23-Oct-22 (Luke 18:9-14)

Have you ever done something pretty bad? In our story for today, Jesus is telling a story about two people praying. The first one prays, "Thank you God that I'm so good. Thank you that I'm not like that guy over there." But the second one prays, "I know I've done some things that are really bad, God. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."
Of those two people, who do you think had the right attitude? [Wait for answers.]
The thing is that both of those people had done things that they shouldn't have been proud of. Both of them, like all of us, need to be forgiven by God. Yet the proud one just couldn't admit it, even to God.
So here's the thing, when you do something bad, you should always remember to ask God to forgive you. You should also go to the people who are hurt by what you've done, apologize, and try to make it better.

Let's pray about that.
God, help us to remember that we do need to ask you to forgive us when we do something bad. Help us to try to make things better when we do. But also, since you have forgiven us, help us to forgive other people as well.
We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.