Then, listen to me. And listen to Jesus. Child, your sins are forgiven. If you are like me, you are probably all of them at one time or another, in greater or lesser measure. The Forgiveness Factor.
Forgiveness is part and parcel of life.
In the Lord's Prayer, we affirm the necessity of a forgiving spirit for ourselves just to begin to experience the forgiveness of God. Last year, in our series on the Apostles' Creed, as we considered the forgiveness of sins, I told you a story that came from in a little village in Spain. Father and son argue, and say things they should never have said. The son, a boy named Paco, runs away to the big city of Madrid. Weeks go by, then months, and the father comes to regret his anger.