretary left the Holy Father alone with the beggar. After quite some time, the beggar emerged from the room in tears. “What happened in there?” asked the priest. The most remarkable reply came. “The Pope asked me to hear his confession,” choked the beggar. After regaining composure, the man continued, “I told him, ‘Your Holiness, look at me. I am a beggar. I am not a priest.’”
“The Pope looked at me and said, ‘My son, once a priest always a priest, and who among us is not a beggar. I too come before the Lord as a beggar asking for forgiveness of my sins.’ I told him I was not in good standing with the Church, and he assured me that as the Bishop of Rome he could reinstate me right then and there.”
The man relayed that it had been so long since he had heard a confession that the Pope had to help him through the words of absolution. The priest friend asked, “But you were in there for some time. Surely the Pope’s confession did not last that long.”
“No,” said his friend, “But after I heard his confession, I asked him to hear mine.” The final words spoken by Pope John Paul II to this prodigal son came in the form of a commission. When the NY priest was invited back in from the hallway, the Pope asked him about the beggar, “Where was the parish where you found him?” The priest told him and then the Pope said to the beggar priest. “For your first pastoral assignment, I want you to go to the pastor there and report for duty because you’ll be an associate there with a special outreach for your fellow beggars.”
And that is where the beggar is today, fulfilling his new priestly role ministering to the homeless and the beggars on the steps of the very church from where he had just come.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven.
All: Happy are those in whose spirit there is no deceit.
One: You are a hiding place for us; you preserve us from trouble.
All: You surround us with glad cries of deliverance.
One: Steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
All: Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy.
OR
One: God comes to grant to us the gift of forgiveness.
All: We stand in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy.
One: That gift God grants us but God also gives us more.
All: What more can God give us than forgiveness.
One: God gives us the grace to forgive others.
All: As God’s forgiven, we will offer forgiveness to others.
Hymns and Songs
O Worship the King
UMH: 73
H82: 388
PH: 476
GTG: 41
NNBH: 6
NCH: 26
CH: 17
LBW: 548
ELW: 842
W&P: 2
AMEC: 12
What Wondrous Love Is This
UMH: 292
H82: 439
PH: 85
GTG: 215
NCH: 223
CH: 200
LBW: 385
ELW: 666
W&P: 257
STLT: 18
Renew: 277
All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded
UMH: 132
H82: 665
NCH: 408
CH: 88
ELW: 757
My Jesus, I Love Thee
UMH: 172
AAHH: 574
NNBH: 39
CH: 349
W&P: 468
AMEC: 456/457
Renew: 275
Ah, Holy Jesus
UMH: 289
H82: 158
PH: 93
GTG: 218
NCH: 218
CH: 210
LBW: 123
ELW: 349
W&P: 521
Renew: 183
Beneath the Cross of Jesus
UMH: 297
H82: 498
PH: 92
GTG: 216
AAHH: 247
NNBH: 106
NCH: 190
CH: 197
LBW: 107
ELW: 338
W&P: 255
AMEC: 146
Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling
UMH: 348
GTG: 418
AAHH: 347
NNBH: 168
NCH: 449
CH: 340
ELW: 608
W&P: 348
AMEC: 261
Renew: 147
Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me
UMH: 361
H82: 685
GTG: 438
AAHH: 559
NNBH: 254
NCH: 596
CH: 214
LBW: 327
ELW: 623
W&P: 384
AMEC: 328
Amazing Grace
UMH: 378
H82: 671
PH: 280
GTG: 649
AAHH: 271/272
NNBH: 161/163
NCH: 547/548
CH: 546
LBW: 448
ELW: 779
W&P: 422
AMEC: 226
STLT: 205/206
Renew: 189
Love Divine, All Love’s Excelling
UMH: 384
H82: 657
PH: 376
GTG: 366
AAHH: 440
NNBH: 65
NCH: 43
CH: 517
LBW: 315
ELW: 631
W&P: 358
AMEC: 455
Renew: 196
Change My Heart, O God
CCB: 56
Renew: 143
Unity
CCB: 59
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness:
Grant us the wisdom to follow in your example
and forgive those who have hurt us;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are lovingly merciful and graciously forgiving. You do not count our sins but look at us through your eyes of love. Help us to also be forgiving even as we have been forgiven. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we fail to forgive even when we have been forgiven.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We hold onto our grudges and we refuse to let go of our hurts. When others treat us in ways we think we do not deserve, we imagine them to be the worst of all people. And yet we gladly accept your forgiveness because we see ourselves as good people who just made a mistake. Forgive us the sin of self-righteousness. Forgive us the sin of judging. Open our hearts so that we may love and forgive as you do. Amen.
One: God is always ready to forgive but to know we are forgiven we must be ready to forgive. Forgiveness must be experienced from both sides. Receive God’s gift as you offer it to others.
Prayers of the People
Glorious are you, O God of love and forgiveness. We bow in awe at the depth of love and compassion you show to all your children.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We hold onto our grudges and we refuse to let go of our hurts. When others treat us in ways we think we do not deserve, we imagine them to be the worst of all people. And yet we gladly accept your forgiveness because we see ourselves as good people who just made a mistake. Forgive us the sin of self-righteousness. Forgive us the sin of judging. Open our hearts so that we may love and forgive as you do.
We give you thanks for all the way we experience your forgiveness. We thank you for the opportunity to forgive others so that we might be free from the burning anger that destroys us body and soul. We are blessed that others have had the insight and courage to forgive us. Most of all we thank you for Jesus who taught us in words and in his life what true forgiveness looks like.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who have locked anger so deeply into their hearts that they can no longer know peace within. We pray for those who feel they cannot be forgiven by God for things they have done and said. We pray that all your children may know the joy of forgiving and being forgiven.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Angel Party
by Tom Willadsen
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Jesus used parables when he taught people. Parables are special kinds of stories that help people really identify with them. In a parable, the person who is listening puts herself right into the story. She feels it, not just hears it.
In today’s Bible reading, Jesus tells three parables in a row, and they’re all about what makes the angels in heaven happy. Angels are special because they help God tell important news. A lot of times ordinary people are angels. Anyone that God has carry news to other people can be an angel.
Have you ever lost something you really, really like? I lost a pair of mittens a few years ago. I lost both of them at the same time, which was a little strange. I mean, one could fall out of my pocket and I wouldn’t notice, but I lost both of them. I loved those mittens. They were soft and warm and were easy to put on and take off. I could have bought another pair of mittens, but they wouldn’t be as good as the ones I lost. I thought long and hard about how I could have lost them and where they could be.
After about an hour I realized that I had put my mittens on top of my car when I filled it with gas. I drove slowly back to the gas station and found both of them. One was by the side of the road, the other was in the middle of the road and cars had driven over it several times. I was so happy!
I told my family that I was really happy that I got back my mittens. I called my mother, who lives 300 miles away to tell her the funny story about how I lost and found my mittens.
I was so happy because I got back something that was really precious to me. I told the people I love how happy I was. I wanted them to celebrate with me!
Getting back something that is important makes God happy. Really! The angels in heaven celebrate with God when someone comes back to knowing God loves her.
Whether it’s a lost sheep, a lost coin, or a son that wandered away, God is delighted when something precious gets found!
In the last story Jesus told in today’s lesson, a son who wasted a lot of money and got so hungry he wanted to eat pigs’ food, returned home. He probably looked pretty thin, his face was probably dirty, and his clothes were probably torn, but his father threw a big party because he loved his son and was happy he was home. My mitten that got driven over was sort of tattered, but I was still happy to get it back.
Remember that what you do affects other people, just like what they do affects you. Try to care for them the same way you care for yourself.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 30, 2025 issue.
Copyright 2025 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- What Is Forgiveness? by Dean Feldmeyer based on Luke 15:1-3,11b-32
- Second Thoughts: Reconciling Christ by Katy Stenta based on 2 Corinthians 5:16-21.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin and Chris Keating.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children’s sermon: Angle Party by Tom Willadsen based on Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32.
Note: This installment is still being edited and assembled. For purposes of immediacy we are posting this for your use now with the understanding that any errors or omissions will be corrected between now and Tuesday afternoon.
What Is Forgiveness?by Dean Feldmeyer
Luke 15:1-3,11b-32
In her book Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, Immaculée Ilibagiza, a member of the Tutsi ethnic group, tells of how, during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, she survived by hiding in a small bathroom with seven other women for 91 days. Tragically, during that time, her entire family — except for one brother — was murdered by Hutu extremists.
After the genocide, Immaculée chose to forgive the people who murdered her family. She even met the man responsible for her parents’ and brother’s deaths in prison and told him she forgave him.
Her choice to forgive, she says, was deeply rooted in her Christian faith and a desire to break the cycle of hatred. That raises important existential questions for those of us who call ourselves Christians in other, less threatening places.
Primary among those questions is this: “What, exactly, is forgiveness?”
In the News / Culture
Forgiveness. Empathy. Forgetting. Reconciliation. Clemency. Mercy. Compassion. Pity.
These terms are often used interchangeably but are they the same? Does one necessitate the other? Do we have to forget when we forgive? Do we have to reconcile with the one we have forgiven? Is empathy required for forgiveness? What is forgiveness, anyway?
Greater Good Magazine is published by the University of California, Berkley, and applies science-based insights to the search for meaningful life. In a recent article it defines forgiveness as “a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.”
The article goes on to point out that experts who study or teach forgiveness make clear that when you forgive, you do not “gloss over or deny the seriousness of an offense against you.” Forgiveness is not forgetting; it does not condone or excuse offenses. It does not require reconciliation and it does not release the forgiven person from legal accountability.
Forgiveness is more about the forgiver than the forgiven. It creates peace of mind and “frees the one who forgives from corrosive anger. It involves letting go of deeply held negative feelings and it empowers you to recognize the pain you suffered without letting that pain define you. It enables the injured party to heal and move on.”
When forgiveness is devalued in a culture, the culture is left with the anger, resentment, and negativity that naturally flow from being hurt or betrayed. It suffers from open moral and emotional wounds that never heal but fester and become infected with grief and despair. When a society’s leaders value revenge and retribution above forgiveness and reconciliation, the society itself will follow its leaders. When the leaders take delight in hurting those who have hurt them, whether the hurt be small or large, their followers will soon adopt that same attitude.
Given this scientifically proven data, we cannot help but wonder what the effect will be on our national values and behaviors when our president is a self-described wielder of vengeance and demonstrates almost daily his willingness to wield the “vorpal blade” of retribution.
Peter Wehner is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. In his March 20, 2025 article for The Atlantic, “Trump’s Appetite for Revenge Is Insatiable,” he enumerates the dozens of actions the President has taken to visit revenge upon those who have disagreed with, opposed, and sought to counter his actions before and during his current presidency.
Wehner also calls out those Christians who forgive and enable his refusal to forgive. He criticizes the politicians on the right who encourage and applaud his actions, as well as those on the left who sit silently by and watch as his fetishistic collecting of personal slights and petty insults and his refusal to forget or forgive them as he poisons the political culture of the country. If the President can do it, we all can do it, right?
If such an attitude about forgiveness can poison the political culture of an entire country, how much worse might the damage be to our personal relationships, our families, and our collegial associations?
Scripture advises that if we are waiting for someone else to lead us in forgiving before we can forgive, our culture, our families, indeed, our entire lives will be awash in anger and resentment. Forgiveness, as it turns out, is a decision of which we are all capable, if we only have the will.
In the Scripture
The story of the Prodigal Son and the Forgiving Father is (I hesitate to use the worn-out word) iconic in the Christian faith. It is paradigmatic and exemplary, the very definition of what it means to act like a Christian.
You will want to tell it again to your congregation and please do. Take your time and enjoy the telling of it. It comes around only once every three years in the lectionary, after all. As for the present article, however, we will touch on it only briefly. For our purposes, the context in which it is told is more important.
The story itself is simple enough: A man has two sons. Already your congregation knows where you are going. They’re way ahead of you. The younger son is unsatisfied by life on the farm and asks his father to divide up the inheritance and give him his portion now, so he can go out into the world and make a life for himself.
The father does so, reluctantly, and the son does as we expected he would. He blows it on frivolous things, sinful things, stupid things, and finds himself destitute, hungry, and alone. So, he decides to go back home in the hopes that he can get a job on his father’s farm because the lowest slave there has it better than he does.
He returns to the farm and before he can apologize and beg forgiveness for being such a greedy jerk, his father runs to him, embraces him, forgives him, gives everyone the day off and declares a big party to celebrate the return of this one who was lost and now is found.
Wouldn’t it be great if the story ended there? No, it wouldn’t. Watch…
Enter the elder son who represents all of us who have been responsible, reasonable, hard-working, and loyal — all of us who have played by the rules and done our duty — all of us good kids. And we — that is, he — is angry.
Now let’s pause for a moment and go back. Before this story there are, you will recall, two others.
There’s the shepherd who has lost one of his sheep and leaves the 99 in the open field while he goes to get the one that is lost. Jesus says, “And wouldn’t you do the same thing?” And they all answer… “NO! That’s nuts. You don’t leave 99 unprotected while you go schlepping off looking for that one stupid one that didn’t have sense enough to stay with the flock. That’s crazy!”
And Jesus says, “That’s right. You wouldn’t. But God would. Because God is crazy about you.”
And then there’s the woman who loses her gold Krugerrand, which she has been holding as an investment and is worth about $3,800 per ounce. She’s desperate to find it because it represents a hefty piece of her retirement fund. She looks everywhere she can think of and finally, to her great relief, she finds it in her coat pocket. She screams with joy and calls all of her friends and invites them to come over and help her celebrate. She ends up spending more than the coin is worth to have a party (reception hall, caterer, band, open bar) for herself and her friends to celebrate the return of the Krugerrand.
And, Jesus says, wouldn’t you do the same thing? And they answer, “NO! That’s nuts!”
And Jesus smiles and says, “Gotcha! Of course, you wouldn’t but God would. That’s how nuts God is about you.”
And there was a man who had two sons…
And the father runs to him and “falls upon his neck” (King James Version, I love that line) and kisses him and weeps with joy and welcomes the prodigal, the wastrel, the goof off son back without so much as a tsk, tsk! He forgives his son. And Jesus says, that’s what you’d do, right? And everyone says, “NO! He doesn’t deserve to be forgiven. He’s just gonna do it again if you forgive him without making him pay some kind of penalty, some kind of punishment.”
And Jesus winks and says, “Of course you wouldn’t. But God would. God does that all the time.” That’s how much God loves us.
In the Sermon
Mercy is when you don’t get a bad thing you deserve.
Grace is when you get the good thing you don’t deserve.
I don’t know who said that. I don’t even know if it’s technically true or not. But it rings true. The whole point of this story and the two that introduce it is that our God is a God of grace and love and, yes, forgiveness.
We aren’t. It’s not our nature to forgive. We want vengeance. We want retribution. We want people to pay for the sins they’ve committed. We want people, especially bad people, to get what they deserve.
Who knows, maybe that’s what God wants, too. But God doesn’t give in to God’s wants. God reaches out beyond justice and decides to forgive because that’s God’s nature.
Does that make God a pushover? Does that make God a snowflake? Does that make God woke? Well, so be it. Because it also makes God, God. The loving, forgiving, welcoming, embracing father.
“…we HAD to rejoice and celebrate,” he says. “Because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”
It is to that kind of decision, the decision that reaches out beyond our nature, beyond our desire, beyond our inclination, and chooses to forgive, that God is calling each of us who call ourselves Christians.
SECOND THOUGHTSReconciling Christ
by Katy Stenta
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
The radical perspective of reconciliation is such that once you are reconciled to Jesus Christ, your entire perspective is changed. As Paul says, you become a “new creation.”
I take comfort in the fact that in pretty much all of the Pauline letters, Paul is writing to squabbling and diverse followers of Christ, who have not yet figured out what it means to be Christian. I also find it kind of sad that we are in the same boat some 2,000 years later. The political divide in the United States has become so that it is hard to admit who you vote for and still love one another. It feels like the gap is too wide. There are entire articles written about how to be close with people who voted for the other side. In an era where my sister, my brother-in-law, and my best friend have all taken time off from their parents, sometimes estrangement does indeed seem to be a trend. I talk to people of all generations, and everyone seems to know some family members who “aren’t talking anymore. ”
And yet, we Christians are the people who believe in reconciliation. And, as the linked-to article points out, it is easier to keep one’s beliefs if you aren’t talking anymore. To maintain relationships and contact, to continue to do the work, instead means to have moments to come together even though the relationship is not equitable or perfect. (On the world stage maintaining this sort of thing would be called “soft power.”) However, you value something, so you maintain the relationship and find ways to be together — and perhaps by finding time to enjoy entertainment, meals, even church together, could be the entryway to each other’s hearts.
In the Catholic world it is traditional to call every twentieth year one of Jubilee and forgiveness to remember that reconciliation is a practice. Though the ceremonies can seem a little hollow, it is good to remember that humans need rituals and places to try on these kinds of practices. While it seems like there is a new “permission” to be mean, it stands in stark contrast to the beauty of ceremonies of forgiveness.
So, too, perhaps this is why empathy has become such a hot button for certain conservative politicians these days. Empathy has been quoted as being “a sin” by many conservatives. Joe Rigney wrote a book on it and Elon Musk said, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.” However, all evidence points to it leading to the very reconciliation that we find in Jesus Christ. I came across a good article on how progressives can be more empathetic toward conservative Republicans. Thus, empathy is conservatives’Achilles heel. It is where we are able to change one another’s minds. No wonder conservatives, who want certainty and authoritarianism, find it so terrifying. Mr. Rogers was a great teacher of empathy. He put it this way: “Listening is where love begins: listening to ourselves and then to our neighbors.” Hopefully we can take the time to truly listen to why we are making the decisions we are, and to hear the reason behind what others are doing, and find our way to love from there. Empathy and reconciliation, what a way to create the new thing that is the Kin(g)dom of God.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Invited in
In a powerful moment of mercy, the father in the parable runs to the son and invites him into the home as a treasured guest. Sister Marilyn Lacey tells about the power of an invitation like that.
Her organization, Mercy Without Borders, started classes for women in the remote villages in Sudan. Sudan is a country with a lot of leprosy because of the lack of healthcare in the country, and a low level of literacy. So, she says, “we hired a first grade teacher to come every afternoon at four in the afternoon to come for an hour with a portable blackboard and chalk, lean it against a tree and a circle of women from the village would come who were interested in learning.” As they were studying, a woman with leprosy traveled nearby, and watched the group. She saw them having fun and she was intrigued. She came back the next day and she watched again, later admitting, “I was bitterly jealous.”
This woman had become a thief to survive, saying, “If I saw a pot of cooked food, rice or something, I would go up and stick my finger in it. Knowing that, ’cause I’m a leper and I had touched the food, they would throw it out so I would get it.”
The third day, when she came to watch this group of women, one of the women from the group called out to her and said, come on over. “Come and have a cup of tea with us. Come and have a cup of tea.” The woman said that this was the first time in her life that she had been invited in by normal people.
* * *
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Advice for the Older Brother
Henry Cloud has advice for the older brother in the parable, and for anyone who feels like the older brother:
Unforgiveness can turn you into a bitter, vengeful person. It causes you to lose aspects of your soul and life to the person who betrayed you. As long as you hold on to what wrong they did, they still own you. As I heard someone say once, “When you remain angry, you are just a character in someone else’s story.” When you let go and forgive, you are free to write your own story. You do not have to be worried about settling an old score. Resolving anger is one of the biggest aspects of forgiveness. It is essential to the process, in both directions: you must have anger to get better, and at some point you must give up the anger to get better. By “have anger” I mean that to forgive someone, you have to be honest about blaming them. They are guilty. Period. They did something harmful or painful to you. You cannot deny what they have done and expect to forgive them well. Forgiveness requires a wrong. So call the wrong what it is, and name it.
He adds, “Forgiveness cleans out the past so you can evaluate what you want to do with the future. Just because you forgive someone does not mean you trust them. Forgiveness is free. It’s something you grant a person for no reason having anything to do with them. You do it for your own good, so you can move beyond the pain of what they did to you.” (from Trust: Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken)
* * *
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Advice for the Forgiving Father
There are lots of ways to think about the family dynamics in this parable, as we line up behind our favorite characters. As Britt Frank writes, ““Dysfunctional family” is not a category — it’s a continuum…Every family falls somewhere on the continuum of dysfunction. If you’re the product of an egg and sperm collision, you’ll inevitably sustain emotional injuries from your family. Why? All human families are made up of people, and people aren’t perfect.”
She offers, “You’re 100 percent guaranteed to mess up your kids because you’re 100 percent human. But you don’t have to beat yourself up for making mistakes and messing up. As someone who is child-free by choice, I don’t speak the language of parenting. But as a trained play therapist I’m fluent in the language of children. I can attest that mess-ups (unintentional mistakes) do not mess up kids. What messes up kids are intentionally inflicted injuries, parents who refuse to address their mess-ups when they mess up, and environmental factors outside parental control.”
Her colleague, Vanessa Cornell, a mother of five, says, “I’m proud to be an imperfect child of imperfect parents. And an imperfect mom to imperfect kids.”
Frank adds, “In The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom writes: “All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces.” The point of parenting is not perfection. Healthy parents don’t avoid mistakes — they identify and do their best to correct mistakes.” (from The Science of Stuck)
We can find ourselves in any of the characters in this parable.
* * *
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Better Vision
In this letter, Paul is exhorting the followers of Christ in Corinth to learn to see differently. Understand people as embodiments of Jesus, he urges, not as you first saw them. Molly Phinney Baskette describes her grandfather’s system for clear seeing. “My Grampa Phinney was a health nut. Long before hippies existed (which he, an engineer with his crisp white button-down and pocket protectors, never became), he trumpeted the benefits of mega-doses of vitamin C and apple cider vinegar. He was also certain he knew how to prevent the vision loss that comes with aging. His daily practice: to hold a pencil vertically about 2 feet in front of his face, and toggle between focusing on the pencil and focusing on the farthest thing his eye could see. He himself never wore glasses, even well into old age.”
Like Paul’s advice, this works for people, too. She adds, “Grampa’s advice works metaphorically for these tempestuous times. Lots of us are on a news diet … but to look away from what is happening far from us is to abdicate responsibility for far-flung people who are suffering, and deserve compassion and advocacy. But then again, if we only look far away, we get overwhelmed and shut down. The human psyche has not evolved to take in so many threats far beyond our immediate neighborhood. Toggling between near and far, á la Grampa, is the exercise that may keep our vision (and sanity) intact. Look far, look near. Look far, look near.”
Look wide, look deep, Paul urges.
* * *
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Getting Rid of the Old
As he writes to the believers in Corinth, Paul is working to change the way they view the world, urging them, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we no longer know him in that way.” The old divisions of the outside world don’t apply, as Paul says, “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God.”
Melissa Florer-Bixler observes, “Paul’s letters are often penned to communities in crisis because they have brought the hierarchies of the old order into the life of the church. These are moments when we see asymmetry between “virtuous tolerators” and “powerless recipients” warping the possibility of true communion and shared life. In these letters we get a sense of what is intolerable for a diverse people whose purpose is to display God’s good news for the world.” (from How to Have an Enemy: Righteous Anger and the Work of Peace)
Paul’s vision of reconciliation isn’t just because it feels good to us. It has a much deeper purpose: to display God at work to the world around the church.
* * *
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
New Creations
Paul writes to the churches in Corinth, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view…if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!”
Anne Lamott talks about how this happens to people who are in recovery. “In the recovery community we say, “The opposite of addiction is not sobriety, it’s connection.” Some people find true connection at work, in motorcycle gangs, mosques or churches or synagogues or yoga studios. Some people have found it working in soup kitchens, at town cleanups, mentoring, with mountain bikers. People like me, left to my own devices, keep judging who is or isn’t fine enough to audition for our herds. I find this instinct repellent when I see it in others. It keeps me separate from you, from me, from life.
This new creation happened in her own life through community, she says:
I found my way into two seriously spooky groups when I hit bottom: I joined my church drunk, and a year later I got suckered into trying to stay sober for just one day, thirty-seven years ago. I’d always loved being alone and still do. I used to feel there was something mythic in being insulated, fending off life’s dangers alone, the hero in a Jack London story, by myself in the woods with only a fire and courage, the eyes of wolves glinting upon me. The lone wolf watching it all from a distance is such a romantic image, but he is actually the most vulnerable in the pack. Isolating from the herd does not keep you safe, except from disease. The isolating instinct is what mortally injured animals do, those who don’t want to be a burden on the group. But hardly anyone would be a burden to any of the groups I belong to. In community, lines of difference blur.
She advises, “You don’t have to get it together to find a community; in fact, you might not be able to get it together until you join. You’re a human being and that’s enough. We’re damaged and beautiful, egocentric, loving, driven or not driven enough, and we all have work to contribute. We all have a lot to learn, as individuals and as a body.” (from Somehow: Thoughts on Love)
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:Psalm 32
Acknowledging our sin
Psalm 32 hints at the intrinsic connection between repentance, forgiveness, and physical wholeness. This is not to suggest that illness is the result of sin, but rather a reminder of how wholeness is the accompaniment to our repentance. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that forgiveness can reap significant physical rewards.
Physician Karen Swartz points out these connections in a Johns Hopkins preventative health website. ““There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed,” says Swartz, director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Researchers point to the ways that harboring even a slight grudge can lead to devastating medical effects. “It’s the true mind-body connection,” says professor Loren Toussaint of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
* * *
Psalm 32
Addressing reparations
Last month, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), introduced a bill calling for a new study of reparations for slavery, even as the Trump administration continues to scale-back federal diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. H.R. 40 has been continually introduced over the past decades, and is unexpected to advance under the current Congressional leadership. It was first introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) in 1989.
Many scholars point out the deep connection between reparations, atonement, and forgiveness. University of San Diego Law School professor Roy L. Brooks notes that reparations for slavery will send a “signal that (the federal government) understands the magnitude of the atrocity it committed against an innocent people, that it takes full responsibility, and that it publicly requests forgiveness--in other words, that it apologizes. Making that apology believable, Brooks continues, involves “a tangible act that turns the rhetoric of apology into a meaningful, material reality, that is, by reparation.”
* * *
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Feeling lost
Luke 15 centers around stories of being lost and found. Following his instructions in Luke 14:34 that “if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored,” Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep (15:3-7), and the parable of the lost coin (15:8-10). The well-known parable of the lost son completes this trio in this week’s lections — a powerful reminder of God’s deep concern for the lost.
Yet what does it mean to be lost? If you were to ask my mother, my father had a predilection to getting lost. If you were to ask him, my father would say that not all who wander are lost! In today’s world, reliance on GPS technology provides hope for the chronically lost. Yet our reliance on high-tech satellite guidance may negatively impact our brains. Some studies show that our reliance on technology for directional assistance bypasses our inclination to rely on the brain’s hippocampus and may put human beings at greater risk for diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease. A 2024 episode of the Outside In podcast maps out how GPS has revolutionized the world, and also names everyday stories of getting lost and being found.
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Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Sharing meals
Jesus’ story of the lost son concludes with the father hosting a celebration for the son who has returned. Like many family celebrations, however, this dinner is filled with differing emotions. The older son remains suspicious, and his brother could still be a bit self-conscious about his wayward past. Yet Jesus makes it clear that God welcomes all, and captures this welcome through the image of a feast.
Kitchens and dining rooms become the symbolic center of reconciliation. Food plays an important in promoting peace and negotiations between persons. Meals offer a chance to enact the rituals of forgiveness in communities and among people. The healing role of food is often seen as integral to the entire reconciliation process—a reminder that the best way to forgiveness is often through the stomach!
Adrian Jacobs, a leader in Canada’s movement for justice for indigenous people, calls attention to the role meals play in promoting reconciliation among indigenous persons. “The kitchen, alive with laughter and communal meals, has always been a place where Indigenous communities find connection and healing. It's a space where stories are shared and the ‘dish with one spoon’ principle is honored—a recognition of the earth's abundance and our interconnectedness, all partaking in its blessings.
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2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Understanding the new creation
A story that has passed through the Catholic community for many years helps illustrate Paul’s admonition in 2 5:16 that we regard “no one from a human point of view” as we understand our new circumstances as those reconciled by Christ.
In one version, a New York priest happens to be in Rome for an audience with the late Pope John Paul II. On his way to the audience, the priest stops by a church to pray. As he enters the church, he notices a beggar sitting on the steps. Something about the beggar struck him as familiar.
After leaving the sanctuary, the priest approaches the beggar. “I know you,” says the priest. “Didn’t we go to seminary together?” Surprisingly, the beggar nodded. “So you are a priest then?” he said to the beggar. The man replied, “Not anymore.” He said that he had “crashed and burned” in his vocation. “Please leave me alone,” the beggar said. The priest was mindful of his approaching appointment with the Holy Father. “I’ve got to go — I’ll pray for you.” The beggar replied, “A lot of good that will do.”
One writer recounts how the priest dared to approach the Pope during the audience to ask for his prayers for his old friend.
“Pray, Holy Father, for this particular man. I went to the seminary with him and now he is a beggar. He’s lost. Pray for him.” The priest told the Pope the entire story. The Holy Father looked concerned and he assured the priest that he would pray for his friend. As he moved on, he whispered something to an aide.
Later that day, the priest was contacted by the Vatican. They told the priest that he and the beggar – the former priest – were invited to see the Pope for dinner. Excited, he rushed back to the church where he last saw his classmate. Only a few beggars were left, and as luck (or grace) would have it, his former classmate was among them. He approached the man and said, “I have been to see the Pope, and he said he would pray for you. And there’s more. He has invited us to his private residence for dinner.”
“Impossible,” said the man. “Look at me. I am a mess. I haven’t showered in a long time… and my clothes …” The priest said, “I have a hotel room where you can shower and shave, and I have clothes that will fit you.” Again, by God’s grace, the beggar priest agreed. The Pope’s hospitality was wonderful. At the close of dinner, the pope’s secretary whispered to the priest, “He wants us to leave,” at which point the priest and the secretary left the Holy Father alone with the beggar. After quite some time, the beggar emerged from the room in tears. “What happened in there?” asked the priest. The most remarkable reply came. “The Pope asked me to hear his confession,” choked the beggar. After regaining composure, the man continued, “I told him, ‘Your Holiness, look at me. I am a beggar. I am not a priest.’”
“The Pope looked at me and said, ‘My son, once a priest always a priest, and who among us is not a beggar. I too come before the Lord as a beggar asking for forgiveness of my sins.’ I told him I was not in good standing with the Church, and he assured me that as the Bishop of Rome he could reinstate me right then and there.”
The man relayed that it had been so long since he had heard a confession that the Pope had to help him through the words of absolution. The priest friend asked, “But you were in there for some time. Surely the Pope’s confession did not last that long.”
“No,” said his friend, “But after I heard his confession, I asked him to hear mine.” The final words spoken by Pope John Paul II to this prodigal son came in the form of a commission. When the NY priest was invited back in from the hallway, the Pope asked him about the beggar, “Where was the parish where you found him?” The priest told him and then the Pope said to the beggar priest. “For your first pastoral assignment, I want you to go to the pastor there and report for duty because you’ll be an associate there with a special outreach for your fellow beggars.”
And that is where the beggar is today, fulfilling his new priestly role ministering to the homeless and the beggars on the steps of the very church from where he had just come.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven.
All: Happy are those in whose spirit there is no deceit.
One: You are a hiding place for us; you preserve us from trouble.
All: You surround us with glad cries of deliverance.
One: Steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.
All: Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy.
OR
One: God comes to grant to us the gift of forgiveness.
All: We stand in need of God’s forgiveness and mercy.
One: That gift God grants us but God also gives us more.
All: What more can God give us than forgiveness.
One: God gives us the grace to forgive others.
All: As God’s forgiven, we will offer forgiveness to others.
Hymns and Songs
O Worship the King
UMH: 73
H82: 388
PH: 476
GTG: 41
NNBH: 6
NCH: 26
CH: 17
LBW: 548
ELW: 842
W&P: 2
AMEC: 12
What Wondrous Love Is This
UMH: 292
H82: 439
PH: 85
GTG: 215
NCH: 223
CH: 200
LBW: 385
ELW: 666
W&P: 257
STLT: 18
Renew: 277
All My Hope Is Firmly Grounded
UMH: 132
H82: 665
NCH: 408
CH: 88
ELW: 757
My Jesus, I Love Thee
UMH: 172
AAHH: 574
NNBH: 39
CH: 349
W&P: 468
AMEC: 456/457
Renew: 275
Ah, Holy Jesus
UMH: 289
H82: 158
PH: 93
GTG: 218
NCH: 218
CH: 210
LBW: 123
ELW: 349
W&P: 521
Renew: 183
Beneath the Cross of Jesus
UMH: 297
H82: 498
PH: 92
GTG: 216
AAHH: 247
NNBH: 106
NCH: 190
CH: 197
LBW: 107
ELW: 338
W&P: 255
AMEC: 146
Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling
UMH: 348
GTG: 418
AAHH: 347
NNBH: 168
NCH: 449
CH: 340
ELW: 608
W&P: 348
AMEC: 261
Renew: 147
Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me
UMH: 361
H82: 685
GTG: 438
AAHH: 559
NNBH: 254
NCH: 596
CH: 214
LBW: 327
ELW: 623
W&P: 384
AMEC: 328
Amazing Grace
UMH: 378
H82: 671
PH: 280
GTG: 649
AAHH: 271/272
NNBH: 161/163
NCH: 547/548
CH: 546
LBW: 448
ELW: 779
W&P: 422
AMEC: 226
STLT: 205/206
Renew: 189
Love Divine, All Love’s Excelling
UMH: 384
H82: 657
PH: 376
GTG: 366
AAHH: 440
NNBH: 65
NCH: 43
CH: 517
LBW: 315
ELW: 631
W&P: 358
AMEC: 455
Renew: 196
Change My Heart, O God
CCB: 56
Renew: 143
Unity
CCB: 59
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who is love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness:
Grant us the wisdom to follow in your example
and forgive those who have hurt us;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are lovingly merciful and graciously forgiving. You do not count our sins but look at us through your eyes of love. Help us to also be forgiving even as we have been forgiven. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we fail to forgive even when we have been forgiven.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We hold onto our grudges and we refuse to let go of our hurts. When others treat us in ways we think we do not deserve, we imagine them to be the worst of all people. And yet we gladly accept your forgiveness because we see ourselves as good people who just made a mistake. Forgive us the sin of self-righteousness. Forgive us the sin of judging. Open our hearts so that we may love and forgive as you do. Amen.
One: God is always ready to forgive but to know we are forgiven we must be ready to forgive. Forgiveness must be experienced from both sides. Receive God’s gift as you offer it to others.
Prayers of the People
Glorious are you, O God of love and forgiveness. We bow in awe at the depth of love and compassion you show to all your children.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We hold onto our grudges and we refuse to let go of our hurts. When others treat us in ways we think we do not deserve, we imagine them to be the worst of all people. And yet we gladly accept your forgiveness because we see ourselves as good people who just made a mistake. Forgive us the sin of self-righteousness. Forgive us the sin of judging. Open our hearts so that we may love and forgive as you do.
We give you thanks for all the way we experience your forgiveness. We thank you for the opportunity to forgive others so that we might be free from the burning anger that destroys us body and soul. We are blessed that others have had the insight and courage to forgive us. Most of all we thank you for Jesus who taught us in words and in his life what true forgiveness looks like.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for one another in our need. We pray for those who have locked anger so deeply into their hearts that they can no longer know peace within. We pray for those who feel they cannot be forgiven by God for things they have done and said. We pray that all your children may know the joy of forgiving and being forgiven.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
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CHILDREN’S SERMONAngel Party
by Tom Willadsen
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Jesus used parables when he taught people. Parables are special kinds of stories that help people really identify with them. In a parable, the person who is listening puts herself right into the story. She feels it, not just hears it.
In today’s Bible reading, Jesus tells three parables in a row, and they’re all about what makes the angels in heaven happy. Angels are special because they help God tell important news. A lot of times ordinary people are angels. Anyone that God has carry news to other people can be an angel.
Have you ever lost something you really, really like? I lost a pair of mittens a few years ago. I lost both of them at the same time, which was a little strange. I mean, one could fall out of my pocket and I wouldn’t notice, but I lost both of them. I loved those mittens. They were soft and warm and were easy to put on and take off. I could have bought another pair of mittens, but they wouldn’t be as good as the ones I lost. I thought long and hard about how I could have lost them and where they could be.
After about an hour I realized that I had put my mittens on top of my car when I filled it with gas. I drove slowly back to the gas station and found both of them. One was by the side of the road, the other was in the middle of the road and cars had driven over it several times. I was so happy!
I told my family that I was really happy that I got back my mittens. I called my mother, who lives 300 miles away to tell her the funny story about how I lost and found my mittens.
I was so happy because I got back something that was really precious to me. I told the people I love how happy I was. I wanted them to celebrate with me!
Getting back something that is important makes God happy. Really! The angels in heaven celebrate with God when someone comes back to knowing God loves her.
Whether it’s a lost sheep, a lost coin, or a son that wandered away, God is delighted when something precious gets found!
In the last story Jesus told in today’s lesson, a son who wasted a lot of money and got so hungry he wanted to eat pigs’ food, returned home. He probably looked pretty thin, his face was probably dirty, and his clothes were probably torn, but his father threw a big party because he loved his son and was happy he was home. My mitten that got driven over was sort of tattered, but I was still happy to get it back.
Remember that what you do affects other people, just like what they do affects you. Try to care for them the same way you care for yourself.
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The Immediate Word, March 30, 2025 issue.
Copyright 2025 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
