Coming Out On The Side of Grace

Welcome to Coming Out On The Side of Grace. This is a 5 week course on forgiveness.  We will be looking at what forgiveness is.  We will be looking at why we have to forgive and what happens when we don’t forgive.  This course will ask you to think about forgiveness in a different light.  We will focus on the offended person and their responsibility.  After all, that is the one person that is hurt the most by an inability to forgive others.  The course will employ PowerPoints, recorded videos, and sometimes just stuff to read.  I will also try to arrange for us to spend some time in a virtual room where we can all discuss these things together.  This is a personal journey for me.  This may be a personal journey for some of you.  If it gets too intense feel free to email me, or just pull back from the material.  Let’s go!

This course will only require that you have a copy of one book.  That book is The Journey: Forgiveness, Restorative Justice and Reconciliation.  You can purchase an electronic copy of the book by clicking on this link Journey Book.  The book sells for $5.95.  If you cannot get a copy, please contact me and I will find a copy for you.  

It may be a good idea to have these tools at your disposal:  SKYPE, Computer with a microphone and camera, ability to view PowerPoint presentations.  All of these things are optional.  But, if you have them, they will come in handy.

The schedule for our next 5 weeks will look something like this:

Week One:  Why Forgiveness is Essential/What is Forgiveness

                Social Perspective

                Your Perspective

                Choice or Emotional State

Week Two:  What is Forgiveness?

                How will we know if we are truly forgiven?

                Anger/Justice and Forgiveness

                Why We Must Forgive

Week Three:  Grieving

                Lessons on Grieving and Suffering

The Importance of Grieving

                Safe Persons and Safe Places

Week Four:  Truth Telling and Confrontation

                The Power of Confrontation

Naming the Harm

Reframing

Week Five:  Reconciliation

                How are we Reconciled One with the other?

                Are You Open to Reconciliation with others?

                What is the Message of Reconciliation?

All lectures will be posted to this blog on the Monday of the week we are in.  There are no written assignments.  There will be at least two group discussions/conference calls/or whatever I can make happen.  So, go get the book.  We will be discussing the first three chapters in weeks 2 and 3.  We will discuss chapters 4, 5 and 8 in weeks three and four.  You can post your thoughts, questions and comments in the comments section of the weekly post.  Remember that this is not a private posting.  If you have questions that you want to only discuss in private, you may want to save that for the Facebook group that we will be using.  This is going to be a good ride. And, I apologize in advance for the bumps.  If you send me a message to N2poetry@gmail.com, I will give you my personal mobile number and will answer any questions you have.

I love you each,

Pastor Jesse