Friday, March 16, 2018

JOHN Good Morning! I’m John Branning, the Lead Pastor of Central United Methodist Church. I’ve been thinking a lot about failure, especially in these weeks before Easter. Even as Jesus moved toward the cross with courage and strength, the men around him crumbled, plagued with regret and shame. As we look at our own lives, we realize that we are no different than those men. We do things we regret, make bad decisions, and hurt people that we love. We are faced with the same choices that the men in the Gospels faced. We see parts of ourselves in Pontius Pilate, Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter, each of whom displayed a different response to moral failure. So, what do we do with our failure? All of us are falling short somewhere in our life right now. The question is not how to avoid failure but what to do with it. I have choices and so do you. We can make excuses for our actions and deny our mistakes. We can hide from the Lord and our friends, too ashamed to let anyone in. Or we can turn to the Lord and repent. We can let God take away our guilt and shame, so we can walk in freedom and authenticity with others. This is the only way to find peace and to live at peace.