Forgive Us: Confession, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski.

Forgive Us: Confession, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: The Jesus Prayer: 7 Spiritual Practices for the New Year A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Romans 12.21; Luke 23.34; Luke 15.1, 24.

Join us this Sunday, either online or in-person, to hear a powerful message on the transformative power of God’s unconditional love and radical hospitality. Experience a faith that changes lives. All are welcome.

About the Series, The Jesus Prayer: 7 Spiritual Practices for the New Year: In the midst of their own uncertainty and anxiety, the disciples asked Jesus how to pray. Jesus replied, “Pray this way” and taught what is known as the Lord’s Prayer or Jesus Prayer. This series will focus on this teaching of Jesus as an invitation to 7 spiritual practices that will strengthen our faith and help us show up in the world with courage and compassion.

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At First Presbyterian, you will meet people at many different places theologically and spiritually. And we love it that way. We want to be a place where our diversity brings us together and where conversation takes us all deeper in our understanding of God.

We call this kind of faith “Spacious Christianity.” We don’t ask anyone to sign creeds or statements of belief. The life of faith is about a way of being in the world and a faith that shows itself in love.

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Keywords:

Spiritual stamina, unconditional love, radical hospitality, Lord’s Prayer, forgiveness, transformational faith, diversity equity inclusion, marginalized, radical inclusion, transactional faith, transformational faith, radical hospitality, radical forgiveness, radical love, Jesus’ teachings., presbyterian, church, online worship, bend, oregon

Featuring:

Rev. Dr. Steven Koski, Becca Ellis, Brave of Heart, Guests

Transcript

Unknown: 0:20

Music.

Whitney Higdon: 0:37

Welcome to worship at First Presbyterian, we at first, Presbyterian practice a spacious Christianity, which means, no matter where you are in your faith journey, you belong, and there is space for you at the table, there is space for your doubts and questions. We believe doubts and questions are a gift that invite us into deeper conversations and a more authentic faith. We believe diversity is a strength. Every story is sacred and everybody matters. We do our best to live the spacious and radical love of Jesus so that all might have a chance to flourish in this world. We are so glad to connect with you in this way. We would also love to worship with you in person if you're ever in the neighborhood on Sunday mornings at 830 or 10am and never hesitate to reach out to us to learn more about us or how we might support you. I hope you enjoy this worship service. Welcome.

Musicians: 1:38

Come and find the quiet center. The quiet center in the crowd and life we lead, find the room for hope to enter. Find the frame where we are free. Clutter, clear our eyes, that we can see all the things that really matter. Be at peace and simply be silence is a friend who claims us, cools the heat and slows the pace God it is who speaks and names us, knows our being, touches base, making space within our thinking, lifting shades to show the Sun, raising courage when we're shrinking, finding scope for faith be gone. In the spirit, let us travel open to each other's pain, let our loves and fears unravel, celebrate the space we gave there's a place For deepest dreaming. There's a time for hearts to care. In the Spirit's lively scheming, there is always room to spend.

Steven: 4:00

The writer Anne Lamott says, I do not understand the mystery of grace, only that grace meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us for our prayer, confession, we reflect on the love of God. We reflect on the love God has for us, the love we witnessed in Jesus, a love that is expansive and boundless, a love that is unconditional, a love that is accepting and gracious, a love that shares our pain and grief, a love that is with us, a love that. Leaves us or forsakes us. A love that is merciful, tender, gentle, compassionate, a love that is patient and kind, a love that does not insist on its own way. A love that turns enemies into friends, a love that recreates, renews, and restores us to wholeness. A love that forgives and forgives and forgives and forgives again, O God, before your love for us, we confess we have not so loved each other. Forgive us, as the psalmist said, forgive, forgive, O God all that binds us in fear that we might radiate love. Cleanse our hearts, O God, that your light might shine in and through us. Create in us clean hearts. Put a new and right spirit within us. Friends, hear the good news. You are forgiven. May we now release the energies of love and forgiveness into the world. Amen. It says in the book of Romans, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. There is a need right now for a spiritual, spiritual stamina that sustains our efforts to show up in the world with a with an uncompromising love, being willing to stand up for what is right and just and and good, caring for the most vulnerable. And that spiritual stamina comes from a deep understanding that we ourselves are loved unconditionally. Theologian John O'Donoghue writes, love is our deepest and truest nature, and consciously and unconsciously, each of us searches for love, and we often choose false ways, unhelpful ways, to satisfy this deep hunger. We do not need to go out and find love, rather, we need to be still and let love discover us again and again and again. Now, there's no denying the urgency of these times, but equally urgent is our need to stay tethered to the very best in us, which springs from love. You know, before we go out to do the work of love that is ours to do today, we need to find a few moments to be still and trust love's work is to always find us and welcome us home, being reminded that that God loves us unconditionally is good theology now, finding those practices that that help our hearts stay connected to that love that's where our true power and stamina and strength lies practicing the same kind of radical hospitality and love that we see in Jesus. Now that's what will transform the world. We're continuing our sermon series on the prayer that Jesus taught, called the Lord's Prayer. Now this prayer is more than a prayer to recite and worship each week, Jesus, in this prayer is actually teaching an orientation of the heart and a way of being in the world. And we've been looking at the prayer line by line, and today's focus is the line. Forgive us our debts. Yes, what does it mean to be forgiven? Now, next week, we'll focus on what it means to forgive others. Today, we're going to look at what does it mean for us to be forgiven. Mary Ann Williamson said the practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world, forgiveness, forgiveness, grounded in God's unconditional love, maybe the most challenging and most important teaching of our faith. Now we believe that Jesus gives us the clearest picture of God's heart, of God's nature, and we see God's heart in Jesus on the cross looking into the eyes of the very ones who nailed the nails into his hands, saying, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Now, Jesus didn't say, Take me down from this cross right now. Now, prove to me that you're sorry, prove to me that you've learned your lesson. Prove to me that you're you're worthy of forgiveness, and then maybe, just maybe, I'll forgive you. Now, that's the kind of forgiveness that we'd understand, because that's the kind of conditional forgiveness we're used to offering. But that's not what Jesus said, unbelievably, incomprehensibly, Jesus said, Father, forgive them. God doesn't parcel out forgiveness like teaspoons of sugar if we've somehow proven that we're worthy of forgiveness. God's forgiveness isn't conditional like ours. God is forgiveness one of the most life changing shifts is when we move from from a transactional faith to a transformational faith. Let me explain what that means by sharing a story that Jesus told in in Luke chapter 15 about a father who had two sons first. Let me give you some background. Who you welcomed to your table in the first century was a spiritual, social and political act. Religious leaders decided who was welcome at the table, and who should be left out? Who should be excluded? Now, Jesus, Jesus had a reputation for, for hanging around with and eating with those who others considered unacceptable, unwelcome, unclean. You know, I'm really curious if those seeking to to dismantle diversity equity and inclusion efforts have ever really wrestled with the Bible diversity equity inclusion are baked into the very foundation of our faith as followers of Jesus. Jesus deliberately sought out the marginalized and the excluded. He deliberately went out of his way to touch the untouchable, the lepers. He spoke with Samaritans. He elevated women's voices. He welcomed children. Jesus ate Welcome to his table, though society judged rejected. Now a practice for the early church seeking to love in the way of Jesus, a primary practice was radical hospitality sharing meals that that purposefully sought to break down barriers of ethnicity, class, gender, so Dei, and it's so important to say the words diversity, equity, inclusion, it's not a program that can be canceled. It's actually a daily practice for those who follow Jesus. Luke 15 begins this way, this man, Jesus, welcomes outsiders and sinners and eats with them. The religious leaders grumbled. Now Jesus doesn't argue with them instead, instead, he tells he tells a story. He tells a story about a father who has two sons now. The younger son wants his inheritance like right now and the younger. Son takes that inheritance, he wanders off, he squanders it all recklessly, wastefully, and he returns home with his tail between his legs. Now I can imagine this younger son. I can imagine him rehearsing his apology on the road, feeling just probably an enormous amount of shame. He wasn't expecting to be welcomed home as a son. In fact, he had assumed that that his he lost his father's respect and love forever. He was actually expecting harsh judgment, hoping at the very least for a conditional return, where he would be allowed to live as one of his father's servants. There was no expectation of restoration. And the story says that the father sees him in the distance while he sees him in the distance, because he's been waiting, watching, hoping, hoping for this day when his son returns home, and the story says, As the Father races races down the road to greet him, and before the son could even open his mouth To apologize and and ask for forgiveness before the confession, the father wraps his arms around him, kisses him and says, Welcome home. The father didn't wait for an apology. He didn't wait for his Son to grovel. The father doesn't say, you know I told you so, prove to me you're sorry. Tell me why I should forgive you. Convince me that you've changed, that you've learned your lesson, that you're actually worthy of my forgiveness and love. Nope. The father embraces his son and says, let's party. My son was dead and has now come alive. He was lost and is now found. Now in the story, there's a loyal the other son was loyal, hard working older brother, he'd stayed home dutifully working in his father's fields. And he's ticked off, he's not about to join this party. And interestingly, the religious leaders, he grumbles. He grumbles that, you know, my father has never thrown a party for me. Now here's what I think we often miss in the story, and is the key to moving from a from a transactional faith to a transformational faith. Both sons, the younger and the older. Both sons are feeling separated from the unconditional love of their father. The younger son assumes his selfish behavior has separated him from his father's love. The older brother, who had stayed home working hard to earn his father's approval, thinks his good deeds should have earned his father's love. Now, both sons have a picture of their father as judging, keeping score, keeping track, and you either have points deducted or you have points added, both sons assume their father's love and their father's forgiveness are conditional, that their father's welcome and acceptance are determined by their actions, good or bad, and Jesus. Jesus turned this idea completely upside down. The father in the story, welcomes the younger son before he confesses, essentially saying, Welcome home, but know that in my heart You never left. My love for you is unconditional. You are never separate from my love. There's nothing you can do to be separate from my love now, this younger son. Now he expected to be saddled forever with shame living as one of the servants. And the father says, I. You are my son. You've always been my son. You will always be my son. Nothing can change that. And the older brother. The older brother is resentful that his brother's extravagant failure is met with such extravagant love, and he grumbles, no, I did all the right things, and you never gave me a party. And the father says to him, you have been you are you will always be with me. Everything I have is yours. That's my absolute favorite verse in the Bible. You are always with me. Everything I have is yours. Now. Remember, Jesus is telling this story to religious leaders, grumbling that his love is too expansive, his welcome is too, too radical and inclusive. At the heart of the story is the life changing good news that the love both sons were desperately seeking in their own way, that love was already theirs. A transactional Faith says No way. Don't we have to do something, don't we? You know, isn't there a statement of faith that we have to sign to make sure that we believe, you know, believe the right things? Don't we have to say a prayer, don't we have to provide a resume of good deeds proving our worth. Aren't we the ones that have to be the gatekeepers deciding who's in and who's out? And a transformational Faith says even in your lostness and brokenness, even in your fear and shame, even in your disappointments and feeling like you're not good enough. God is saying to you, you have been my daughter the whole time you've been my son the whole time you've been good enough the whole time you belonged at my table, the whole time, let yourself be found in the Love that is already yours. And here's the thing, a transactional faith that assumes you're never quite good enough to earn God's approval will always project that same judgment onto others, you know, feeling that you have the right to judge whether others are worthy of love or whether others deserve a seat at the table. A transformational faith that understands we already live in the love that we're seeking finds joy in in giving that love away without stopping. A judge whether someone is deserving of love, finds a sense of purpose and standing in solidarity with those who are excluded, making room at the table for everyone because everyone belongs, find stamina and strength by staying connected to that love we don't change our lives to be forgiven when we truly understand that We are already forgiven and loved. Our lives change and God, so before you go out to do the work of love that is yours to do, be still. Just take a few moments and be still and trust that love's work is to always find you and to always welcome you all, being reminded that we are loved unconditionally is good theology, finding practices that help our hearts stay connected. Connected to that love that's where our stamina and our true power lies, practicing the same kind of radical hospitality, forgiveness and love that we see in Jesus. That's what will transform the world. May it be so?

Unknown: 25:27

We are not alone. We are not alone. God is with us. We are not alone. We are not alone, we are not alone. God is with us. We God is with us. We alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. God is with us. We are oh, we Oh, God is with us, we are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. God is with us, we are not alone.

Steven: 27:46

Ah, friends, you are loved unconditionally. My hope and my prayer for you is that you will find those practices that will help your heart stay connected to that love, because that's where your stamina, in your strength and your power lies. And as we together practice the same kind of radical hospitality, forgiveness and love that we see in Jesus, that's what will transform this world. So go forth in the peace and the love and the forgiveness of Jesus, and May the love that you bring into the world help others know how profoundly loved they are. Amen.

Whitney Higdon: 28:40

Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope you enjoyed this worship service. If you would like to make a donation helping make these podcasts possible or support them many ways. First, Presbyterian seeks to serve our community. You can make a financial gift online at bend fp.org, every week, we hear from someone thanking us for the gift of these broadcasts and what a difference they make. Your support makes that possible. Our church is committed to reach beyond our walls, bringing hope where there is despair and love where it is needed the most. Your generous support helps us to be generous in love. Go to our website, bend fp.org, and click on the link. Give online Your support is really appreciated and makes a difference in people's lives. Thanks again. I hope to see you next week. You