Some of us have little choice but to embrace forgetfulness as we get older and our memory brain cells just don’t seem to function the way they used to! This isn’t the kind of forgetfulness I mean, however… By embracing forgetfulness, what I mean is a willingness to emulate God who says ‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’ (Heb 10:17, quoting Jer. 31:34).

God, being God, cannot actually forget anything (in the sense of ‘losing’ the memory the way we may do as we get older.) He does, however, choose not to remember our sins. This is enormously liberating for us, as Jeremy Camp’s song ‘We Must Remember’ makes plain, for we often have a tendency to wallow in our sins, finding it hard to accept God’s forgiveness. Easter makes it plain that ‘You are the God that bore our shame./ You are the taker of our pain.’

The concomitant of this, however, is that we are urged to forgive as God has forgiven us. (Eph 4:32, Matt 6:12, 14-15). The antidote to bitterness, broken relationships and high stress levels is to live each day with forgiveness in your heart. This is not always easy, because we are easily hurt and often hurt others. Nonetheless, as we choose not to remember wrongs done to us and freely offer forgiveness to others, we are set free from so many things which would trip us up.

To those who say they cannot forgive, I would urge a re-reading of the gospels, savouring the Passion story slowly. Forgiveness is at the heart of the good news of Jesus Christ. As we ponder His forgiveness, He is able to put within us a heart that forgives, as part of the transformative process His life in us brings.

I’ve recently had to take medication to avoid cholera when I go to India, and it struck me as I struggled to drink the sweet-tasting liquid that we tend to add flavours to drinks to make them more palatable. Those flavours are inevitably sweet, because we don’t like bitter tastes that much. ‘It’s a bitter pill to swallow’, we say of something unpleasant that must be endured.

Heb 12:14-15 says ‘Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.’ Bitterness inevitably will cause us problems. When we are bitter, holding on to grudges, refusing to forgive, we will find God’s grace to be insufficient for us. Only as we let go of these things can we have open hands to receive, and dispense, grace.

Bitterness within us takes time to grow. We have to be quick to root it out and then it’s easy to deal with. Left to put down tentacles, it will take over our life and sap spiritual vitality from us. How do we avoid it? We choose to fix our eyes on Jesus and refuse to let self-pity eat away at our peace of mind.

As part of the upgrade to the building involving fire safety, further yellow lines have been added to the car park, clearly marking where it is not legal to park:

We would ask that all who use the church car park respect this so as to allow clear exits from both fire exits in the case of an emergency and also to allow access to the building if the fire brigade is called.

One of the really positive ways we can fulfil God’s laws is by helping others. Paul says, ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.’ (Phil 2:3-4)

Helping other people will cost us time, effort and prayer; sometimes, it will even cost us money, but the rewards are far more than the cost.

Our church could not function without the help of all the members – people who give sacrificially of their time, energies and money to help other people. Today, I want to salute you all! – those who faithfully help at youth club on Mondays, often coming from work after a busy day to deal with loud, boisterous children… those who faithfully serve others at coffee mornings, making drinks and offering a listening ear… those who prepare for Communion each week… those who set up and clear away for Parent & Toddler and make drinks for Mums who appreciate a chat and adult conversation… those who give lifts to people so they can get to church and doctor’s appointments and other places… those who prepare lessons for Sunday school… those who practise instruments to lead us in worship… those who clean the church… those who spend time in prayer and study to bring us God’s Word… those who support the different activities put on and do so cheerfully, gladly and with one desire only: to help other people.

Heb 6:10 says, ‘God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.’ As we serve others, we serve Jesus. (Matt 25:31-46)

Last night, we sang the Doug Horley song ‘Is there a plank in your eye?’, a song based on Matt 7:3-5 which reminds us that it’s not wise to criticise others for minor things if we are blind to our own faults. It’s a funny song with a sobering truth to it and whenever I sing it, I rub my nose, remembering vividly a sketch we once did based on these verses which involved a DIY plank (thankfully made of foam, not wood) which connected rather more sharply with my nose than we had intended! (For at least five minutes, I was convinced my nose had been broken by this connection!)

This morning, one of the emails I receive talked about ‘Pirate Plank-Eye’ and I was struck again by the imaginative use of metaphor. Lex, the writer, said, ‘Whenever I find something lacking in somebody else – whether that’s their spelling, or worse still, their character, it’s an opportunity to check to see if I’ve become Plank-Eye, the Pirate! Carl Jung dug into this territory too with his wonderful understanding of the Shadow. To simplify the thought: what we cannot tolerate in others is often an aspect of ourselves that we haven’t come to terms with!’

Not only do we need to give up grumbling for Lent, but we need to learn self-examination and kindness – to ourselves and to others. If we stop fault-finding, we may well find grace and good things buried under the rubble of mistakes. If we give up the sticks we use to beat ourselves and others up, we may well discover echoes of mercy and whispers of love instead of whines of discontent and mumbling moans!

In 1 Cor 10, we have a historical overview of the journey of the children of Israel in the wilderness. We read of very blatant sins such as idolatry and sexual immorality, but in the middle of that chapter comes a verse which tends to prick most of us: ‘And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.’ (1 Cor 10:10)

Ouch! Finding that grumbling is listed up there with idolatry and sexual immorality brings me up short. The word often translated ‘grumble’ means to murmur or mutter with discontent. God’s people constantly grumbled against Moses (see Ex 15:24, Ex 16:2, Ex 17:3, Num 14:2, Num 16:41, to name but a few examples!) This discontented grumbling resulted in the people dying in the desert, failing to enter into the Promised Land because of their unbelief. Paul goes on to say, ‘These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!’ (1 Cor 10:11-12)

Grumbling easily becomes a default setting, a mindset that leads to mutterings and complaining. The antidote to grumbling is cultivating a grateful, thankful heart. Instead of focussing on the things which displease us, we choose to focus on the ways God blesses us and pours out gifts lavishly on us. Instead of looking for people’s faults and majoring on these, we choose to look for the good things they do and the virtues they possess and ponder these. Giving up grumbling is enormously liberating. It makes you feel good and everyone else does too!