“Be imitators of God.” Seems like a pretty tall order from St. Paul. I can’t imitate God in creation nor can I imitate God in redemption. How am I supposed to heed the Apostle? What we can do according to the epistle is imitate God in forgiveness. “Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.” Forgiveness is hard. We tend to think that if we forgive we are giving the perpetrator a pass, that the harm he caused will somehow be diminished if we forgive. The gospel suggests the opposite. When we forgive we are demonstrating, like Jesus on the cross, that even the worst of offenses does not change our identity as beloved children of God.