Christ our Anchor Anglican Mission

Welcome to AnchorCast, a weekly podcast of homilies and sermons from Christ our anchor Anglican Mission in Nashville, Tennessee.

Let us pray.

Let the words my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.

Amen.

Today I want to talk a little bit about forgiveness.

So I think forgiveness is one of those things that is much easier said than done.

And I think it’s especially hard when you’re someone who’s at the bottom of the rung, right?

It’s a lot easier sometimes maybe to forgive when you’re big and powerful and rich and it doesn’t have much impact.

But when you work and struggle and serve, it’s really hard to forgive others when they screw you over.

And it’s even harder when it not only makes you mad but hurts your finances.

You know, an unkind word is easier to forgive than a missed meal or a week without self-administ.

Now there’s a school of theology up the road from here that would say that we are to only speak hard things to the rich and powerful but are to water down the gospel and say sweet things to the poor and the powerless.

But my theology is just that of Jesus and he said hard things to the rich and he said hard things to the poor.

He said hard things to everyone.

He did this not because he was mean, not because he liked causing trouble, not because he was a rebel without rules.

No, he did this because he loved.

He did this because he cared and he had enough respect for the poor and the powerless that he didn’t treat them like children.

We are called to the same life of love and respect.

When you are shorted food at the drive-thru, forgive.

When your stuff is stolen while you are away and you know exactly who did it, forgive.

When you’re told no when yes was absolutely an option, forget it.

We forgive police, we forgive families, we forgive the thief, we forgive the social worker.

We do all of this not because it makes us feel better, not because we get any reward, not because it makes our money or our stuff come back to us.

No, we do this simply because it is the way of Jesus.

You see, when we follow Jesus, he transforms our hearts.

He fills us with joy.

We cannot control others no matter how much we wish we could, but we can allow ourselves to become a Jesus type of person.

We can allow ourselves to fall into the path of the one who sees us and respects us just as we are.

There aren’t a lot of people in this world who will tell you the truth, but Jesus always will.

He’ll tell you that you stink, he’ll tell you where you’ve messed up, he’ll tell you where you can do better, but he’ll also tell you that he loves you, he’ll tell you that he respects you, he’ll tell you that he sees you and wants you to be around just the same, he’ll tell you that he will never leave your side, and most importantly, he’ll tell you that you are forgiven.

So leave here today and do the same.

In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Christ Our Anchor is an Anglican mission in East Nashville that meets on Wednesday evenings for prayer and fellowship.

And join us on Wednesday evenings at 5.30 as we live into what Jesus has called his church to be.

Everyone is welcome.