A thought for Lent from St John's church

Forgiveness
 
If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”’ John 20:23

Reflection

Jesus preached a crucial message about forgiving our brothers/sisters, as God forgave us. We stand in grace, and He expects us to keep our hearts pure toward others, not holding grudges or harbouring a spirit of unforgiveness, especially after He gave us such undeserved love and forgiveness at such a high personal cost to Himself. He expects us to forgive others 70 times 7 times (Matthew 18:22). When we share Jesus with others, we tell them that Jesus came to save and seek the lost and forgive sins. When we ask Jesus into our lives we give him our brokenness, guilt and shame. We are made free because of what He did on the cross. It doesn’t feel good in our hearts when we hold anger towards someone. It can fester into something ugly.

Response 

Light a candle. Watch the flame flicker for a while. Close your eyes. Breath in the spirit and let go of all that hinders you. Pray for those who have hurt you. Seek forgiveness for the pain you have caused others. Write a letter to them, phone them or even better, tell them you are sorry.  Purify you inner life. Draw close to him and he will draw close to you. (James 4.8)

Year 6 art work

Year 6 have been exploring the artistic theme of creativity, with a little help from one of our administration team who just happens to have a real gift in this area. They have certainly enjoyed this introduction and embraced the work, defining their own style at the same time.

The diversity of colour

It was great to see our Rocket group getting to grips with colour this week and getting their hands dirty and colourful at the same time.

Its interesting how their creations not only reflect the diversity of the group, but also their own individual personalities. Have a look and see if you can see what I mean!

Justice

Justice

It’s a strange word and people probably see this in many different ways, but with the KS2 children I was talking to them about how justice is very much the same as equality in assembly yesterday. In the Old Testament God calls his people to act justly in their daily life. What exactly might that mean? 

I took the slant, that if we think about how we treat people and if this is always equal, it gives us a good guide to how justly we might be living.

I gave them a few thoughts to reflect on about how important the word ALL can be.

Do we treat ALL people the same

Do we respect ALL people the same

Do we encourage ALL people the same

Do we listen to ALL people the same

Do we care for ALL things the same

It seems to me that justice and equality are intertwined and if we reflect on Jesus' challenge to love our neighbour as ourselves, then we might truly see justice and equality at work.

So that was my challenge to them this week? 

Simply; if we hope for Justice, we also have to be ones who act justly.

Collective worship

Our class based assemblies focus on our theme for the week, taking time to consider the main issues through times of reflection and creativity. The verse for the term is used regularly as are each classes own prayers. Here are a few from around the school this week.

Around our school this week

Its been great to see the children being involved in so many different activities and topics this week in KS1.

Year 2 have been producing some wonderful tiger art work.

Year 1 have been exploring the artic.

A week full of fun and learning.

Forgiveness brings HOPE

Hope – the power of forgiveness

This week’s assembly theme is forgiveness, a subject that is much debated at times and reflected on by many great people in the past.

Mahatma Gandhi is quoted as saying that ‘ the weak can never forgive, forgiveness is the attribute of the strong’. Likewise Nelson Mandela said ‘ Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.’

Both saw forgiveness as both a necessary part of human life, but also a positive action that can lead to hope for a better future.

In Matthew 18 when Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive, he suggested to Jesus that maybe seven times was enough. Jesus answer put the question of forgiveness into perspective – not seven times, but seventy times seven. In other words always.

This was summed up by Martin Luther King Jnr in his words – Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant attitude. In our assemblies this week we have been considering what forgiveness means in practise, what implications it has for us as individuals and what forgiveness teaches us about the love of God.

Our Hope from this  week has been that we may have reflected on the positive power of forgiveness and how it impacts on our lives and the lives of others.