Our Father: Forgive Us...

Did you do any of the suggested exercises last week? Do you look at your daily bread or communion bread any differently? As we have acknowledged in the Lord’s Prayer that God is sovereign, and that God provides for our daily needs. We now look at how God heals our brokenness. “Forgive us our trespasses/debts” we pray.

This is a difficult phrase. We don’t like to admit that we are wrong. It’s much easier to try and shift the blame. ‘It was her,’ ‘He did it,’ we insist as toddlers. Or ‘I don’t know how it happened…’ We’ve all seen the videos of animals who know they have done something wrong slinking away with tail between their legs. We don’t like to feel that shame. We don’t like to ask to be forgiven for failing. It reminds us that we aren’t perfect, and mostly we don’t like that reminder.

On Sunday we may pray a corporate prayer of confession, which keeps our individual sins and failings at a nice safe distance. We’ve all made mistakes, and I’m sure that my neighbors’ must be bigger than mine, so maybe God won’t notice my little sins when God is focusing on everyone else’s. It is easy to fall into the trap of the Pharisee and tax collector in the temple. “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.” (Luke 18:11)

Enter the Presence: There is a current Christian song called Forgiven by David Crowder that starkly changes the dynamic of trying to shift the blame. The words remind us, “I'm the one who held the nail/It was cold between my fingertips/I've hidden in the garden/I've denied You with my very lips… I've done things I wish I hadn't done/I've seen things I wish I hadn't seen.” Crowder’s song reminds us that we are all participants in the crucifixion. We each deny Christ, and are always doing the wrong things.

However, the song doesn’t end with the deserved condemnation. He sings “You look at me, arms open/Forgiven! Forgiven!/Child there is freedom from all of it… You love me even when I don't deserve it”

The words of the Lord’s Prayer are said in faith, knowing that in fact, we are already forgiven. Crowder rejoices “I could've been six feet under/I could've been lost forever/Yeah I should be in that fire/But now there's fire inside of me/Here I am a dead man walking/No grave gonna hold God's people/All the weight of all our evil/Lifted away forever free…You love me even when I don't deserve it/Forgiven! I'm Forgiven!/Jesus Your blood makes me innocent/So I will say goodbye to every sin/I am forgiven!”

I invite you to take time to watch the video and really listen to the words. Or read them through at the end of this post**.

Stand In Awe: As the song says, “Jesus Your blood makes me innocent”. In the Letter to the Hebrews, Paul reminds us, “Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.” Paul takes it a step further and says, “let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:19-25)

Because we are forgiven, we should encourage each other to ‘love and good deeds’. We need to help each other see that we are each forgiven. The song by Crowder reminds me of the picture by Ron DiCianni of Jesus holding a man who has a hammer in his hand. There is also another, less famous one by DiCianni that shows a man with a hammer kneeling at the foot of the cross. 

Involve your Heart: Look at one of the DiCianni pictures. Have you ever felt the weight of sin as deeply as depicted in the art? Or have you felt Christ holding you and offering forgiveness?

If you have a large nail, hold it between your fingers, as in the song. Think about how your sins, though seemingly small, do drive a nail into your relationship with God.

Ask the Holy Spirit to show where you erred, or acted, or didn’t act. Write it all down and then shred it or burn it, thanking God for forgiveness.*

*From Thy Kingdom Come

This week focus on the phrase Forgive Us our Trespasses.

Next week we will consider how we can and must forgive others.

**I'm the one who held the nail
It was cold between my fingertips
I've hidden in the garden
I've denied You with my very lips

God, I fall down to my knees
with a hammer in my hand
You look at me, arms open

Forgiven! Forgiven!
Child there is freedom from all of it
Say goodbye to every sin
You are forgiven!

I've done things I wish I hadn't done
I've seen things I wish I hadn't seen
Just the thought of Your amazing grace
And I cry ”Jesus, forgive me!”

God, I fall down to my knees
with a hammer in my hand
You look at me, arms open

Forgiven! Forgiven!
Child there is freedom from all of it
Say goodbye to every sin
You are forgiven!

I could've been six feet under
I could've been lost forever
Yeah I should be in that fire
But now there's fire inside of me
Here I am a dead man walking
No grave gonna hold God's people
All the weight of all our evil
Lifted away forever free
Who could believe, who could believe?

Forgiven! Forgiven!
You love me even when I don't deserve it
Forgiven! I'm Forgiven!
Jesus Your blood makes me innocent
So I will say goodbye to every sin
I am forgiven!

Forgiven! Forgiven!
Child there is freedom from all of it
Say goodbye to every sin
You are forgiven!