Proper 19 Yr A
Through the sea

Eye Candy:
“Parable of the Unmerciful Servant” by Jan van Hemessen;
“Forgiving” by Jan Richardson
"Forgive image" from the Wellness website

Ear Worm:
“Forgiveness” contemporary by Matthew West;
instrumental music for forgiveness and transmutation;
“How deep the Father’s love for us” by Stuart Townend

Brain Food:
“To forgive” poem by Steve Garnaas-Holmes;
self-guided retreat by Rev. Suzanne Guthrie,
"Forgiving debt and lending money" by Pastor Ray;
"10 mistakes you need to forgive" from Wellness website

Parables:
"Changing Lanes" (2002, R)—I have recommended before but had not seen. I have seen in part—it is excessively hard hit to the emotions, Review;
"Magnolia" (1999, R), those who try too hard often miss the mark, Review;
“Angela’s Ashes” (1999, R), “I wondered how my brother and I survived”, "soul-shattering effects of poverty", story of immigrants returning to Ireland following the death of their 7 year old daughter, Review;
"Women talking" (2022, PG-13), "do nothing, stay and fight, or leave", Review.

Hymn Notes: A few tidbits about "They'll know we are Christians" (referenced above): 

". . . Like many post-Vatican II hymns, “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love,” a favorite song during the folk mass of the later 1960s and 1970s, has reached beyond its Roman Catholic origins. Don Saliers notes in his article, “Vatican II and Its Influence on USA Hymns and Hymnals,” that songs such as “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love” accent the connection between the church’s song and its role in the life of the world (Saliers, n.p.). . . .

"Peter Scholtes, a Catholic priest serving at St. Brendan’s parish on the South Side of Chicago in 1966, penned “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love” when he could not find a suitable song to accompany a series of ecumenical and interracial events for which the youth choir he led was to sing (Daw, 303). Like many songs coming out of the popular folk music of the 1960s, “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love” connected to the societal upheaval of the decade. Alongside popular protest songs like Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” or Pete Seeger’s “Where Have All the Flower’s Gone,” Scholtes’s text connected the faith story of young people disillusioned with the landscape of American culture (Loftis, 142). . . "

We continue to read from the section of Matthew’s Gospel, which deals with God’s forgiveness and our role in extending His forgiveness to all people. Peter asks Jesus how many times he is to forgive someone who wrongs him. In a parable, Jesus explains that God’s forgiveness of us lays on us the obligations to forgive our brothers and sisters unconditionally.

Track 1. The first reading brings us to the most important event in the story of God and the people of Israel. God saved them from the Egyptian army at the sea. The people were led to safety and freedom. Jesus spoke of his own death and resurrection as his Exodus. We join him in that Exodus as God leads us to salvation through the waters of baptism.

Track 2. In Genesis, we have the example of Joseph, who finds it within his person to forgive his brothers, despite the atrocities they perpetrated on him as a boy. He also provides us with an example of the way in which unexpected events can work for good in God’s purpose.

In our final reading from Romans, Paul calls on Christians to refrain from judging one another. The differences between the ways various ones of us follow Christ are to be accepted. Our responsibility is to love God and each other.

We are a community marked by faith and obedience to God’s Word. Our life reflects our relationship with God and our relationships with each other. We are to be a community marked by acceptance of all and by forgiveness. Not a gathering of perfected saints—we are, rather, a gathering of sinners who have known God’s love and forgiveness and who in turn extend that love and forgiveness to all people.