Lost and Found

Tomorrow I'm preaching on something we all deal with - forgiveness. And we deal with it from both sides: we all are in the situation of needing to forgive someone or at least know we have the opportunity to do so, and we all need to be forgiven from time to time. Sadly, for such an important topic, this complex matter of forgiveness is often presented by Christians as being simple. It is not simple. Forgiveness takes time; there are stages we need to experience. God's compassion is for all: it is for us when we are lost in our own sins, when we have wandered far to a distant land, distant from our true selves...AND God's compassion is for us when we are in the situation of forgiving others...we can be lost in the pain of the hurt we have suffered at the hand of another. In both cases, God is seeking to help us. Through God's grace, we who have been lost are found...found, connected to our true selves and to God, when we know we are forgiven, and when we know we have been able to forgive others.