1. Morning Worship Liberation
Freedom to forgive
Easter Season
5th May 2015
Bishop Justus Church of England School

2. Gather The Lord be with you And also with you
Today in our reading we hear that we are to forgive others as God forgives us. We can be liberated when we are less bitter and more loving and that Christians believe they are following God‛s way as God forgives us.

3. Receive
Jesus told this parable of the unforgiving servant in response to Peter asking “if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? The answer is we are to forgive others as God forgives us.
"I forgave you the whole amount you owed me,
just because you asked me to.
You should have had mercy on your fellow servant,
just as I had mercy on you.'
Matthew 18:32
Watch the parable
Or this cartoon version

4. Engage Discuss this Gandhi quote…
How can forgiving be a powerful force for us and for others?
Watch this mother’s story
Other Ideas
Illustrating the importance of forgiveness
Reflect on things that others do which hurt us…
A way to illustrate forgiveness is with balloons—for each hurtful experience blow up a balloon—ask a volunteer to hold it… keep blowing the balloon as examples are given (or blow up subsequent balloons)
Reflect how difficult it is to function when we are holding onto so many hurtful things
Ask students how they can ‘let go‛ of the difficult experiences (hopefully they will mention forgiveness in their responses)
With each example of how to ‛let go‛ of the difficulties the volunteer can choose to forgive the misdemeanour and the balloon can be ‘let go‛ or popped… (you may want to suggest that the difficult experiences can be offered to God especially if there is no apology or the experience is ongoing—as some people may struggle to forgive for good reasons…)
Act it out
Challenge small groups to create a quick sketch of the parable
Give only 5 minutes for groups to prepare
If a group succeeds and can show their sketch ask them to perform
The enticement of a reward might encourage them and can be linked to the story—that Christians believe God rewards us for forgiving others

5. Respond Forgiving God, help us to forgive others as you forgive us
And when forgiveness is difficult
may we offer our bitterness to you
to help us cope
Amen

6. Go
Go in Peace, to love and serve the Lord
In the name of Christ. Amen