The old wartime tune, "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile" makes it sound like it's very easy to pack away your problems, guilt, shame, and anger and just... smile. In reality, we know that the problems, burdens, and worries of life cling to us, and we tend to carry them with us. Old hurts, failed relationships, lost jobs - the things we'd rather forget - seem to be those things that haunt us most tenaciously. What would it feel like to truly ditch those burdens and live more freely into a hopeful, possibility-laden future? With Jesus it's possible. Worship Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkgDEfpdCQQ

Sometimes resentment, anger, and grudges begin because someone didn't meet our expectations. The new coworker never pulled their weight - and you suffered for it! Your new friend just hasn't been there for you. You are writing them off - you won't be burned again! It's one thing to hold a grudge against another person and arrange our lives to minimize our interaction with those people. But what if it's God who doesn't meet our expectations? What if it's God who has let us down? What do we do with our grudges and anger toward God? We can walk away from that relationship, too. But God is open to another strategy. Are you? Forgiving is hard, and forgiving God is harder. But a little deeper understanding of who God is might go a long way in restoring that relationship. Worship Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2TrzCx1jN8

No one gets through this life unscathed. Whether it has been small slights by thoughtless friends, or deep betrayals by those dearest to us, we all carry scars of past hurts. Enough of these kinds of hurts can leave us calloused, bitter, and resentful. The burden of carrying these grudges becomes an everyday reality. But there is another way. You have the power to let go of the pain that you carry with you. It's as easy as... forgiving. Doesn't sound so easy? With Jesus, even freedom from grudges is possible... Worship Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai6pnHi-aoA

Forgiving Offenses When someone hurts you, the pain that follows can weigh you down and keep you from moving forward. But you have the power to let go of the hurt that you’ve been carrying. Forgiveness leads to freedom. Find it this week at Union Chapel Indy... Worship Link: https://www.facebook.com/UnionChapelIndy/videos/1792085841308160

Just how long have you been living with that 'bend' in your life... that hurt, or anger, or bitterness? That misunderstanding, estrangement, or rift? All sorts of things get out of whack in our spirits over time, and the longer they go on, the harder they are to work out. Even if we wanted to straighten them, the crooked parts of us are so deeply kinked and bent that we don't have the power to smooth them. A woman who met Jesus in the synagogue one day had suffered a physical condition for eighteen years that had her "bent over." With his words and touch she was healed - her crooked spine was made straight! In all the ways of our crookedness, Jesus calls us to wholeness. Will you let him make your crooked places straight? Worship Link: https://fb.watch/fNAS6tuF7s/