acoustic guitar.”
Mark agreed, so he said into the microphone, “We’re going to do these last two songs acoustic. He leaned over to Kat and asked her to stay, but he motioned for everyone else to exit the stage. It took everything Mark had to start the next song with any semblance of praise… he was mad. He found Kat’s poise comforting though. The pureness of her voice with just an acoustic guitar was soothing. By the time they began the last song, Mark’s attitude was back where it should be.
As Mark and Kat finished and headed backstage, he saw everyone else standing there except Brian. “Where’s Brian?” he asked.
“He left.” Brad said.
“Brad,” Mark said looking directly at Brad, “what’s going on?”
Brad took a deep breath as he looked at the ground. Then he slowly looked up at Mark and replied, “It’s a long story. Brian’s been having some... problems lately. He probably needs… a little time off from praise band.”
“I see.” Mark stated. “Well, we all need to get out front before Jerry gets too far into the sermon so we don’t cause a distraction, but I want to talk with you more about this.”
“Sure.” was all Brad said.
As they were leaving, Mark heard Ted speaking quietly to Kat. He said, “Kat, that may have been the most beautiful rendition of that song I’ve ever heard. You keep singing like that and the rest of us can take a permanent break.”
“Thanks Ted.” she said with a smile.
The band walked down the side hall and entered the back of the sanctuary as quietly as they could. Jerry was just ending his opening joke as they took their seats. Mark sat down next to Cody and patted him on the back. “It’s good to see you,” he whispered.
Cody smiled back and said, “It’s good to be here…”
Pastor Jerry began his sermon…
“If this is your first time with Renaissance, we welcome you, and we’re glad you’re here. Today’s message is entitled ‘Leave it at the Altar’. I know that’s not the message listed in your bulletin, but sometimes the Lord’s plans are different from our plans. And when those plans are different, it’s appropriate to defer to the Lord, Amen?”
“Jesus was an amazing forgiver; I wish I was as good at it as He was. There are three points I want to make today regarding forgiveness that Jesus taught by word and example in the New Testament. If you’re taking notes, the first point is this: Forgive no matter what. No matter what someone has done, they can be forgiven. Turn with me to John chapter 8… John chapter 8. There was a woman who was brought to Jesus by the Pharisees because she was caught in adultery. Did she do it? Probably. Did they have the right to stone her? Sure. Adultery doesn’t seem like much today, but this was a crime punishable by death in first century Judaism. And what did Jesus do? He started writing in the dirt and said, ‘let him who is without sin cast the first stone.’ What was he writing in the dirt? We don’t know. Some commentators think he was writing the Ten Commandments. Some commentators think he was writing the sins that the Pharisees had committed. But whatever he was writing convinced them all to leave without stoning the woman. When she was the only one left there, Jesus asked if anyone was left that condemned her. When she said ‘no’, he said, ‘Then neither do I.’ Even though her sin was bad enough to end in her execution, Jesus in effect said, ‘you are forgiven’. He told her to go and leave her life of sin.”
“The second point I want to make is that we should forgive no matter why. No matter why people sin against us, we should forgive them. Turn with me to Luke, chapter 23… Luke 23. This is when Jesus was on the cross; look with me at verse thirty-four. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’ You see, it doesn’t really matter why people sin against you, and usually we don’t know why. Maybe they were hurt themselves. Maybe they were slaves to their own sin. Maybe they were reacting to something we did, it doesn’t really matter. Because when someone sins against us, they don’t know what they’re doing. The ‘why’ doesn’t really matter… forgive them.”
“The final point I want to make is that we should forgive no matter when. Now I’m not talking about when they sinned against you, I’m talking about when you get convicted to forgive them. Let’s turn to Matthew’s gospel in chapter 5, starting with verse twenty-three. These are the words of Jesus preaching the sermon on the mount, ‘Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.’ If there was ever a time when you’d think God would understand the concept of ‘I’ll deal with it later’, it’s when you’re sacrificing a gift to Him at the altar. But Jesus is saying it’s more important to God that you reconcile yourself to your brother.”
Pastor Jerry started walking down from the stage as he continued.
“Some of you look up to me like I’m more holy than you, but I’m not. In fact, there are some ways you are more holy than I am. As I look out at you, I’m reminded of the kindness and forgiveness you have shown each other, and I’m humbled. I’m humbled because I still need to forgive.”
Jerry walked back to where Cody was sitting and held out his hand saying, “Will you join me at the altar brother Cody? I need to forgive you, and I need you to forgive me for harboring this grudge all these years.”
Cody looked shocked, and couldn’t move for a moment. He looked over at Mark, and Mark smiled at him saying, “Well, go on.” Cody got up and followed Jerry down to the altar, where they both got down on their knees and prayed together. The congregation was silent, except for some sniffles. Mark got up and went down to the altar where he put his hands on the shoulders of Jerry and Cody, and soon some of the elders went down and prayed with them as well.
Brad Williams looked over at his sister-in-law who was quietly weeping to herself. He reached over and took her hand, and took his wife’s hand, and said quietly, “I need to ask you to forgive me for turning a blind eye while my brother destroys himself and his family. Will you pray with me at the altar?” His sister-in-law nodded and the three of them went up to the altar to pray.
Before long, half of the congregation had gone up to the altar to pray and ask for forgiveness from someone. As Pastor Jerry finished praying with Cody, he stepped back up on the stage and said, “How invigorating it is to cleanse your conscience before the Lord! We’ll wait a few more minutes, if you need to be reconciled to someone, please, come now and bring it before God. You won’t be sorry.”
Kat Driggers got up and walked over to where Mary Lynn was seated. She got on her knees in front of Mary Lynn and took her hands. “Mary Lynn,” Kat began, “I’m so sorry for how mean I’ve been to you. You’ve always been kind to me and tried to help me, and I’ve just been spiteful to you. Will you forgive me?”
“Oh sweetie,” Mary Lynn began tearing up, “You’ve done nothing to me that needs forgiving, but if you want my forgiveness, you have it.” The two stood up and hugged, and Kat returned to her seat wiping the tears from her eyes with a tissue.
After several more minutes, those at the altar began returning to their seats and Pastor Jerry said, “If you didn’t get right with who you need to get right with, and the Holy Spirit is tugging at you, I encourage you to pray about it and take steps this week in that direction. Mark, if you would, come up and play us one more song as the ushers come forward to collect our tithes and offerings.”
Mark walked over to Kat and asked her to join him for the last song. As they played and sang while the ushers passed the plates, Mark couldn’t help but feel exhausted. Not physically, but spiritually. Between the lows of dealing with whatever was going on with Brian Williams to the highs of seeing Jerry and Cody reconciled, Mark was just ready for a relaxing afternoon with his wife. When the song ended, people star
ted emptying out of the sanctuary and the band began putting away their gear. Mark leaned over to Kat and said, “Kat, I can’t help but notice something different about you over the past week or so. I’d like to know what’s going on in your world, and if it’s personal then you can tell me to mind my own business, but I’d like to pray with you about it if you don’t mind.”
“Yeah, okay...” Kat said somewhat unsure.
So they went out to the church cafe where several people were enjoying post-service coffee and fellowship. After grabbing a couple of lattes, they found a seat and Mark began, “Well, I think the first time I noticed a difference was last Sunday when you seemed to be dressed a little differently than normal. Do you want to start there?”
“Yes, well, this has been going on a lot longer than that…” Kat replied as she told Mark a little bit about her background, starting with Robert Smith and going through what happened with the Williams boys. She didn’t go into details, but used words like ‘inappropriate’ and ‘out of character’. Kat reiterated that while she had been dealing with this for a while, she had only recently begun to make the changes she needed to make. And that she was drawing closer to people like Susan Levitz and Mary Lynn Dobson,