Tag: coffee talk

Join us today at 10 a.m. at Chairs Coffee for our seventh Coffee Talk!

The panelists, the Rev. Joe Niemiec Jr., Amy Rice, Laura Stembridge and Rev. Deb Conklin, will be discussing forgiveness.

When I volunteered for this panel, writing an article on what forgiveness looks like seemed relatively easy. To my mild surprise, my thoughts on the matter deadlocked so that I ended up mired in writers block until my dog Winston was attacked by two other dogs.

I finally learned about forgiveness at age 36, when my husband, the father of our then 4-year-old son, and our daughter on the way, left me for a young student of his. In the process he said and did many hurtful things. And over the years, he continued to do and say hurtful things. At first, I simply lived in pain — deep, emotional and spiritual pain.

Forgiveness lightens my load and clears my vision to see the perfection in the world.

Today let me forgive someone
Let me forgive myself
Let me clear my sight.

Join us July 6 for our next Coffee Talk, where we'll discuss forgiveness and what it looks like.

The conversation will be at 10 a.m. at Chairs Coffee, 113 W. Indiana Ave. and all are welcome.

I can see it in her face even when she dismisses it as “not a big deal.” The faces of many older women with some sadness in their eyes. These women have called me their pastor at one time or another.  Their husbands don’t come around the church unless it is a command performance or they are asked to fix something at the church. Most of these men will say they are Christian, when asked. Some have in their head a list of Christian values that got as a child.