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Good morning. Calls for public apologies of one kind or another are now commonplace, even if the concepts of sin and repentance seem out of fashion. They reach our front pages when they involve celebrities or influential people but they are part of a much wider phenomenon. Victims of abuse have rightly sought apologies from churches and other institutions which have protected abusers. Aboriginal peoples have secured apologies for past mistreatment from various governments around the world. They are a hard won part of the healing of memories and a recognition of terrible injustice. But some apologies are complex. The fascination of the Frost-Nixon interviews was focussed on the section where the former President said he had let down the American people. But he chose his words carefully. They were interpreted in a variety of ways. A highly calibrated apology can be perplexing. When my children were young I’d sometimes find myself saying “no, you can’t watch television until you’ve apologised to your brother” or something similar after sibling rivalry had exploded. Eventually I’d get a resentful and mumbled “sorry”, just enough to pass muster but with no real repentance in it. My Good Parent Guide wasn’t much help.   The Christian tradition is shot through with repeated apologies to God and to our brothers and sisters in almost every act of worship. And it’s invariably followed by a declaration of God’s forgiveness. Hearing words of forgiveness repeatedly leads some people to become convinced they should forgive an injustice done to them without seeking an apology first. It can seem the only way through. Leonard Wilson was Bishop of Singapore in the Second World War, and ended up in Changi jail as a prisoner of war. Along with many others he suffered terrible beatings. He shouted out “Father, forgive them” attempting to imitate Christ. He said that even as he did so he wondered whether he really meant it. But something drove him on. If he could declare forgiveness to his tormentors he was staking a claim for his freedom. They couldn’t possess his soul. He survived and came back to England to be a well-loved Bishop of Birmingham. One day he returned to Singapore for a confirmation service. He felt a wave of fear as one of his tormentors came forward to kneel before him to be confirmed. The man later told the bishop “at first you made me angry, then I became curious and now I hope I’m a different person”. Even without such an amazing outcome Bishop Wilson said that his determination to forgive kept his mind and soul sane. He refused to surrender. But that day this man’s change of heart, the profoundest apology of all, brought fresh healing.