Forgiveness is to let go, to release, and to cease harboring the past. It is the fading away of those beliefs that cloud our ability to love.

Forgiving brings us together. It binds us together. “Binding together,” from the Latin religare, is the very root of the word, religion.  We are bound together in religious community. Forgiveness is indeed a religious act.

The Rev. Dr. Lynn Ashley is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist and longtime friend of Saratoga UU, where she spoke for the first time at Temple Sinai, our first meeting place. Prior to returning from retirement three years ago to serve Albany UU as interim co-minister with the Rev. Linda Hoddy (our first minister), she served as contract minister in Fredonia (the UU Congregation of Northern Chautauqua), Barneveld (where she was named Minister Emerita), and Glens Falls. A resident of Voorheesville for the past 37 years, she will be leaving in three weeks to begin a journey of indeterminate length around the United States.