...and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Matthew 6:12
...and forgive us our sins... Luke 11:4a
In 1968 the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church merged. They became The United Methodist Church.
If you look in our hymnal, entries 894, 895 and 896 contain the
“versions” of “The Lord’s Prayer” which reflects the heritage of both groups:
The old Methodists said “forgive us our trespasses”.
The Brethren said “forgive us our debts”.
Today’s ecumenical text simply says “forgive us our sins”.
All three words are good (well….bad).
Trespasses refer to the times we step over the
line that God has drawn, which says “not this”.
To trespass means deliberate
disobedience with forethought. This is
first degree – I know this is wrong, but
I want to do it, and by Zeus, I will!
“Sins” is the common “catch-all” for that
which is done (like trespasses), and for that which we ought to do, but is
neglected, and even for those things we thought we would do if we could get
away with it, but are too “chicken” to attempt.
But Debts – now
there’s something we can all understand.
That’s unconfessed sin; its past tense stuff. And it can pile up!
Just like all the other debts!
Our country moves in cycles of
frantic news and bickering over “the debt”.
Couples divorce more because of debt
than anything.
Years ago when we lived in North
Florida, as I was driving down the road I saw a really impressive brand new
Cadillac. As I got closer the license
tag came into view:
“I Owe…I Owe BIG!”
I’m not sure we can insert that in the
liturgy in our churches this Sunday….but why not? It’s the truth. The sacrifice of Jesus was because of our sins,
trespasses and debts – we DO owe big!
We
owe “impossibly BIG”!
And He forgives bigger!
Today
Continue this weekend with worship.
No comments:
Post a Comment