Possible readings Gen. 50, Ps. 25, Eph. 4:2-3 Part 2 on forgiveness Thoughtful Christian by Janet Ramsey
1) In the opening vignette,Should Charley apologize. should Alice accept it?
2) In your experience what do you consider a proper apology?
3) We live in a time of public apology. do any apologies seem acceptable to us in that forum?
4) What is more difficult being forgiven or forgiving?
5) Our writer moves in psychological territory with narcissism. It is a personality disorder that has a grandiose self-image, with image being the key word, as it does not comport with reality. think of the myth. They are unable to see things without themselves at the center/ their basic question is always what about me. She notes a sense of entitlement.Part of me wants to say we used to call this selfish.
6) She goes on to quickly go into attachment and basic trust. Erikson considered trust as a building block sense for us. as she says, if are care cared for, we can care.
7) She sees control as a major obstacle to forgiveness.
8) She has shame at the individual level. how would you define it? her sense is not doing wrong but a sense of being wrong (bad0.  Again, Erikson found this to be a  very fundamental human sense, connected to our emerging sense of autonomy. Has shame decreased as a social norm lately? she asks about anti-shame pill's ingredients.
9) she says shame pushes us to externalize hurt to avoid it by blaming or withdrawing. What do you think? How is that related to pride?
10) What are some shaming experiences in your life? Notice how easily you relive them once you center on some.
11) what do you think of her suggestion that our image of god affects our image of forgiveness?
12) Why is playing the victim enticing?
13) Why do we hold on to previous images of a person? Why are we then quick to label them as the one who hurt us?
14) What does her research points on anger do to the common presumption that anger needs an outlet?
15) Is human forgiveness impossible without the grace of God?
16) What do you think of her stress on forgiveness as gift and process?
17) How can we link the Lord's supper to forgiveness more fully?
18 ) Can you think of similar rituals to the closing one in Virginia?