Preaching Thoughts

I have been in the midst of a series of sermons about the "One Another's" I have split them into three weeks. Last week was "Love & Submission". The reminder that we are called to love each other and to serve each other. It has been an interesting series and I have gotten good response from it.

Today I preached the second in the series "Unity and Forgiveness". There is no unity without forgiveness. We are called to be in one accord, we are called to forgive as we have been forgiven. Most of us have events in our lives were people have let us down, betrayed us ... done the unthinkable. If we refuse to forgive, there is no unity, there is no love ... bitterness begins to eat away at my relationships. It is toxic.

The thing about preaching is that it forces you to examine your own heart. it is impossible to preach about love, if I am not loving ... or to preach about service and not be serving. As I prepared for today's sermon, I had to examine my own life. I had to ask myself, "Am I harboring any ill feelings" "Have I forgiven those who have hurt me?" More to the point I spent some reflecting on how I was feeling about Gerrald's choices and how those choices have effected me.

After spending some time reflecting on my feelings and thoughts, it dawned on me that my primary emotion is not anger and bitterness ... it is grief and sadness. It is hard to be angry at someone who is so ill. The emotions I am feeling are uncomfortable, but appropriate for the process that I am in.

I am glad for the opportunity to do some self checks. Next week the sermon is the idea of our lives "Giving Life" or "Giving Death"; living a life that makes a difference . Just imagine the self check I will go through to preach that.

"Bear with one another and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Colossians 3:13

Just Connie