Day 3 – Forgive one another

Morning prayer

Start you day with this prayer

Morning prayer
For You are nothing but Love.
So we accept this self-sacrificing, self-explaining Love 
and rejoice in it.
(Silence)
Let your will be done.
Amen.

Prayer station

Use this symbol to lead you in prayer for the day.

Symbol: Empty pill bottle 

 

We pray for pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies who have to provide medicine and advice to all the sick people. 

We thank everyone who is helping others to get healthy.

 

Reflection

Read this reflection on the text for the day. 

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity – Colossians 3:13-14.

According to Paul love is the force that binds us together (Col 3:14). However, it’s not always easy to live together as a family in Christ. Unfortunately, Paul’s warning in Galatians 5:15, “If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other,” is an accurate description of how believers treat one another. 

This is why we, along with the church in Colossae, received the instruction to be patient with one another and to forgive each other when we hurt one another. 

It’s interesting to note that this instruction doesn’t consider whether the person who has wronged you has shown enough contrition for what he or she did. The motivation for forgiveness is rather that Jesus has already forgiven us (v 13). It is the experience of God’s undeserved forgiveness that empowers us to forgive, not people’s regret. And in turn this empowers them to forgive as well. 

Lord, thank you that your love and forgiveness gives us the freedom to forgive each other. Lead us through your Spirit to forgive those who wrong or hurt us. Amen.

Isaac’s Soap Opera

Watch this video with your children

Liturgy for life

See the ordinary things you do in and around the house as signs of God’s care.

Start today by asking the older people around the table, “What influencial world events happened in your lifetime? What did people think would be impossible?” Can the younger people think of similar events? Sometimes we think something cannot be done, until someone does it! Jesus invites us to live in God’s way. He shows us how. This kind of life means we will forgive others. Does this seem impossible to you?  

“For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” – Matthew 6:14.

To forgive is not easy. It is not something we as humans can do on ourselves. It is God who forgives us, and through his forgiveness God brings healing and makes new relationships possible in life. God heals us. And then God expects of us to forgive others, to give them the opportunity to be healed.

What seems impossible to you in your life? What is totally beyond your abilities? Let us look even wider. What do you think is impossible for our community to do? Is anything then too difficult for God?

Children’s activity

Play with your children.

Wow! 21 Days of isolation. 21 Days in which we’re only allowed to be in our homes (or gardens) and can only go out for the most essential things like food and medicine. It can be a little rough! All the things we usually do during the day, like school, sport, church … are not happening anymore. It can really confuse you and maybe even bore you a little. These daily readings will help you to spend some time with Jesus every day in a creative and fun way. You can do these readings and activities by yourself, with your siblings, or with your entire family. Ask one of the grownups to post your activity on Facebook so that others can enjoy it with you. Tag it with #solitudecalendar #churchtogether

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One of the most difficult things is probably to be patient and kind with someone who irritates you or someone who did something bad to you. In today’s Scripture, Paul helps us to remember that we who believe in Jesus can live differently because we have something special: our love for one another. This love for one another helps us to forgive each other and to bind us together in love, even though it is difficult. 

Find all the verbs (the doing words) in today’s verses. What do each of these words mean?

Which one of these verbs do you find the most difficult to do?

Activity

 

Ask a few people in your home to play along. These games are going to test your patience:

Three-legged race: Mark the distance that you’re going to run. It can be in a hallway or in the garden. Form teams of two. Stand next to each other and tie your legs that are next to each other together. See how fast you can run with your legs bound together. Have a few races!

Play Jenga, cards or any kind of board game that lets you play against someone. Try not to become irritated or angry with each other.

Build a puzzle together, but tie your wrists together. You’re going to need a lot of teamwork and patience to finish the puzzle. 

Make a bangle for yourself and maybe also for the other people in the house. Be creative. Use wool, twine or anything else lying around. Maybe you have some beads? Plait the wool or twine to make a bangle. Wear it to remind you that we are bound together by love. 

Creative prayer

Colour and reflect (Instructions are available under the picture)

INSTRUCTIONS

 

• Choose your art materials such as coloured pencils, coloured pens and koki pens. Any of these will work.

• Colour in the picture and do the activity.

TIPS

 

• Choose no more than five colours. If you’re unsure of which colours to use, take out all the colours and put them on the table. Close your eyes and pick up five.

• It may be easier for you to first start colouring the edges and not big blank spaces.

• Don’t stop halfway, especially if your reason for stopping is that you think your picture isn’t pretty. This is the purpose of the activity – to get your attention away from unnecessary thoughts like, “Am I doing this right?” and to focus on the people that you love. 

• When you’ve finished colouring the picture, put the picture in a prominent place in your house, like your bedroom or in the kitchen.

Consider sharing your picture on social media with the hashtags #solitudecalendar #churchtogether

Thank you’s and testimonies

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