Coping with Difficult People
This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church this past Sunday. The text is Matthew 18:15-20. People are difficult, aren’t they? Relationships are troublesome, at times. It is often those we love the most who hurt us the most. We are most vulnerable with them, and then we get stomped on. Do I sound pessimistic? Sometimes our experiences make us this way. I could, like most of us, list a whole host of hurts and disagreements, but what does God have to say about it all? In the e-ministry, I shared the story of how there was some division within a small group of friends, pastors at that! One of the ladies is very loving and concerned about everyone, but in her desire to help, can be pushy. I need to tell a story about a previous time we got together for dinner. It was when we were experiencing an abundance of smoke from Canada. This particular friend always wants to eat outside. Well, the air was so thick with smoke, that none of the rest of us wanted to. She was the las