The Voice of the Good Shepherd

 John 10:1-10 April 26, 2026

 

The fourth Sunday of Easter is always Good Shepherd Sunday

Jesus the Good Shepherd
Francisco Barboa

and we always hear from some portion 

of John chapter 10,

where Jesus is telling people 

that he is the Good Shepherd.

He uses sheep and shepherd metaphors to talk about

himself and the other leaders.

 

Jesus said that the good shepherd uses the gate

to bring the sheep through.

But the bad shepherds, the ones that try to lead

the sheep astray jump over the fence.

They try to get in the another way.

 

The poor people listening to Jesus would have understood Jesus.

Even though it says that the some of the people in the crowd didn’t

 

The shepherds were supposed to be watching out for the

sheep and protecting them and caring for them spiritually and physically.

But instead they used their positions to gain

more power and more wealth for themselves.

They were thieves and bandits as Jesus said, using the cover of religious

authority to elevate themselves instead of protecting the sheep.

 

Jerusalem and the rest of Israel were under the rule of the

Roman Government. The religious leaders – the religious

and political rulers of the area – were cozying up to

and fawning over this oppressive Roman government

in order to make gains for themselves.

 

The people were being taxed and laden with debt

so they could barely eat and survive.

Instead of advocating for and protecting the sheep,

the religious leaders they were selling the sheep out.

 

On top of that, the people were told repeatedly

by the religious politicians how disappointed and angry

God was with them, that it was their sin and failures

and that’s why they were poor and sick.

They got the clear message that poverty was their personal fault.

They probably wondered if God cared at all.

Or maybe they had given up caring about that.

 

But hearing Jesus, a religous voice tell them that he wanted

them to have an abundant life instead of the meager fear filled

life they were currently living must have been wonderful.

Jesus was the good shepherd. The ones the sheep listened to.

 

It is ironic then, that since that time, Jesus and God and scripture

have been used to get powerful people what they want.

To support taxes, fees, the rights of businesses, 

money grabs, lavish lifestyles, usually at the expense of the sheep, the poor, the people.

 

And it’s been used to support wars, violence, and genocide.

Always at the expense of the sheep, the innocent people.

The current times are no exception to this.

 

Right now we have politicians who are using the cover of 

Christian faith and scripture to lead the sheep astray again and support

some decidedly unchristian things.

And again we have some religious leaders cozying up them

instead of walking alongside the people.

 

We have heard Christian scripture and faith to support

cutting funds to USAID, food and health care that we used

to provide to the poorest in other countries.

 

We’ve seen politicians pray on the floor of the capitol

after they cut food stamps and Medicaid,

healthcare for the poorest in our country.

All the while giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people.

 

And they’ve used religion and scripture to defend going

to war and spending billions for military actions which

kill innocent people.

 

I’m sure some of the people who are doing this believe they

are serving Christ, but they’ve been misled,

and in turn they’re misleading other people.

 

Religious conviction still has an influence over people

and they are using this influence to get what they want

like many people over the years have.

This is has proven to be a bad thing for public policy wherever

and whenever its happened,

but it’s mostly not good for religion and God and the gospel.

 

When we use God and Jesus and scripture to support things

that are opposed God and Jesus and scripture,

It manipulates and warps God and Jesus and scripture.

It changes the meaning of those things in the minds of people.

 

When Christian voices use God repeatedly

to defend war and killing of innocent people,

then we start to believe that God is vengeful, and that Jesus

was vengeful and that Christianity is at its heart vengeful and violent.

 

When you use God and Jesus and scripture

to support cutting healthcare and food stamps for those in poverty,

then people come to believe that

God and Jesus were not on the side of the poor

and that the poor are being punished by God.

Unfortunately, when you do it so long,

people forget about the real thing and just remember

the manipulation, just the warped picture.

Sometimes we even become the warped picture.

 

Ask someone who is not a part of any religion, or someone

who has left the church what they believe the church stands for.

The picture is not pretty.

 

As a pastor, this is warping of the Gospel is a big concern of mine

when I hear people use the tools of Christian faith this way.

 

I mean, first I worry about the people that are bearing the brunt

of these policies, but I also worry about the gospel itself.

 

When I was in seminary, I was told that part of my job as a pastor

was to “defend the gospel, to protect the message of Jesus

and make sure it’s not being manipulated, and I take that seriously.

 

And those that would use God for their own ends

without reflecting God’s will back into the world,

are trying to enter the sheepfold by another way.

The thieves and bandits that Jesus talks about.

 

When it was in his time or others.

The ones that heaped burdens on the poor

and exploited them without caring.

The ones who use God’s power for hate

while never sharing God’s. The ones who say

they’re for God’s peace, but then advocate for war.

They’re not going through the same gate as Jesus.

The one that loved through personal sacrifice

the one that lead by serving others.

They’re trying to skirt around it and take the easy route

in and only reaping the benefits of God’s power.

Jesus was sent from God and did not exploit or use the people.

He didn’t have any ulterior motive. He wanted them to have

life and have it abundantly. And when the sheep heard his voice

they knew that he was not like the others who had used them.

 

When they saw him feed 5000 people, when he healed the sick

touched lepers, and surrounded himself with sinners and thieves

and the outcast of society, they knew that he was

sent from God and could do some amazing things of course.

And they also knew that he was for them.

For the poor and disenfranchised.

They heard the Good shepherd’s voice and they followed that.

 

And throughout the centuries, people have followed

hearing that voice and have been inspired by it and drawn

to it. But often, the church doesn’t live up to Jesus voice.

It often tries to enter the sheepfold by jumping over the fence.

 

Rhett McLaughlin is comedian who has a very popular YouTube show

at one point he left the Evangelical church of his youth.

And he said this in a video:

"Your kids are not leaving the church because you didn't train them enough. Your kids are leaving the church because you trained them well enough to develop a sense for truth and justice. You let them read the words of Jesus - and they got it. And they've recognized that the church doesn't seem to be interested in those words. They're not leaving because they don't know the truth, they're leaving because they do."

 

The church and the politics that seem to be synonymous with the church,

has let them down. They’re wondering if God has anything to say to them

or maybe they don’t even care anymore.

But when they hear the Good Shepherd’s voice

coming out of someone, they still respond.

 

Recently, Pope Leo, arguably the Christian leader

with the largest stage, and voice, and reach in the world,

has been speaking out directly in contrary to the politics of the day.

 

Last week, he said boldly that 

“God does not listen to the prayers of leaders who start wars and have hands full of blood”. and he is asked “all people of goodwill to always search for peace and not violence, to reject war—especially a war which many people have said is unjust, which is continuing to escalate and which is not resolving anything."

 At an earlier time, he commented on poverty

Many Christians "need to go back and re-read the Gospel" because they have forgotten that faith and love for the poor go hand in hand” He said,

"Love for the poor -- whatever the form their poverty may take -- is the evangelical hallmark of a Church faithful to the heart of God,"

He went on: Top of FormBottom of Form

“We must continue, then, to denounce the ‘dictatorship

of an economy that kills,’”

 And in an overarching twitter message – “Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”

 

I mean we’re in a denomination that was kind of built on criticizing the

Pope, and my usual criticism of the Catholic church is that it has

stood silent on many things it should be talking about.

But this pope has been doing a pretty good job of being voice of the church.

 

Of course, in response to this, some people have said that the pope is

too “woke”, that he should 

“make sure his theological opinions are anchored in the truth”, 

and that he should get out of politics.

But this is not solely a political conversation.

When God is dragged into politics like God has been,

it is a theological conversation and he and all

religious leaders are compelled to speak out.

 

I mean we should be speaking out any time there is

injustice in the world and when the people of the world are suffering,

But we are compelled to speak out twice as clearly when God is

being used to justify and support injustice and horrors.

Part of our job is to “defend the gospel” to protect the message of Jesus.

 

To not speak out is just to let the sheep wander off

wherever they want and follow whichever voice is the loudest

and clearest off whatever cliff they might end up walking off.

 

And here is the interesting and hopeful thing in the last two weeks,

which is almost really what I’ve been leading up to this whole time.

On Reddit, which is a social media platform that is largely

made up of non-religious people and people who are atheist

or at least suspicious of organized religion I have read these comments

in response to this voice they heard in the wilderness:

 

I have waited so long to hear a religious leader say this.

 I might have to come out of Catholic retirement to support Pope Leo.

 I’m non-religious, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that Leo says the sort of things that are greatly endearing to me.

 

These are people who have basically rolled their eyes and

abandoned religion and even been hostile to it.

They are listening and having their hearts softened

by just one public religious figure being direct

and honest and reflecting God and Jesus into the world.

 

I don’t think it’s only because the pope

seems to be on their side politically.

I think they hear the voice of Jesus coming through.

They hear the compassion and care of Jesus and his love for

those in poverty and those outcast coming through.

There is power in that, and even if they’ve been

long gone from the flock, they can still hear

that voice and they respond to it.

 

Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

We have a shepherd who is compassionate and merciful.

Who sets out a table of love, and invites all people to it.

Who was not afraid to stand up against the powerful,

in order to protect the sheep.

Jesus’ voice pierces through the din of all other voices

And when they hear it, people will follow down

those paths of righteousness and mercy.

 

May always go through that gate, and follow the way of Jesus.

May we always walk with the poor and work for peace.

May we always reflect Jesus back into the world.

May others recognize the voice of Jesus when we speak.

May we lead all who follow to abundant life.

 

Love and Love

 John 21:1-19 / Easter 3 / April 19, 2026

The Great Catch
John August Swanson

 

Have you ever promised 

to do something and then failed at it?

A diet, losing weight, eating clean,

getting and keeping a certain job, getting a degree,

going to the gym, quitting smoking or drinking,

praying, meditating, not yelling.

Maybe it was a project you didn’t complete,

or it didn’t end up the way you wanted.

Maybe something more consequential than those even.

 

We’ve all had this experience of letting others down—

or letting ourselves down—at one time or another.

Some of us to more serious degrees than others.

I think it’s a feeling we’ve all had at one time or another.

I know I have.

 

Peter knew that feeling that day on the lake.

Peter had made a promise to Jesus in front everyone

at that last meal they had together. Proudly, confidently,

he said he would lay down his life for Jesus.

 

I’m sure he meant it when he said it.

His head and his heart were filled with

bravado and security in his own will and courage.

I’m sure he felt the loyalty and dedication to Jesus

and he felt gratitude to Jesus for trusting him.

 

Jesus had picked Peter out. He called him

out of the monotonous, soul-crushing

and debt-ridden life of commercial fishing and

called him into a life of abundance, grace, risk,

spiritual depth, wonder, and service to others.

I’m sure that Peter was feeling gratitude about that

when he made that promise to Jesus.

I’m sure that he meant it when he said:

“I will follow you to death.”

 

Of course, Jesus knew better.

Jesus knew human frailty and fear, and he knew Peter.

He told Peter that he would deny even knowing Jesus.

Not once or twice, but three times before the cock crowed.

 

And sure enough, that’s what happened.

After Jesus was arrested, when Peter was identified

as one of Jesus disciples, Peter denied it three times.

 

He didn’t follow Jesus to his death,

even at the threat of merely being identified,

he ran he hid, he denied.

He wouldn’t even admit he knew Jesus to a powerless servant girl.

 

And this whole thing was probably

running through Peter’s head when he saw

the risen Jesus in that upper room.

 

Sure, at first he was excited about seeing Jesus,

but he was probably also thinking later:

“Jesus knows how I failed him and everyone.

Jesus knows what a chicken I am.

Jesus knows how I don’t deserve

the life and the responsibility and position he gave me.”

 

So Peter and the others decided to go back to fishing.

Back into the soul crushing, dead-end life that they came from.

With Jesus dead and them all failures at following,

what else were they supposed to do?

It was all Peter knew how to do

It’s probably all he thought he deserved.

 

And they’re in the middle of returning to that life

the risen Jesus calls out to them from the shore again.

 

Jesus tells them to fish over the other side of the boat.

and they catch a lot of fish.

And the disciples recognize Jesus.

They go to him and have breakfast with him.

And after that, Jesus talks to Peter alone.

Surely, the weight of Peter’s failure was hanging between them.

 

Notice that when they talk, Jesus doesn’t call him “Peter”,

the name Jesus gave him when he became his disciple.

he calls him by his given name,

“Simon, son of John” his name in his old life,

the life that he’s decided to return to.

 

He asks him a loaded question,

“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”

Now if we only read this in English, we miss

some of the meaning of this exchange.

 

In Greek, the language John’s Gospel was written in,

there are many different words for love.

There is agape, which is sacrificial, unconditional,

almost divine love. It’s the love we hear about mostly when

we talk about in the gospels. How God loves, it’s

the love that “bears all things, believes all things,

hopes all things, endures all things.”

Love that gives without expecting anything in return.

 

Another word for love is phila, which is friendship, fondness

Brotherly or sisterly love.

Where the name Philadelphia comes from.

 

There are also different words for love like romantic love,

flirty love, short-lived, long-term, instinctual love like a parent for a child, the list is long.

But the ones we’re focusing on is Agape and Philo.

  

Jesus’ first question to Peter uses the word agape.

“Simon, son of John, do you agape me?”

 

But Peter answers Jesus.
“Lord, you know that I philia you.”

 

Phila can be real and deep. It’s Affection. Loyalty. Care.

But it’s not self-sacrificial like agape.

It’s as if Peter is saying:
“I do love you, Lord… but after how I behaved, 

when the chips were down, 

I don’t know if I can claim that kind of perfect, 

self-giving love.” All Simon Peter can say is that he is fond of Jesus.

 And in response Jesus says to Peter, “feed by lambs”

 

A second time Jesus asks, “Simon son of John, do you agape me?”
And again Simon Peter answers, 

not able to say that he loves Jesus sacrificially. “Yes, you know that I phila you.”

And Jesus tells him to tend his sheep.

 

And a third time Jesus asks Simon Peter.

But this time he asks him:

“Simon, son of John, do you phila me?”

 

Simon Peter can’t bring up the hubris

of his previous claim to undying loyalty he had before.

Peter doesn’t trust himself or his ability anymore.

So Jesus asks: “Okay Peter if that’s all you can promise,

do you love me as a friend?”

And finally, Peter can agree to that.

 

And then Jesus still gives him the same request:

The same call: Feed my sheep.

 

Jesus meets Peter where he was.

Just like Jesus met Thomas where he was

in the last encounter when he was full of doubt.

 

And when he finds Peter there, realizing that he could not

give all that he hoped to Jesus, Jesus still commissions him,

he still gives him a mission and a calling.
Jesus does not reject Peter’s imperfect love.

It is still good enough. Jesus will use it, bless it, send it into the world.

Feed my sheep. Tend my lambs. Feed my sheep.

 

I think many of us live somewhere in Peter’s answer.

We want to love deeply.
We want to be faithful.
We want to give ourselves fully.

But we all have limitations.

We have other priorities, we have fears, we have caution,

we have apprehensions, and self-preservation.

 

We know our shortcomings.

The times we’ve turned away.

The times our love has fallen short.

If Jesus were to ask us,

“Do you love me with everything you are?”

if we were honest with ourselves we might say,

“Lord… you know I love you… but not perfectly.”

 

And the good news is that Jesus meets us there.

He speaks to us in the language we can answer.

He receives the love we are able to give.

And then—amazingly—he entrusts us with his work anyway.

“Feed my sheep.”

And by the way, there is the second mission as a church that we

are given by the risen Jesus: feeding people 

in all the ways that means. Forgiveness, and feeding others.

 
 We are all as fallible as Peter,

we have been scarred, and broken, and lost.

We’ve all gone smugly into something, just to fail,

or get scared, or become disillusioned, or bored, or cynical or weak.

 

We might think that the best thing for God to do

would be to let us go, let us go away

and find someone else who’s better or more qualified.

But the truth is, we are God’s entire ministry plan

We are it. There is no back up.

There is no other option for God.

There are no alternatives.

No other less-fallible super-humans waiting in the wings.

 

God has put all his trust into people like Peter.

And God has bet everything on us.

We are God’s whole plan. All God has are

fallible, weak, fearful, often selfish humans.

 

And we are called back into service again and again.

Called to care for this world and the things in it.

To feed the lambs and the sheep.

We are called to forgive others and to forgive ourselves too.

 

As broken and as faulty as we can be, God will use us.

God needs is our love, however much we can muster.

And everything else will come out of that.

 

As many times as we mess up

and don’t live up to our own expectations,

though we love with an imperfect love

we are called to a life of abundance, depth and service to others

We are called over and over into a new life with God.

 

Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep.

Jesus says, follow me.

 

The Mission of Forgiveness

 John 20: 19-31  Easter 2  April 12, 2026

 

Jesus Christ and His Apostles
Nicholas Martinez Ortiz

The Resurrected Christ pays a visit

to the disciples this week.

They are hiding together behind 

a locked door in fear.

And Jesus enters their locked room.

 

We read this gospel lesson almost every year on

the second Sunday of Easter 

and most of the time

we focus our time on Thomas and his doubt.

Now, I happen to like Thomas.

He left that locked room when no one else would.

He went out to get everyone coffee or lunch

or to try and find Jesus or whatever he was doing.

He was obviously the brave one in the group.

He just happened to miss all the action.

And for the record, I don’t have a problem with his doubt at all.

I think doubt is perfectly normal in the course of our faith life.

 

But we can talk about him another year.

Because we do talk about him most every year.

And in all the hubbub about Thomas, we often of miss

a very important thing here:

The resurrected Jesus came to the

disciples and gave them a mission.

He says it plainly to the disciples,

“Peace be with you, As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

 

Jesus has returned to give

the disciples peace in their fear,

to give them the presence of the Holy Spirit

And at this point in the narrative,

he also gives them a clear mission:

 

If you forgive the sins of any,

their sins have been forgiven them;

if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.

 

 For a long time the church has believed-and acted  –

as if Jesus gave this mandate to the church

in order for the church to be the arbitrator of

who gets into heaven and who does not.

It has preached morality: a list of dos and don’ts

and if you fail at this list, then you need forgiveness

formal forgiveness that is meted out by the church

and if you didn’t get to church, or you didn’t follow the right steps,

or if you aren’t properly sorry enough,

or you broke one of the big or hot-button sins,

then you’re not a candidate for the church’s forgiveness

and therefore not a candidate for heaven, or salvation

or God’s love or whatever the pinnacle

of the church’s spiritual quest is for that era.

 

The Roman Catholic church had an extremely overt 

and systematized version of this, especially for the first couple

millennium of the church,

but the protestant church has developed its own

covert more sneaky versions of this.

But the result is the same.

Forgiveness is doled out by the institution in limited,

reserved ways.

The church put itself in charge of personal morals

and makes itself the gatekeeper to heaven.

 

Is that what Jesus meant?

Is forgiveness about giving the church authority

over controlling people’s eternal fate?

 

Or did Jesus mean something else?

What if forgiveness is less about the authority of the church

and more about restoring relationships?

What if forgiveness is about dealing with the ongoing sin

and fights and disagreements and conflicts that this world

understands and knows all too much about and

finds it so easy to become a part of.

 

 Maybe the mission of forgiveness is about leading the world

in reconciliation instead of destruction.

Of understanding instead of contempt.

That seems more like a mission that risen Christ

would give the church: to practice and to model, and teach and

aid in restoring relationships.

 

On this second Sunday of Easter, we and the disciples

are sent to the world to tell it of God’s forgiveness.

We are sent to act out own forgiveness of others.

We are sent to forgive.

And why?  Because we believe in the Resurrection.

Not just in the stark fact that Jesus was raised from the dead.

But we believe that the Resurrection of Jesus was one big example

of the forgiveness that God offers the whole world.

 

God came to earth in the life of Jesus,

and humanity killed him in one of the worst ways possible.

But God didn’t respond with hatred or punishment.

God was not counting up how many sins were broken

and reaping revenge on those who would do this.

God responded with resurrection.

Reconciliation between God and the world.

Resurrection is forgiveness.

 

And resurrection tells us that no matter what has taken place,

There is hope. God can and will create New Life.

God will forgive the old and make the new.

No matter how bad it has gotten, God will redeem the world.

 

That is what the church is sent out for.

Because we believe that Christ is risen,

we believe that redemption is possible in all situations.

  

Now sometimes wounds are too deep

to jump to forgiveness too quickly.

Sometimes people expect people who have been hurt

to just forgive and forget, to brush their wounds under a rug

and move on as if nothing happened.

But Jesus said:

If you forgive the sins of any,

their sins have been forgiven them;

if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.

 

What if retaining sins, wasn’t holding a grudge,

or condemning people eternally.

• What retaining sins meant working for justice?
• What if it meant naming the harms that were done
• What if it meant understanding that real healing

requires accountability?

What if retaining sins meant actually working towards forgiveness

until forgiveness was possible?

 

What if Jesus followers actually spent time on this over the last two thousand years. 

What if we were in the business of forgiveness,

instead of being in the business of the condemnation,

or fanning the flames of hate and division?

Or instead of being in the business of counting how many angels

danced on the head of a pin,

What if the church was in the business of forgiveness,

instead of in the business of business and making money,

What if we worked on the business of forgiveness 

as much as we worked on the business of worship  (oh my, did I say that?)

 

The work of forgiveness is hard.

In our personal lives and as communities and as nations.

What if the church were actually in the business

of doing the mission that Jesus gave his first disciples?

What if the church had been doing that for the past

2000 years instead of what it’s been doing?

What if we could start doing that now?

The church could radically re-shape the world we live in.

There have been segments of the church

who have led communities in the difficult

work of forgiveness after horrible situations.

In South Africa for instance.

 

For decades, people suffered under the

horrible racist oppression of Apartheid in South Africa. 

The white government sanctioned stiff segregation, kidnappings,

killing and torture for anyone who rebelled against it.

 

After being released after 30 years in prison, once in power,

Nelson Mandela did not call for retaliation and 

uprising against the white government oppressors.

Although no one could have blamed him.

He didn’t even call for a Nuremburg type trial

like after WW 2 that ended in multiple hangings –

although they may have deserved it.

With the leadership of Episcopal Bishop Desmond Tutu’s

Nelson Mandela called for what they called the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

 

In this public commission, which was a court-like body

people who committed human rights crimes

would admit to being a party to the oppression,

they would account their crimes and abuses,

then they would listen to the stories and testimonies

of the effects that abuse as told by their victims.

This would create a permeant record of the events.

In turn, the guilty people would be forgiven.

The objective was not punishment, but

reconciliation of the community.

 

 This commission did its work for two years.

It hasn’t been perfect in South Africa,

after decades of oppression, there is still

rampant inequality, poverty, and as a result, crime.

 

But there has been a noticeable absence of bloody,

civil wars which have arisen in other places in Africa.

There has not been an attempt at ethnic cleansing

which certainly could have happened.

And  there is a presence and a path to justice.

And there is an effort at dismantling the racism that still exists.

Black people and white people are working together

towards that. Where there could have been destruction

there has been ongoing forgiveness. There is hope there.

 

Bishop Desmond Tutu, said this:

“Forgiveness is an act of much hope and not despair.

It is to hope in the essential goodness of people

and to have faith in their potential to change.

It is to bet on that possibility.

 

Forgiveness, is not opposed to justice, especially if it is not punitive justice, 

but restorative justice, justice that does not seek primarily to punish the perpetrator, 

to hit out, but looks to heal a breach,

to restore a social equilibrium that the atrocity or misdeed has disturbed.

Ultimately there is no future without forgiveness."

 

To believe in forgiveness, to work towards forgiveness

sincerely believes in the humanity of every person,

To believe in forgiveness recognizes every

person as a child and creation of God

Forgiveness believes in the possibility of

redemption for everyone and every situation.

True forgiveness is the way to peace.

 

When we truly believe in forgiveness and resurrection

there is no room for war. No room for bombs or tanks or guns.

There is no room for genocide or threats of genocide.

 

With the hope of forgiveness we are open

to a way of life that restores and transforms,

instead of one that kills and destroys.

If we really believe in the Resurrection,

then we believe in hope, redemption, and restoration.

Any nation that thinks itself a Christian nation

would resort to the hard work of forgiveness and not war.

 

Jesus has come into the room. The pain is still visible,

the crucifixion has not been forgotten and swept under the table.

The wounds are still there for Thomas to see and put his fingers in.

And Christ comes into that room with a word of forgiveness:

“peace be with you.” Jesus says. “As God sent me to forgive you,

you also forgive others.”

 

Forgiveness is what we were sent out to share with the world.

God’s forgiveness and our own forgiveness.

Forgiveness is new beginnings. Forgiveness is hope for the future. 

Forgiveness means that the past won’t hold us back.
Forgiveness means that relationships can start again.
Forgiveness means that life can start again.
Forgiveness is hope for all of God’s people.

When we share forgiveness with a friend or a relative

or with a stranger, or an enemy,

or with those who have done us harm –

it is the Resurrection of Christ made real to the world.

It is the hope and promise of New Life.

 

Resurrection is God’s gift to the church,

and resurrection is forgiveness.

And forgiveness is our business.