This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
 Give us today our daily bread.
 And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one…” Jesus – Matthew 6:9-13

I have a lot to cover from this weekend. I have some thoughts from gardening in Wake Forest, we enjoyed amazing anniversary food Saturday evening at On the Square, then Sunday morning I had the privilege of helping a couple of the children share a song in church.

It is all worth some reflection. But if I had just one subject to cover then it would be the powerful ideas that came out of Rebekah’s message on forgiveness. We had some drama to deal with first, though, as she got slammed with a sudden and precipitous drop in blood sugar during the scripture reading. It took several minutes to recover from the dangerous low.

Freedom – “We can’t earn forgiveness we receive it”

Once Rebekah was able to stand again she shared some deep thoughts that have huge implications. These are some snippets, but you can listen to the entire message – beginning at the 34-minute mark – right here: Rebekah Maul Sermon August 18.

The message is part of her “Lord’s Prayer” series. Christ’s teaching pulls together ideas from both Old and New Testaments, while also turning much of the law on its head.

This is important to remember because so many religious people – “The Chronically Judgmental” as I wrote a few days ago – love Old Testament literalism, especially when they can use it as a weapon. But, and this is my first quote from Rebekah’s message, “Jesus seems to be saying that the law is not enough…”

Instead, Jesus recognizes and recommends and teaches his disciples this amazingly redemptive process that quite literally sets us free.

“In forgiving,” Rebekah points out, “we no longer allow the offense to dominate and control our behavior.”

This is huge. Because, and the truth of it rings so true in today’s contentious world, “If our hearts are so narrow as to see only how others have offended us… we cannot see how we have offended God, and we see no need even to seek forgiveness.”

How blinded and dysfunctional we become when we fail to follow the teachings of Jesus!

“In forgiving,” Rebekah continued, “we no longer allow the offense to dominate and control our behavior.” Forgiveness really does pave the way to freedom.

Forgiveness also empowers us to escape the (negative) gravitational pull of nostalgia, because – as Rebekah also said, “Not going back to the way things were before… in true forgiveness by the grace of God things have to be different.”

Those stuck in law and judgement and retribution evidently have this need to be in control. But Jesus – always – sees things differently.

“What Jesus teaches,” Rebekah points out, is that “we can’t earn forgiveness, we receive it.”

“A Miracle of Grace”

Rebekah’s words here are important, so I will close by sharing them without comment:

“Forgiveness really is a miracle of grace. It means that whatever horrible offense has been made, it will not divide us; it will not separate us from the love of God. The power of love and redemptive grace holds us together like glue – it is greater than the power of the offense. That’s forgiveness.

“In Jesus’ instructions on how we should pray we are given even more grace… listen” ‘Forgive us our sins…. as we forgive….’ It is really freeing. It tells me very clearly that forgiveness is a process. It’s not one and done. 

“Sometimes we may say, ‘I’m sorry God, I just can’t forgive…’ God responds… ‘Well, start again…’ As we continue to forgive those who sin against us.”

DEREK (with a lot of help from Rebekah)