Forgiveness means death. It means letting the grudge, the pain, the validity of one’s claim over another’s life falling into the earth to die. But like a seed that enters the ground, this death will result in new life. This forgiveness needs to be exerted by both the offended party and by the offending party, who must forgive themselves for this offense.

Scripture References: John 12:20-26

From Series: A Ministry of Reconciliation | More Sermons from Jeffrey Schooley

From Series: "A Ministry of Reconciliation"

The call of Lent is to face squarely our sins. But merely facing sin is not the goal. The goal in Lent (and all Christian discipleship) is to be redeemed into Jesus’ ministry of reconciliation. This Lent, we will explore the engaged and complex process of reconciliation. This is no “forgive and forget” series (which is, itself, a myth perpetuated by the unforgiven), but a penetrating analysis of what it means to be ministers of reconciliation. And for the sake of transparency, this series was written against the backdrop of the racial unrest following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. But it should be clear that the process of reconciliation is applicable to issues both macro and micro in scale, good for conflicts between races and good for conflicts between spouses.