Accordion Test

In a full-width section:

Mike’S Page

24th Sunday OT – Matthew 18:21-35

Have you ever noticed that Jesus commands us to pray for our own eternal damnation…if we do not forgive our neighbors’ sins against us.  In the Lord’s Prayer, we are told to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  In other words, “Lord, if I do not forgive this persons’ sins against me, then do not forgive my sins against you.”  That’s how essential forgiveness is.

In Paul’s statement in his letter to the Romans, “Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.  For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord: so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”  We have to forgive our brothers or sisters…in the long run.  No one says is easy, and it is especially difficult for those who have had a loved one killed or murdered.

Unfortunately, both are given life sentences: the murderer and the victim.  For the victim it is a life sentence of pain and sorrow and even anger!  It seems worse when crime includes senseless random shootings in schools and malls.  Last Friday we celebrated the 25th anniversary of 9/11 with the mass killings of thousands of innocent people by terrorists.  When the killings expand into World Wars, then everyone on the planet suffers and for generations.

We all have our stories with their pain and sorrow.  But Jesus asks us to forgive…from the heart.  As a victim, we cannot be set free until we do.  By “set free,” I mean being set free of all the anger and hatred that comes from losing a loved one who was murdered, and especially when our anger is directed at God.

I felt such deep anger for years towards my own father, and I was not alone.  It wasn’t until I was living at Governor’s Island that my Dad’s papers were finally released which mentioned that he was an Army radioman stationed in the Pacific Theater and fought on Bougainville Islands and the Philippines against the Japanese.  After the War all journals and logs were confiscated and stamped Top Secret.  It was through these journals that I learned the real story of my father’s time in the Pacific, which included training the Navaho Indians in the use their radios where they were eventually stationed in the Pacific Theater.

I was stationed in Japan myself during my stint in the Navy.  Before I got ready to go to Japan, I remember him telling me not to bring home a Japanese war bride.  I looked at my mother, “What is he talking about?’’  She just said softly, don’t worry, just let it go.  He never said a word my whole life about his experience in the war.  He was still dealing with it.

Forgiveness takes a long time for some, a lifetime!

Yet God wants us to forgive…eventually.

God knows how we feel. But if our sense of God is someone who is up in the sky somewhere safe and far from us, then we will never know the pain God suffered when his own son was nailed to a cross.  And yet this innocent and loving son said as he was dying, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”

Those responsible for Jesus’ death knew exactly what they were doing.  Because they could not love God and their neighbor as themselves, they killed love on a cross in shameful death.

That day when the papers came from the government, which included the diaries and some pictures of my father and his regiment, the hardness in my heart just melted.  What a gift from God.  How could I have ever known what father went through?

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

“Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

The author of love still loves us because that is God’s nature.  To be like God in love is to forgive anyway and anyhow.

 

24th Sun OT 2026

22nd Sunday OT

As a followup to my talks on Prayer, below is an example of Birdwatching as a form of prayer.

Enjoy!

Spirituality of Birdwatching

And, trying it with a sidebar:

Mike’S Page

24th Sunday OT – Matthew 18:21-35

Have you ever noticed that Jesus commands us to pray for our own eternal damnation…if we do not forgive our neighbors’ sins against us.  In the Lord’s Prayer, we are told to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  In other words, “Lord, if I do not forgive this persons’ sins against me, then do not forgive my sins against you.”  That’s how essential forgiveness is.

In Paul’s statement in his letter to the Romans, “Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.  For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord: so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”  We have to forgive our brothers or sisters…in the long run.  No one says is easy, and it is especially difficult for those who have had a loved one killed or murdered.

Unfortunately, both are given life sentences: the murderer and the victim.  For the victim it is a life sentence of pain and sorrow and even anger!  It seems worse when crime includes senseless random shootings in schools and malls.  Last Friday we celebrated the 25th anniversary of 9/11 with the mass killings of thousands of innocent people by terrorists.  When the killings expand into World Wars, then everyone on the planet suffers and for generations.

We all have our stories with their pain and sorrow.  But Jesus asks us to forgive…from the heart.  As a victim, we cannot be set free until we do.  By “set free,” I mean being set free of all the anger and hatred that comes from losing a loved one who was murdered, and especially when our anger is directed at God.

I felt such deep anger for years towards my own father, and I was not alone.  It wasn’t until I was living at Governor’s Island that my Dad’s papers were finally released which mentioned that he was an Army radioman stationed in the Pacific Theater and fought on Bougainville Islands and the Philippines against the Japanese.  After the War all journals and logs were confiscated and stamped Top Secret.  It was through these journals that I learned the real story of my father’s time in the Pacific, which included training the Navaho Indians in the use their radios where they were eventually stationed in the Pacific Theater.

I was stationed in Japan myself during my stint in the Navy.  Before I got ready to go to Japan, I remember him telling me not to bring home a Japanese war bride.  I looked at my mother, “What is he talking about?’’  She just said softly, don’t worry, just let it go.  He never said a word my whole life about his experience in the war.  He was still dealing with it.

Forgiveness takes a long time for some, a lifetime!

Yet God wants us to forgive…eventually.

God knows how we feel. But if our sense of God is someone who is up in the sky somewhere safe and far from us, then we will never know the pain God suffered when his own son was nailed to a cross.  And yet this innocent and loving son said as he was dying, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”

Those responsible for Jesus’ death knew exactly what they were doing.  Because they could not love God and their neighbor as themselves, they killed love on a cross in shameful death.

That day when the papers came from the government, which included the diaries and some pictures of my father and his regiment, the hardness in my heart just melted.  What a gift from God.  How could I have ever known what father went through?

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

“Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

The author of love still loves us because that is God’s nature.  To be like God in love is to forgive anyway and anyhow.

 

24th Sun OT 2026

22nd Sunday OT

As a followup to my talks on Prayer, below is an example of Birdwatching as a form of prayer.

Enjoy!

Spirituality of Birdwatching

And in a 2-col content area:

Mike’S Page

24th Sunday OT – Matthew 18:21-35

Have you ever noticed that Jesus commands us to pray for our own eternal damnation…if we do not forgive our neighbors’ sins against us.  In the Lord’s Prayer, we are told to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  In other words, “Lord, if I do not forgive this persons’ sins against me, then do not forgive my sins against you.”  That’s how essential forgiveness is.

In Paul’s statement in his letter to the Romans, “Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.  For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord: so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”  We have to forgive our brothers or sisters…in the long run.  No one says is easy, and it is especially difficult for those who have had a loved one killed or murdered.

Unfortunately, both are given life sentences: the murderer and the victim.  For the victim it is a life sentence of pain and sorrow and even anger!  It seems worse when crime includes senseless random shootings in schools and malls.  Last Friday we celebrated the 25th anniversary of 9/11 with the mass killings of thousands of innocent people by terrorists.  When the killings expand into World Wars, then everyone on the planet suffers and for generations.

We all have our stories with their pain and sorrow.  But Jesus asks us to forgive…from the heart.  As a victim, we cannot be set free until we do.  By “set free,” I mean being set free of all the anger and hatred that comes from losing a loved one who was murdered, and especially when our anger is directed at God.

I felt such deep anger for years towards my own father, and I was not alone.  It wasn’t until I was living at Governor’s Island that my Dad’s papers were finally released which mentioned that he was an Army radioman stationed in the Pacific Theater and fought on Bougainville Islands and the Philippines against the Japanese.  After the War all journals and logs were confiscated and stamped Top Secret.  It was through these journals that I learned the real story of my father’s time in the Pacific, which included training the Navaho Indians in the use their radios where they were eventually stationed in the Pacific Theater.

I was stationed in Japan myself during my stint in the Navy.  Before I got ready to go to Japan, I remember him telling me not to bring home a Japanese war bride.  I looked at my mother, “What is he talking about?’’  She just said softly, don’t worry, just let it go.  He never said a word my whole life about his experience in the war.  He was still dealing with it.

Forgiveness takes a long time for some, a lifetime!

Yet God wants us to forgive…eventually.

God knows how we feel. But if our sense of God is someone who is up in the sky somewhere safe and far from us, then we will never know the pain God suffered when his own son was nailed to a cross.  And yet this innocent and loving son said as he was dying, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”

Those responsible for Jesus’ death knew exactly what they were doing.  Because they could not love God and their neighbor as themselves, they killed love on a cross in shameful death.

That day when the papers came from the government, which included the diaries and some pictures of my father and his regiment, the hardness in my heart just melted.  What a gift from God.  How could I have ever known what father went through?

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

“Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

The author of love still loves us because that is God’s nature.  To be like God in love is to forgive anyway and anyhow.

 

24th Sun OT 2026

22nd Sunday OT

As a followup to my talks on Prayer, below is an example of Birdwatching as a form of prayer.

Enjoy!

Spirituality of Birdwatching

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