10/13/2026
"In Ted Lasso, there is rarely one clean moment when everything is resolved and everybody is suddenly healed. There is just the next decision. The next conversation. The next opportunity to show up differently.
And I think that is a much more honest picture of forgiveness than the one we sometimes carry around in church. Because forgiveness is not pretending something didn’t happen. It is not saying, “It’s fine,” when it isn’t fine.
Sometimes forgiveness begins with telling the truth about what happened. And sometimes it begins with admitting that we are not ready yet, but we want to become people who can get there."
This weekend, Rev. Monica Frazier kicked off our "A Playbook for People" worship series by comparing Coach Beard's forgiveness of Nate in "Ted Lasso" to Jesus' conversation about forgiveness with Peter. Peter came and said to Jesus, “If my sibling sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy times seven.”
Forgiveness is not a fixed state of being or a linear journey we embark upon, but rather something in constant flux for both the forgivers and those receiving forgiveness. Whether we are striving to be the person worthy of forgiveness after having caused harm or we are the person striving to find peace with forgiving someone who has hurt us, it takes true emotional and spiritual work.
Who comes to mind when you hear the word forgiveness? What happened that you still wish had gone differently? What do you wish they understood about how they hurt you?
And what about you? Where have you been harder on yourself than you would be on anyone else? What would it mean to believe that you, too, are more than your worst moment? What would it look like to take just one small step toward freedom?
To watch the rest of Rev. Monica's moving sermon, visit Northaven.org.
