Presby-Musings

  “Grace is not something God gives; grace is who God is. Grace is God's official job description. Grace is what God does to keep all things God has made in love and alive—forever.” —Richard Rohr When I was working on my undergraduate degree, one of my classes required a group project that counted as an exam grade.  The group to which I was assigned met to talk about how we divide the labor on the project, and it was apparent there was one student who didn't seem to care all that much about it.  Sure enough, he didn't do what he said he would do for the project, and as the final presentation drew near, the rest of us had to cover his portion as well as ours.  We ended up all getting an A in the assignment, including the dude who did nothing.   I remember seething about this, as did the rest of our group.  I even went to the professor and complained about the way the assignment was structured.  He commiserated, but then said this:  "I suppose you ...

  “Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly.” —Henri Nouwen In Matthew's Gospel chapter 18, Peter asks Jesus a serious question that people for centuries have been asking as well:  question:  “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who has wronged me? As many as seven times?” You have to appreciate Peter's question. He wants a number. Surely forgiveness has a limit. Surely there comes a moment when we have forgiven enough. Seven times probably sounded generous. I mean, how much do you have to take from someone who keeps grieving you?  I've been asked that question more than once as a pastor.   I've been asked by spouses of abusive alcoholics, parents of addicted children, people who have been betrayed repeatedly by the infidelity of a partner, adult children whose parents abused them, and refuse to acknowledge...