the sixth Sunday after Trinity Romans chapter 6 verses 3 to 11 know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall also in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin now if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with them knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him for in that he died he died unto sin once but in that he liveth he liveth unto God likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord here endeth the reading st.

Matthew chapter 5 verses 20 through 26 Jesus said unto his disciples accept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees he shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven ye have heard that it was said by them of old time thou shalt not kill and whoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment but I say unto you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whoever shall say to his brother Rockham shall be in danger of the council but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar and there remember us that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer with thy gift agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer and thou be cast into prison verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing here endeth the reading let us pray but the words my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord our rock and our Redeemer today’s gospel reading an epistle makes me think about how sometimes we live like forgiving someone is a really big deal I don’t know if you’re like me but but I often struggle with it I have thoughts of will they hurt us again will they hurt me again do they even deserve to be forgiven are they even sorry did they intend to do what they did why should I forgive someone who wanted to do what they did and can’t I truly forgive someone and forget about it am I even capable of that so so why even bother when I can’t do it fully but today in the epistle reading st.

Paul says that our old man is crucified with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed and that if we be dead with Christ death hath no more dominion over us we must always remember that in our baptism Jesus frees us from death and worry about sin because of our new life in Christ we are free to be risky we can risk love we can risk charity we can even risk forgiveness it cost him everything but it cost us nothing so let us remember to freely and joyfully forgive it’s easy to stay mad at someone it’s easy to not forgive but this anger is a prison Jesus came to set us free from the chains of sin and death let us let go of anger and pride and enter into a life of radical forgiveness when we live into this life of rattle for forgiveness and love when we set our pride aside and allow ourselves to be let out of the prison of anger and pride we can finally live into our baptism and live into Christ’s death because in that death we become alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord and get to experience life as it was intended to be lived joyfully within God’s righteousness in the name of God the Father of the Son and the Holy Spirit amen