PSALM OF THE DAY Psalm 103:1-12
THE GOSPEL LESSON Matthew 18:21-35
SERMON "The Mathematics of Forgiveness"
GUEST PREACHER REV. NEWT ROBERTS
Worship Notes
We love one another because God first loved us. So, too, then should we forgive one another because God has first forgiven our sins. In worship today, we lift our prayers of thanksgiving for the wonderful gift of God's grace, which empowers and requires us to forgive one another not 7 times, but 70x7 times as told in the Gospel of Matthew.
Each hymn through which we worship today was chosen to illumine God's Word and his call for us to be forgiving. In the text of the opening hymn, we sing of Jesus who was a "friend of sinners" as we pray with one voice for Christ to "plead for me." We sing the text of Psalm 103 as we proclaim that "God forgives all our transgressions." Then, as we respond to God's Word proclaimed, we join our voices and pray for God to "forgive our sins as we forgive." As we depart to serve the Lord, we sing the National Hymn, which conveys praise and prayers for God's providence, grace, and protection for us as individuals and as a nation.
As we gather around the Lord's table to share in the sacrament, we do so as a community that strives to live in forgiveness with each other. We believe that the Lord's table is open to all children of God. We do not distinguish between denominations or church affiliations. It is Westminster's practice to hold the communion bread until all are served and then partake of it together as a symbol of the communal nature of the Lord's Supper. We partake of the cup individually to observe the personal aspect of our relationship with God. To prepare us to receive these gifts of God, and in response to them, we join in singing "Here, O Our Lord, We See You Face to Face," which speaks of the act of communing with God and of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
