Lenten Meditations from Our Parish Family
Beginning on Ash Wednesday, we invite you to journey through Lent with daily meditations written by St. John’s parishioners. These reflections offer honest, thoughtful voices from within our community—meeting us right where we are in this season of prayer, repentance, and hope. Meditations will be shared by email, posted on Facebook, and available as printed weekly copies at the church. Be on the lookout, and let these shared words accompany you as we walk the Lenten road together.
Monday of Holy Week
March 30, 2026
Mark 11:12-25
“And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Mark 11:25
In this verse, Jesus is admonishing his disciples that to be forgiven for our sins, we must also forgive those who have hurt us. Every time we say the Lord’s Prayer, we implore God to “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” I have always tried to be a person who forgives easily. It is a quality I value highly, but there have been times in my life when I have really struggled to forgive.
Jesus’s words as he is dying on the cross have run through my mind a lot: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” If Christ can forgive those who mocked him and killed him in the most gruesome, public and painful way, then the rest of us are given that highest standard of how WE are to forgive. How can we possibly practice radical forgiveness like Jesus?
I don’t have a clear answer, but I do know that I will try even harder to forgive those who trespass against me, so that I, too, may be forgiven. Because when we forgive the seemingly unforgivable, we draw closer to our God. I pray for grace during this season of Lent, so that God’s love and Christ’s example will bring us all peace.
Caroline Reddick Lawson
