Dear Friends and Members of Shepherd of the Hills,
From Matthew 18: 21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against
me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times,
but seventy-seven times.
This week we are talking about forgiveness.  Forgiveness is no small thing.  First, we live our lives with
other people, and because these other people are like us, poor miserable sinners, we will be sinned
against.  We will also sin against them.  Forgiveness is no small thing because of the sheer frequency in
which we must engage in this particular activity.  
Second, forgiveness is no small thing because of how difficult it is.  It has been said that when we forgive
someone we “forget” what they have done.  I disagree.  Forgiveness is not “forgetting” someone’s sin. 
Instead, it is choosing to not punish someone for their sin.  It is a choice not to hold their sin against them
indefinitely.  We remember what they did.  Then we take action and make choices in our lives how we
now treat this person.  This is not an easy thing and we do not forgive lightly.  This becomes even more
difficult when the hurt caused by this sin is great and profound.  
Jesus takes sin seriously.  When we sin against another person, we also sin against God.  Jesus didn’t
forget about your sin.  Instead, in the full knowledge of your sin, he goes to the cross to pay for it, so that
your sin is no longer held against you for eternity.  God be praised!  He removes our sins from us “as far
as the east is from the west.”  It cost Jesus his very life to forgive.  
What does it cost you to forgive someone who has hurt you?  What is God’s expectation of you for forgive
others?  These are the questions we will wrestle with this week in the service.  
This weekend we join back together with one service at 10:30.  Bible study will be at 9AM.  Thank
you to everyone who took advantage of our outdoor 8:30 service.  As always, it was a special joy to have
services out in the pavilion, but I also look forward to us being back together as one.  
The Bible study and Divine service are really one event broken into two parts.  As you start new habits
this fall, I encourage you to set Sunday mornings aside as the time that we hear and receive the Word of
God.  In the Bible study time we use the readings appointed for the service so that when we get into
service we hear the Word of God with a more profound depth.  This is how we live out our lives as
disciples.  Come make Bible study and the Divine Service central to your week that you might be
equipped to love, serve and forgives as your week living among other people will most certainly require.  
In His Love and Service,
Pastor Rust