Rev Wolfgang spoke this past Sunday about Easter joy and mirth in church tradition, shared a lovely paper cut artwork illustrating John’s gospel, and — in preaching from John 20:19-31 — took us back to the context of John 20:21, which is BLC’s guiding verse.
He highlighted verse 22-23: “When [Jesus] had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'”
Not that Christians hold the power of forgiving human sins per se, but when unforgiveness marks our thoughts, words and deeds, it does indeed become a block that prevents God’s forgiveness from flowing through our lives and blessing and redeeming others as Christ intended when he breathed the Holy Spirit into his church.
