Western Echo Newspaper Article

Forgiving leads to reconciliation

To get my own back I’ve been preaching a sermon series in an area which I’ve already started to work on. I’ve made a remarkable discovery. For a long time I’ve been working hard to overcome my tendency to get angry - with my kids, with my wife, with my Church and with my God. As the intoxicating fumes of anger began to clear I suddenly saw that a lot of my anger was fuelled by unforgiveness.

Married for 17 years with four kids,  I realise that there is a huge pile of stuff I’ve been sweeping under the carpet. No wonder anger was an issue for me. Add in being a Pastor for nearly 10 years and all of a sudden there is a lot of forgiving ahead of me. Suddenly it dawned on me why I clash so much with one of my kids; a lot of unforgiveness on my part. I started trying to forgive rather than get angry. I found that I was not as easily provoked. Sometimes I’ve been able to by-pass feeling angry or annoyed by forgiving straight away. One such case was when my son was careless (again) resulting in broken glass and a careful clean-up operation. I consciously forgave my child straight away, even before the noise of the broken glass had faded. I made everyone laugh by saying to my wife who was frowning, “Isn’t it great we can forgive, otherwise we could get really angry.” We all burst out laughing. But broken glass is a long way from a broken heart, or being stabbed in the back, or nearly having your whole career ruined. Why not join with us as I drag all of us at The Gap Presbyterian Church through this mad, mad journey of learning to forgive?

Listen to or watch my messages on this theme @ www.godsgap.net/forgive

the Rev (Chris Perona)

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