The Cayman Islands are within the ancient
Episcopal Jurisdiction
of
The Bishop of London granted him by the Crown in 1634
St Alban’s (Grand Cayman) & St
Mary’s (Cayman Brac)
Church & Office - 461 Shedden Road
P O Box 719, Grand Cayman KY1-1103, CAYMAN ISLANDS
Tel (345) 949 2757 : Fax (345)
949 0619
www.churchofenglandcayman.com
rector@churchofenglandcayman.com
11 Sept 2011
Welcome
to St Alban’s Anglican Church
Today's Scripture: Genesis 50: 15-21
Romans 14: 1-12 S. Matthew 18: 21-35
Today: 8.35
a.m. Matins; 9.00 a.m. Church School ; 9.30 a.m. Holy
Eucharist; 6.00 p.m. EP.
This
Week: Wed, Holy Cross Day, 5.00 p.m. Holy Communion foll.
By Church Council Meeting; Thurs–Fri 12.30 p.m. Midday
Prayers.
Next Sunday: 8.35
a.m. Matins; 9.00 a.m. Church Schl; 9.30 a.m. Holy
Eucharist; 6p.m. EP.
12th
Sunday after Trinity
Almighty
and everlasting God, who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art
wont to give more than either we desire, or deserve; Pour down upon us the
abundance of thy mercy; forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is
afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but
through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord.
FAITH IN FOCUS: DOUBLE
STANDARDS
Most people know that the way
you become a Christian is to be baptised. Perhaps what they don’t realise is
that one of the principal effects of baptism is forgiveness. In fact, each time
we recite the Creed we point to this by saying, “We acknowledge one baptism for
the forgiveness of sins”.
Forgiveness is more than one
person saying “Oh, it’s OK; it doesn’t matter” to the person who has offended
them. Forgiveness is about completely accepting the person and holding nothing
at all against them.
This is too difficult for
some. The best they can come up with is a grudging remission: “Well, I’m not
going to take this any further, but count yourself lucky.” This, unfortunately,
is not forgiveness.
Forgiveness is not simply a
human act. It is part of an act that God performed for us in Christ, and which
we share in when we offer forgiveness. In fact, we do not offer our forgiveness
to someone; we pass on God’s.
God is able to forgive because
he never holds grudges. Faced with someone who is truly sorry, God knows only
how to love. But the condition of forgiveness is that we must be prepared to
treat others as God has treated us. And the degree to which we forgive others
is the degree to which God is able to forgive us. We cannot hold the double
standard of wanting God to treat us in a way that we are not prepared to treat
others. Forgiving others is a precondition for being forgiven by God.