Forgiveness
Something
you do for yourself
Then Peter came and said
to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often
should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not
seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
"For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who
wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who
owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his
lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his
possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him,
saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity
for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that
same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a
hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, 'Pay what you owe.'
Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me,
and I will pay you.' But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison
until he should pay the debt. When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened,
they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that
had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked slave!
I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have
had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his lord
handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt. So my
heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your
brother or sister from your heart."
Matthew
18:21-35
The Unforgiving Servant
JESUS MAFA
1973
Camaroon
JESUS MAFA
is a response to the New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian
community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings were selected and adapted
to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their
interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings.
See: http://www.jesusmafa.com
and www.SocialTheology.com.
The pride that keeps us from forgiving
is the same pride which keeps us
from accepting forgiveness.
~ Frederick Buechner
I
forgive you for what you did to me,
but how can I forgive you
for what you did to yourself?
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
More from Michigan
Happy doggies!
Dinner in
Saugatuck
Jack, Linda
Wayne, Vicki
Dottie and
Jack
Carolyn,
Dottie
A Dragon for Jonas
by Lou
Rodriguez
We had lunch
with Nancy and Terry on Lake Macatawa.
Coming home
we took smaller roads and visited several small towns such as
Hannibal,
Missouri; the boyhood home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
In the
distance you can see the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge (actually two bridges) over
the Mississippi River.
Tom and Huck
Statue
Sculpted in
1925 by Canton, MO, native Frederick Hibbard.
JAK and
Vicki with the
World’s
Largest Ball of Twine
Cawker City,
Kansas
(You, too,
could visit these interesting places!)
We stopped
in Marysville, Kansas; Pony Express Country
and home of
the Black Squirrel (and our friend SuSu’s birth place)!
Of course,
Holland, Michigan, also has black squirrels.
Kansas
sunflowers
The ornament
of a house is the friends who frequent it.*
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
September 11, 2011 Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Previous
OPQs may be found at:
http://www.dotjack.com/opq.htm
* From the fireplace in
Mark Twain's (well, Samuel Clemens’) library in Hartford, CT. (Thank you, Marilee!)
Agnus Day, by James Wetzstein
Agnus Day appears with the
permission of www.agnusday.org
Exodus 14:19-31
Psalm 114:1-8 or Exodus
15:1b-11, 20-21
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35
Moments of
Compassion
Animation
artists from 30 countries
have been
invited to take part in commemorating
the 10th
anniversary of 9/11.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxkRJKZsz1Y
"… but let us judge not, that we be not judged.”
Second Inaugural Address
Abraham Lincoln
Life is a gift to be received with gratitude and a task to be
pursued with courage.
Presbyterian Church USA, Confession of
1967