{"id":3368,"date":"2010-03-29T22:24:44","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T11:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=3368"},"modified":"2010-03-29T22:24:44","modified_gmt":"2010-03-29T11:24:44","slug":"easter-message-healing-through-forgiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2010\/03\/29\/easter-message-healing-through-forgiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter message: Healing through forgiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have finished the draft of the Bishop’s Easter message for\u00a0Good Friday\u00a0print media<\/strong> <\/span>(250 words)\u00a0and the Tasmanian Anglican<\/span><\/strong> (350-450 words)\u00a0– April 2010.\u00a0 The latter draft which follows; the former to be hewn from it.<\/p>\n

Healing through forgiveness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Life is complex. Consider evil. Evil is more complex than the simple \u201cthe goodies versus the baddies\u201d. Evil is real. Evil is outside of us and yet finds an inner reality within us.<\/p>\n

In real life, evil finds an echo in the heart of even the best of people. The \u201cecho\u201d or resonance or character of evil within our hearts is our rebel nature, our rebellion against God and the ways of God in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like Tiger Woods, all of us have a secret life that no one sees. \u00a0No one except God, that is.\u00a0 Like Tiger Woods, we would like aspects of our past to be forgotten \u2013 but what we really need is for those wrongs in our past to be forgiven.<\/p>\n

We all get things wrong from time to time. To put things right we need to admit to the wrong done, ask forgiveness of the person(s) concerned and commit ourselves to new ways. The healing power of forgiveness is central to healthy relationships.<\/p>\n

In our relationship with God we also get things wrong from time to time. Just as we put things right with people, so we put things right with our Loving Creator.<\/p>\n

Our saying, \u201cLoving God, I am sorry, will you please forgive me?\u201d is made easier because Jesus\u2019 dying words from the cross apply to us, \u201cFather forgive them for they know not what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do these words apply to us? Jesus\u2019 death on the cross is God\u2019s offer of forgiveness to us for both our wrong acts (sins) and our rebellious nature (sin).<\/p>\n

In the Lord\u2019s Prayer, Jesus taught us to seek God\u2019s forgiveness by praying, \u201cforgive us our sins\u201d. Of course, we can choose not to use these words. It is up to us to decide if we want the healing, peace and purposes that reconciliation with God will bring.<\/p>\n

The cross of Christ is God\u2019s offer of forgiveness and healing.<\/p>\n

The resurrection of Christ is triumph over evil and the removal of death\u2019s sting.<\/p>\n

May these truths be to you, your trust and your life.<\/p>\n

In the love of the cross and the hope of the resurrection.<\/p>\n

+John \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have finished the draft of the Bishop’s Easter message for\u00a0Good Friday\u00a0print media (250 words)\u00a0and the Tasmanian Anglican (350-450 words)\u00a0– April 2010.\u00a0 The latter draft which follows; the former to be hewn from it. Healing through forgiveness Life is complex. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3368"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3414,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3368\/revisions\/3414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}