(Matthew 18:15-20)

15"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. 18"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be[d]bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven. 19"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

This is a story from the Bible about how hard it can be to say “sorry”. The brother sins and refused to say “sorry” and so he has witnesses brought against him to prove that what he did was wrong.

The simplest way to tell someone that you’re “sorry” for doing something wrong is to say “sorry!”

“Sorry!”

Now imagine you’re playing with your brother (or sister)’s toys. They start to cry. Your mother comes into the room. You might say

“Sorry!”

Sometimes, especially with people you don’t know, you might want to say ‘I am “sorry”’. For example, imagine you’re in school. There is an accident. The teacher comes in and asks what has happened. In this situation, you would say:

Ah! I’m “sorry!”

Now, if you need to say “sorry” for doing something wrong to someone you know well or care about a lot, we often add the words ‘really’ or ‘so’ to emphasise how we feel. If you are playing with a friend and you tread on their toe (or break their toy) then you might say:

I’m really “sorry”, I didn’t mean to tread on your toe

Finally, it can be a good idea to explain to people what you are “sorry” about. If you eat the last piece of cake or drink all the milk or tell a lie then you might want to say:cake and they are annoyed, you might say:

“Sorry” for eating the last piece of cake!
“Sorry” for drinking all the milk!

"I'm “sorry”." Why are those two little words so difficult to say? Maybe it is because we think that people will still be angry with us or because we are ashamed or embarrassed at what we have done.

Elton John sang a song about how hard it is to say “sorry”

What have I got to do to make you love me
What have I got to do to make you care
What do I do when lightning strikes me
And I wake to find that you're not there

What do I do to make you want me
What have I got to do to be heard
What do I say when it's all over
And sorry seems to be the hardest word

It's sad, so sad
It's a sad, sad situation
And it's getting more and more absurd
It's sad, so sad
Why can't we talk it over
Oh it seems to me
That sorry seems to be the hardest word

What do I do to make you love me
What have I got to do to be heard
What do I do when lightning strikes me
What have I got to do
What have I got to do
When sorry seems to be the hardest word

The Bible tells us that ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16). Does this mean that when we say “sorry” and mean it. We are forgiven

Sometimes (hands up)
Usually (hands up)
Always (hands up)

God has given us a good deal in Christianity because every time that we say sorry we will always be forgiven. Here is a sorry picture for you to take away with you

Material taken from: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials