Matthew 18:21-35 No one ever said forgiveness was easy. Forgiveness does not just happen. It has to be intentional, specific to a person or a group regarding a harmful action or inaction. It is a response to being a recipient of God’s forgiveness that we naturally move toward becoming forgivers. But we are bean counters, we like to keep score, to keep track, to keep things even or fair. Peter represents us all when he asks Jesus to put some limits on forgiveness. He figures that since the rabbis teach that forgiving someone 3 times is satisfying the legal limit, that if he suggests forgiving someone 7 times he would be more than generous, even more than double what is required. He wants Jesus to quantify forgiveness, to tell him how much he expects. That is because we human beings have a natural tendency to forgive with conditions and calculators. Continue reading “The Forgiveness Limit”
A message from Japan, September 3, 2017
September 3, 2017
Comments from Dr. Tsunao Oyama, Chairperson, Board of Trustees, Hokusei Gakuen School System. (Hokusei Gakuen means North Star Academy).
To the members of Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church:
It is a great honor for me to be here and to have a chance to express our thanks to you, which we should have done much earlier. This year we celebrate the 130th anniversary of the Hokusei Gakuen School System, one of the Protestant Christian Mission schools in Japan.
Back in January 1887, Sarah C. Smith, a Presbyterian missionary from Elmira, NY, opened a tiny school for seven girls in snowy Sapporo, Japan. Today it has grown into a system consisting of one junior high school, three senior high schools, one junior college, one university and one graduate school with a total enrollment of about 6,000 students. Continue reading “A message from Japan, September 3, 2017”
Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church 