As we begin a new year together we will be reflecting deeply about forgiveness. The starting point on Sunday: understanding ourselves as forgiven people who are called to forgive others. We thought together about how excessive feelings of guilt and shame can get in the way of experiencing God’s forgiveness, and about how the “cure” for those excessive feelings is not necessarily confession and repentance but a healing of the heart and spirit; a surrendering of our idea of who we are in God’s eyes in order to perceive God’s idea of who we are in God’s eyes.What might it mean to you to realize, deep in your spirit, that YOUR name really is written on the psalms of God’s hands?
Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even those may forget, yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands……. Isaiah 49:15-16
What might it mean to you to understand in your heart of hearts that God really does know how many hairs are on your head?
And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of
more value than many sparrows….Matthew 10:30-31
What might it mean to you to believe in the depth of your soul that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, knit together in your mother’s womb by the very hand of God?
For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my
mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. ……..Psalm 139:13-14
Maybe, just maybe, coming to terms with these realities of our life in God would allow you to let go of the shame and guilt that have held you prisoner.
May it be so, for Jesus’ sake.
Rev. Deborah Lerner
