Love and faithfulness meet together
Righteousness and peace kiss each other. Ps. 85:10
Alan facilitated this exercise, personifying Mercy. Truth. Justice. Peace. It is a brilliant exercise – though as I was talking with Nicole, the youth has a harder time extrapolating and understanding the reason for these four, if they never experienced war. Nicole believe that if we change the narative to social media war, and canceling culture, and online harassment and defamation… they may underhand forgiveness and mercy, truth and justice and peace…
A simplified version of that verse, translated from Spanish is:
Mercy & truth embrace
Justice & peace kiss
And then we discussed these question in small groups. It is very hardy food for thought.
- If this quality (mercy, truth, justice, or peace) was to become a person, what would Your message be in this context?
- What would you need, and how do you know when you’ve got it?
- What would happen if your message was ignored?
- What would happen if your message dominated?
- Which of the other three qualities is your best friend or ally, and why?
- Which of the other three qualities gives you the most difficulty, and why?
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The conclusion I wrote in my notes is that: Mercy is the least humane & most Devine
Power With – The View from Below
*It remains an experience of incomparable value that we have for once learned to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed and reviled, in short, from the perspective of the suffering. If only during this time bitterness and envy have not corroded the heart; that we come to see matters great and small, happiness and misfortune, strength and weakness with new eyes; that our sense for greatness, humanness, justice, and mercy has grown clearer, freer, more incorruptible; that we learn, indeed, that personal suffering is a more useful key, a more fruitful principle than personal happiness for exploring the meaning of the world in contemplation and action.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, After Ten Years
Power-over traps us in fear and denial. Power-with is harder, but it opens space for dignity, justice, and peace.
How to practice power with:
- Practice Proximity: Who do we need to be with, not over?
- Share Decision-Making: Where could we create more participation?
- Name Power Honestly: What dynamics need to be brought to light?
- Read Scripture from Below: How does it change how we read our Scriptures?
- Risk Solidarity: Where are we called to risk comfort or privilege?
• Reexamine your center: How might we measure faithfulness and success differently?