The fact that I chose the theme of "White Christmas" on a day where snow blanketed the ground was very fitting, and today's message was a fitting one for what is happening at The Journey. With today being the 2nd Sunday of Advent, we talked about "peace." He is our Prince of Peace, and we talked about the fact that the journey toward peace is through forgiveness. But you know, sometimes messages are hard, as this was a hard one for me.
You see, it is challenging to balance my preaching. What I mean by that is that so many people confide in me with their situations and struggles. When I pick my sermon themes (almost always done in advance), I am normally unaware of what lies ahead. And so preaching on "forgiveness" today was completely of God, and I honestly struggled inwardly as I delivered this sermon. I know for a fact that we at The Journey simply don't practice forgiveness enough, especially NOT with each other. We don't extend it, we don't ask for it, and we hate to even have to talk about it. Life is seemingly much easier when we can carry grudges and not come to terms with some issues we ourselves have created - avoidance and denial. So a message on forgiveness is often an "in your face" message because it is one of those unavoidable biblical themes. If we are to truly be like Christ (i.e. Christians), then we need to be people who forgive, especially forgiving those in the household of God.
Let me caution you on one thing - forgiveness is NOT "letting bygones be bygones." It is not avoidance or "sweeping things under the carpet." Forgiveness is inter-personal, causing me to GO TO someone whom I have offended or who has offended me. There are even action steps.
OK - forgive me :) I am trying to preach all over again (it seems), but messages like this really impact me. I think about the message all day - Was I too hard? Was I not specific enough? Who did I offend? Whose life will God bless because they walk in this truth? - so I tend to ruminate. But also, to let you know, the Lord deals with me about these very same things. The Lord brought to my mind today someone whom I need to ask forgiveness. Time for Pastor Rob to eat some humble pie. And I have absolutely no idea how (or if) this person will receive me. We are ALL on this journey together, right? :)
I was pleased with yesterday's message and music, and despite the snow, we had a good crowd (107). I have determined that we should make it a practice next year to sing O Holy Night every week during Advent...WOW! Thank God for songs like that which give the clear meaning of Christmas.
So my prayer for us today and this week and this year and the next is this - may we be like the church in Antioch in Acts 11:21 - "The Lord's hand was with them." Despite our inadequacies and struggles, may God's hand be with us, working and performing in our midst those things that we can only envision and pray for.
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