Mercy

Chat Window

As usual, the window below held a video chat discussion. To help continue the discussion until the next event, the window will be used to make a gallery of maps or memes people send the page via facebook or e-mail.

Until then, something for you to watch, think and feel about.

Read some texts

Pentecost 15 [3] Green

SPB Trinity 14 Week of Proper 24

Year A/2 Continuous:

Take a stroll around town or the countryside. In the UK we have been shaping what you see for millenia.

Hillforts, stone circles, event fences and hedges are statements of power. From the waterloo monuments on hilltops to the barriers dividing private property from common grazing they chart a history of triumph, oppression, and triumph over oppression.

Look with new eyes and pray.

What do you read from the landscape? Modern farming that liberates city dwellers from starvation or free wild berries that give us sweet things when the nights begin to draw in? Fox hunters or custodians of the landscape, tied to place and tradition by family and birth?

Try to see both the joy and the injustice.

Let the practice of Mercy inform your understanding.

Gospel

Matthew 18:21 - 35

New Testament

Romans 14 1-12

Old Testament

Exodus 14:19 - 31

Psalm 114 or Exodus 15: Moses and Miriam song and dance version

The theme of Mercy has been chosen for this week.

From the reading from Romans:

"Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarrelling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables...

...Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds... 

Conspiracy theories, and their role in politics, is an issue which has become increasingly important with the rise of social media. This is amplified by the rapid increase in online life brought about by covid precautions.

Of especial relevance to the Church are examples like Q-Anon, anti-mask gatherings and far right groups who adopt charismatic and evangelical beliefs.

It is not unusual for the same people who would critisise the Church for being authoritarian and oppressive of minorities to also critisise the Church for not standing up to this.

...We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's ...

...Why do you pass judgement on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God...

Social Media can provide an excellent forum for discussion of opinions. It is also a new area of human activity where all of us have much to learn.

What can we learn from our religious inheritance to help us take part in online life? After all, most of the New Testament records events which took place in forums...

Questions for our online discussion.

Conduct online

How should the way we speak/write vary with the context?

Are some contexts better than others for specific purposes?

Online, what is private, and what is public.?

How does Mercy work?

Is there a difference between personal and unversal justice?

Does forgiveness require forgetting?

When is it appropriate to dance with joy and celebrate victory

• over a situation?
• another group of people?
a person?

Craft Activity

Draw a map of what you see, not just the physical landscape, but the layers of heritage, ideology and imagination which lie on in it.

Or make a meme.

Can you use humour without putting people down?

Can you be clear without aggressive confrontation?

How do you let the truth speak quietly with power?

Please share the Memes and Maps you make using the Quartz facebook page or by e-mailing.

Go in Peace, to Love and serve the Lord

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