Today is Easter Sunday, one of the holiest days in Christianity. It celebrates the Sacrifice, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, who died while being crucified, and yet, as earlier prophets and scriptures foretold, appeared alive again to his disciples, before ascending to Heaven with the promise of return, leaving the Holy Sprit to comfort them and provide spiritual guidance. Through this sacrifice, there is the promise of eternal life for those who believe in it and accept it. Within my very condensed version of the Easter Story, there are profound implications for world history and the world's future, world religions, and humanity, as well as of course, much controversy and conflict.
My focus today though is on the core of Jesus' teachings-- often lost in the attempt to update the story, rearrange, and reinterpret it, to fit 21st century culture. Yet to me, the essential message of Jesus remains love and forgiveness. Love and forgiveness are not particularly popular practices in 2024. For many, many years Hillside held a Good Friday Forgiveness service, in a guided meditation/forgiveness experience. Today I encourage you to set aside some time for an inner review of your life right now, finding the sore spots that are ready to be forgiven and finding the love that is there beyond your wounds, frustration and anger. If not today, sometime soon.
Forgiveness gets easier with practice. Forgiving quickly prevents the slow boil that hardens our hearts, and layers our psyche in a way that makes us ready to take offense at fresh failures and trespasses of others. Anger breeds anger; disappointment and frustration produce more of the same. Realistically as human beings, we go through resentment, hurt feelings, embarrassment, and feelings of insult. But we are also quite capable of forgiveness that clears our minds and heart. A forgiveness meditation now and then is like deep cleaning, rather than a quick dusting of prayer. We need both. Even in the agony of the crucifixion, Jesus spoke the Word of Forgiveness: "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do."' Easter provides a door to forgiveness, which is renewal; we rediscover our capacity to love and to accept that we are loved. See where it leads you, this Spring of 2024. (Susan Nettleton)
Matthew 6:14 "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you."
Matthew 18:21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."
For Poetry: https://hrs.osu.edu/.../spiritual.../poems/gethsemane.pdf...
https://keningzhu.com/maybe-by-mary-oliver
https://hillsidesource.com/forgivenessinnew https://hillsidesource.com/seeking-forgiveness...