“Cities of refuge for sinners” by Cornelius Plantinga Jr.

“Our church communities ought to be cities of refuge for sinners, busy with the traffic of forgiveness, busy with people learning the ‘craft’ of forgiveness–ordinarily by getting apprenticed to a master forgiver or two. The idea is that saints ought to teach forgiveness to saints-in-training. In the holy catholic church (the communion of saints), we should be rehearsing the forgiveness of sins like pianists, practicing the hard parts over and over till we get them right.”

–Cornelius Plantinga Jr., “Rehearsing Forgiveness: Practicing the Hard Parts Till We Get Them Right,” Christianity Today, April 29, 1996, 31.