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As his executioners were nailing his hands to the crossbeam, Jesus said: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

For those with questions about forgiveness and mercy in the absence of repentance, the big answers are, of course, found in prayer. And yet part of the answer is to be found in the definition and nurture components of mercy, for it is more than the forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s sphere of influence. It goes beyond the discretionary power of a civil magistrate to pardon someone or to mitigate punishment. Mercy can also be a simple act of compassion, or something that gives evidence of divine favor; merited or unmerited. It is truly a blessing and entirely consistent with Our Lord’s Gospel of loving-kindness.

As Jesus demonstrated on the cross, there is a higher quality of righteousness than justice. Jesus told us to minister to the sick, the fainthearted, and those bound by fear. As we share the Gospel, we help free those enslaved by evil. And we can do all of this unencumbered by any analysis paralysis or concern over judgment for excessive kindness because of the grace factor. Grace is, by definition, unmerited favor. Consider the words of Jesus: “Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

Consider also, the example Jesus gave about the man who steals your coat. By the Master’s admonition, in our time we would likely give the thief a set of matching gloves and perhaps even a scarf for a dash of color. Now would we do this simply to keep from getting shot or is there a larger principle involved? I believe our act of kindness in the face of such evil is the Peacemaker’s equivalent of shock and awe. It would serve to challenge the righteousness of the self-centered thief. And even though it may not spur in him an instant conversion to altruistic hero, it also won’t support his notion that everyone’s in it for themselves. He has, at least, one unsettling example of a fellow human being acting unselfishly. Until he grows to understand your motivation, the unusual experience will be hard to reconcile in his mind.

Jesus said: “Freely you have received, freely give.” There appears to be no record of any requirement that we play Mother May I to go about doing good. And yet we have all seen the cartoon of a boy scout trying to help an elderly woman across the street only to have her beat him with her umbrella. We’ve experienced disappointment in situations where our charitable acts have failed to produce lasting improvement in the lives of those we’ve sought to help. But we are not called to micromanage the attitudes or the lives of others, for we know that a world without the possibility of unwise judgment would be a world without free intelligence.

If someone we are trying to help seems impelled, by the accumulation of emotional conflicts, to seek relief in unhealthy forms of self-expression; or if they persist in the unwise pursuit of destructive pleasures, it would be inconsistent with our loving service mandate to be a pit-stop along such a suicidal course. We are not required to cater to every indulgence or to support professional alms takers. When Jesus told us to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves, He was teaching us the value of discretion in the context of patience, tolerance, and forgiveness.

While we are not called to sit in judgment on the heart and soul of others, we can certainly respond to their outward expression. Jesus said: “By their fruits you shall know them.” The Gospel is about the value we each add to the living, growing family within the Kingdom of Heaven.

The ministry of mercy is, in essence, the choreography of the Spirit. Jesus described the role of the Spirit as one of helper, leader and comforter. Implicit to the Spirit’s ability to lead us into all truth are the powers of discernment and discretion required by anyone actively engaged in mercy ministry. When God calls us to a ministry, He makes provision which means He insures that we are appropriately equipped.

Jesus said: “This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you.” His is a wise parental love. And He demonstrates, even today, that the key to such wisdom is prayerful submission to the Father’s will. Through prayer we enjoy a clarification of viewpoint, an enrichment of thought, a technique for the adjustment of difficulties, and the opportunity to express our gratitude. When prayer moves us beyond a recital of personal concerns to become a declaration of faith and a sincere expression of spiritual attitude; when it transcends the petitioner’s repetitions and embarks on the discovery of higher inclinations, it transforms the soul for a mighty mobilization.

Our part in mercy ministry is to go where great things are waiting to be done; to set the stage for healing, to bring about opportunities for salvation. We are as notes in merciful chords of divine compassion. We know that God will not suffer a single person who calls on His name in true faith, and with a pure heart, to fail. And our merciful ministrations help to reveal the Father’s heart of love and compassion. The spirit techniques of mercy ministry may well be beyond our comprehension, but we can understand, even today, that mercy is essential to growth.

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While attention to detail is a good thing, every nurseryman will tell you, rot is often the result of over-feeding or over-watering. Now it may be useful to dwell on this particular axiom for a moment because it lends itself well to the case for and against micro-managing. At the risk of pursuing analogies that break down or the folly of subjecting parables to allegorical interpretation; I would point out that Jesus demonstrated a particular fondness for growth parables.

In the modern day nursery, young plants are routinely fed, watered on a precise schedule, and even enjoy supplemental lighting on cloudy days. The nursery temperature is carefully monitored and adjusted. Predatory insects are kept away. If the plant is mainly ornamental and destined for the indoors, it may live out its entire life without serious challenges to its own splendiferous array and luxurious growth. It is, in effect, bred to expect just the right amount of light, food, water and heat at precisely the right time.

If, on the other hand, the seedling is being raised for field service, for erosion control, reforestation or holding fast against the winds, it must successfully transition from the nursery to, what is in essence, boot camp in the form of a cold frame. Here the new recruit will itself have to dig in for nourishment, to establish and maintain its stance while reaching high for the nourishing rays of the sun. It must do all of this while subjected to randomized cycles of hot and cold plus less predictable lighting. It must elbow its way to the canopy top and overcome increasingly crowded conditions.

Now if we truly care about our charges, how can we consign them to such brutal conditions? If we are raising a family of hothouse orchids or other fragile flowers to occupy a fine tuned environment, little correction is ever warranted. We may run for the watering can at the first sign of a wilted leaf or panic at the first sign of an aphid attack. We may indulge the impulse to intervene at the first hint of adversity. But generally things will run smoothly and we can take great pride in our floral displays.

If however, we are raising our young charges to make their mark in the outside world well then, a hardening off must ensue. The nurturing infrastructure necessarily becomes increasingly competitive. As with the wheat and the tares, seedlings may be permitted to grow together so that the more desirable plants can develop superior disease resistance and the quality of endurance. As our fledglings become less perishable we worry less about how they will stand up against the onslaughts of time.

Likewise God is raising ruggedized human beings for service in the mission field, an arena of competing ideas. He has given us the chance to experience the thrill of victory in the face of temptations to default. And yet, this does not lessen our responsibility for exercising special care and attention during a child’s tender years. We must, of course, guard against any narcissistic tendencies and encourage the ascent of true character.

No courage is required of those immature souls that have aligned themselves with the popular, the rich, and the powerful. In contrast, mature adults can reasonably be expected to stand steadfast against the lure of superficiality, the ravages of licentious authorities and seduction by discredited principalities. It takes great amounts of moral fiber to avoid the pitfalls and speak truth to power. But we are seemingly submersed in a counter-culture that is designed to break down and digest that fiber. The decomposition enzymes in this case are the incessant yearnings of a glandular elite that wields great influence and offers very little in the way of common sense.

When such a culture becomes an indispensable part of a child’s nurturing environment, we have introduced a pathogenic predator into the nursery. Whether by the adolescent mentality of those indiscriminately parading, and thus cheapening, their libido; or by the purposeful designs of those who would undermine all that is true, beautiful and good; parents have a unique obligation to safeguard their children against all such corruptive influences.

Sowing seeds of self denial for some undisclosed but higher reality is the mark of maturity. Personal discipline is a key component to any reality based success. And it is the undying hope of all true parents that their children shall enjoy such a success. Good and bad habits take hold during the formative stages of growth. And no child should be burdened with having to overcome bad habits that were ingrained as part of a failed parenting strategy.

In the story of Job we encountered the unwise counsel of a self-indulgent Elihu who said: “I will speak, that I may be refreshed.” While free speech is a fundamental right, it can also be an unwise form of self-gratification. Fully engaged parents recognize the difference. Aloofness does not. Parental guidance informs a child’s values. Laxness does not. The practice of self mastery is a mark of superior parenting. Unbridled pleasure seeking is most certainly not. And, by their fruits you shall know them.

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One of the things those called to ministry do is an exercise called The River of Life. In it we are asked: “If you were able to compare your life with a river, what would the river look like?” The exploration became even more meaningful to me, and intensely personal, as the following four additional questions were presented.

• When and where are the smooth, flowing waters – those times when events and relationships seem generally positive or there is a sense of ease about life? 

• When does the river take a sudden turn (and what caused the turn), or change from smooth waters to rough, tumbling rapids, or to an excited rush of water?

• Are there rocks or boulders falling into your river – unexpectedly landing there, changing its direction forever?

• Are there points at which it flows powerfully and purposefully or seems to slow to a trickle?

At one retreat we were asked to present drawings of our rivers. I was surprised as the youngest among us held up sketches that seemed very short whereas mine had two pages of tributaries. Then again, I’m sure our angels were amused by the fact that, on the scale of Eternity, I somehow thought my life was long.

The tributaries for my river featured the occasional puddle that I associated with being house broken. There were also refreshing springs that I remember as sweet tasting. But, by far, the thing I remember most is people, from all walks of life, talking to me. These were the babbling brooks. And I wasn’t listening. Well, every once in awhile a message might seep in.

I distinctly remember the phrase “You’re not listening!” as spoken by my parents, my teachers, and many others in authority over me. As I reflect upon these earliest impressions, I realize I wasn’t really goal oriented but, in light of how God has ordered my steps, I’m hesitant to characterize my life as one of aimless wandering.

When I decided I really wanted something, I was willing to work hard to get it. When I found a radio station that I really liked, I developed the strategy, mapped the tactics, and secured the licensing necessary to have them give me a job. In between high school and my all too brief college career, I literally rocked around the clock with afternoon shows. an all night show and another one on Saturday mornings. I was high on sleep deprivation and little white pills. Then it all came crashing down as my high school sweetheart dumped me. My immediate response was to go into the station’s record library and pull every love song I had ever heard. Friends and other listeners described the six-hour show as a rock opera. For me, one song in particular stood out. It was by Simon and Garfunkel and included the chorus “I’ve just been fakin’ it, not really makin’ it.” I was finally listening.

What ensued was a two year program of soil conditioning wherein God prepared my heart for the seed that would finally take hold in 1972. The surreal would soon give way to an enthusiastic embrace of total reality. God used it in my life, and I can clearly see just how the river of that young life took a sudden turn. One night, as the Who song Baba O’Riley was playing and the chorus “teenage wasteland” was ringing in my ears. I thought “how fitting” as the music stopped abruptly and the singer screamed “They’re all wasted!”

I remember thinking; “I don’t wanna be wasted.” This was the actual tipping point or, as I often think of it, my Deuteronomy moment wherein God said: “I set before you life and death, therefore choose life.” There was another song. It was not a chart topper, but even so, it would often seem to be playing in the places I would frequent. The chorus of this particular Moody Blues composition included the line: “When all the stars are falling down, into the sea and on the ground, and angry voices carry on the wind; a beam of light will fill your head, and you’ll remember what’s been said, by all the good men this world’s ever known.” 

Somehow, whenever I heard “the good men,” I would think of Jesus. I didn’t know anything about Him and I developed an insatiable appetite for reading about Him, listening to songs about Him, and having Him orchestrate my thoughts. My re-birth in 1972 was brought about through a long labor. I knew from the get-go that my life would forever be about sharing the Gospel of Jesus! I was grateful for my lowly origin as well as my capacity for experience. I became a counselor, of sorts, to those who were struggling with the modern pleasure mania. I shared my experience, describing how Jesus encouraged me to make healthier substitutions. Instead of reaching for a cigarette, I reached for the guitar. I gravitated towards music that was meaningful to those, “with ears to hear,” including the new me.

I traded a life with no discernible goal orientation to one with a career that was informed, and inspired by, the concept of service throughout Eternity. I envisioned a career that is lived under the continuing influence of the same person that rescued me from the depths of despair. Under the direct tutelage of the Spirit of Truth, we will each learn to master the essentials of the eternal career. For there is no higher reality than that which is lived in the presence of God.

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The concept of God as a Father did not originate with Jesus, Even so, any effort to study his life and teachings will reveal that he exalted and elevated the idea while advancing a more meaningful revelation of God and by proclaiming that every one of us is a child of this Father of love, truly a son of God.

While Jesus experienced all the natural difficulties and contradictions of human existence, he also enjoyed the peace that accompany’s unquestioned trust in God. He knew the thrill of living, by faith, in the presence of our heavenly Father. And this triumphant faith was a living experience of actual spirit attainment. The great contribution Jesus made was that he demonstrated a new and higher type of living faith in God.

His was not a struggling soul at war with the universe and at death grips with a hostile and sinful world. To him faith was not merely a consolation prize for human sorrows. The religion of Jesus was also not a mystic meditation. It was not merely an intellectual reflection. It was, rather, based on a personal spiritual relationship with our Father. It was validated by genuine personal experience. 

The faith of Jesus was living, original, spontaneous, and purely spiritual. This faith was not reverence for a sacred creed, but it was firmly rooted in a profound conviction. It was so real that any spiritual doubts and conflicting desires vanished. He was undaunted, steadfast, and completely free from fear. His consciousness of spiritual invincibility was evidenced by unflinching faith and unquestioning loyalty to the Father and his will.

Jesus highlighted the loyalty aspects of faith that wholly dominated his thoughts, his feelings, his beliefs, his prayers, his teaching, and his preaching. The life and teachings of Jesus are of greatest value to those who are sincere in their quest for truth. To find out what Jesus believed, to discover his ideals, and to strive for the achievement of his exalted life purpose, is to “follow Jesus.” To personally share his religious faith and to enter into the spirit of unselfish service for a great humanity is “to love one another” just as he commanded us to do.

The facts, ideas, and relationships that are the essential elements of universal reality are the corollaries of science, philosophy, and truth. Our progressive comprehension of reality greatly facilitates the approach to God. It is, after all, his creation we are seeking to comprehend. Appreciating the creation is a necessary part of appreciating Our Creator. Experiencing self-completion, self-entirety, and self-totality is understood as the consciousness of identity with reality. The full realization of God, the God-knowing experience, is dependent on some appreciation for total reality. It is, in essence as well as substance, the finding of God.

Our most effective witness is, for the most part, a wholly unconscious and spontaneous expression of the soul. Our personal experience with God is best revealed through the consecration and dedication, of our own wills, through the service of doing the divine will. This spiritual attitude, this personal faith, is the greatest of all offerings. Jesus consistently interpreted religion in the context of the Father’s will.

Of all the knowledge we may acquire, to know the religious life of Jesus will be of the greatest value in this short lifetime and throughout eternity. To Jesus, prayer was always intended as a truly spiritual expression of loyalty, sincerity, thanksgiving, and personal devotion. It was also, at times, a technique for the adjustment of difficulties and the mobilization of soul powers to withstand all human tendencies toward selfishness, evil, and sin.

Jesus was consistently motivated by such living faith. His was a sublime religious experience. The secret of his unparalleled religious life was his consciousness of the abiding presence of God. He attained and maintained it by unbroken communion through intelligent prayer and sincere worship. 

If the living religion of Jesus should suddenly supplant the theologic religion about Jesus, all of humanity would soon realize he truly belongs to us and we to him. Jesus brought to God, as a man of the realm, evidence of humanity’s value to an entire universe. The Master ascended on high as a man, as well as God. He led a life of prayerful consecration to the doing of our Father’s will and ended his mortal life triumphantly.

In light of his origins, and his desire to be close to us as a part of his creation, discussions concerning the humanity or the divinity of the Christ have long obscured the saving truth that Jesus of Nazareth lived a full mortal life as a religious man who, by faith, achieved the knowing and the doing of the will of God. He led by example and taught us that the full summation of human life is revealed as we are educated by fact, ennobled by wisdom, and saved — justified — by faith.

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While binge watching a TV series called Numbers, I was enjoying the sibling rivalry of the two brothers that are the main characters. One is a mathematics professor and the other is a kind of swashbuckling FBI agent. As the swashbuckler enters the professor’s office, a paper airplane falls at his feet. He picks it up and says “Wings are a little thin here buddy.”

The Mathematics Professor fires back with: “Forgive me if all my years of applied mathematics take issue with that assessment.” To that, the swashbuckler replies: “Well, you’ll forgive me if all my years of high school detention say I’m right.”

Some, especially law enforcement officers, would likely say a big part of their education was quite literally through the School of Hard Knocks. Those actually, or just perceived as being, on the wrong side of the law would likely attribute their education to the same school.Billy Holliday paid a big price for singing about Strange Fruit and of course we all know Jesus was also in the “perceived as” category by those who wanted to squelch his message about Spiritual Fruit.

Our Sovereign Lord came to earth to personally experience the joys as well as the injustices that are a part of the human experience. In his Gospel narrative, John quotes Jesus as saying: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one.” Jesus held that the personal experience of faith is one in which challenges are a central feature.

For us, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are practical strivings. Potential evil serves to highlight the good by contrast. Grappling with hardships, reacting to disappointments, facing situations of social inequality, coping with our insecurities, knowing less than we can believe, sorting and sifting through error and falsehood, are all recurring and stimulating challenges to the person of faith.

The irrepressible reach for better things is a powerful witness. You’ve probably seen the popular bumpersticker that reads “It’s All Good.” While, in light of the foregoing list of stimulative challenges, this may be to some extent true. It certainly doesn’t apply to unwise choices, Paul said it best in his epistle to the Romans when he wrote: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”

We are seemingly immersed in a dysfunctional world, where prevaricating politicians want us to take a hard stance on either the left wing or the right wing. And yet, as any native American can tell you, the left wing and the right wing belong to the same bird. Overcoming the gravity of our current geopolitical situation will not happen with the paltry amount of lift that is produced at the wingtips. In other words, no bird can soar except by outstretched wings.

We are pummeled with messaging that prevents us from righting the ship, getting on an even keel, regaining our balance, and maintaining equilibrium. We were told through Proverbs that “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The political operatives of our day have offered no inspiring vision for the planet as a whole. They have instead sought, often in the name of God, to advance their own clubs of self-righteous exclusivity. They have exhibited few of the statesman-like qualities that will move us forward in the knowledge that God divinely loves his people, all of them.

Jesus sent us a Spirit Helper, the Spirit of Truth. He said this Spirit would lead us into all truth. And yet, for this to occur, we must be responsive to Divine Leading. If we are, the Spirit can lead us far beyond the elemental and fundamental religions of our mortal existence into an experiential relationship with the God of all Creation, the First Source and Center, the Cause of Causes, the one and only Uncaused Cause, and the most intimate friendship we will ever know.

Every true teacher acknowledges that experience is the best teacher. When we experience the realization of the Divine Indwelling, our human experience becomes one of perpetual life enrichment, ever progressing reality, a closer walk with Thee, and a relationship with Him that transcends all human controversy. Paul also observed that “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” Indeed it is the experience with Him and in Him that qualifies us for eternal live. The experience acquired in this short lifetime will also serve us throughout all of Eternity.

We have choices before us that will insure our extinction or survival. Our planet will become either an orgy of darkness and death or a world of light and life. This is not a time to land somewhere between wishy and washy or to be proactively straddling the fence.

Jesus said: “This is my command, that you love one another as I have loved you.” The experience of loving is in direct response to the experience of being loved. It is not enough that the Spirit be poured out upon us; the Divine Spirit must dominate and control every phase of human experience.

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I remember watching cartoons during my early childhood. One character in particular made a lasting impression on me due to the confused look he had on his face as an angel was whispering in one ear and the devil was whispering in the other. Decades later, when my son was in middle school, he was describing someone that had gotten into some trouble and said: “Yeah, she has the devil on both shoulders.”

Today, as we habitually cram the talking buds further into both ears, people who lean slightly to the left are pushed further to the left while people who lean slightly to the right are pushed further to the right. As a result, we live our lives on an uneven keel, in a filter bubble that makes it very difficult to relate in a world with competing ideas or to productively engage with anyone that has a contrasting point of view. The spiritual idealism that has the power to take our planet from one level of true attainment to the next is seriously diminished because, as any aviation enthusiast can tell you, very little lift is produced at the wingtips.

Throughout the history of our planet, there have been people, at the commanding heights, who are unable to differentiate between true and false liberty. The bully pulpit is, as often as not, occupied by people that can’t seem to balance freedom with self-control. Many of us, as parents, have had to contend with one or more children that don’t think the rules apply to them.

Sooo, just what is this thing that we call liberty? Is it permissible, in the name of free speech, to yell fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire? Does self-expression on the dance floor mean that you, with your eyes closed, can flail your arms in such a manner that, while you have indeed become the center of attention, it is only because you have become a hazard to others on the floor? And what about truthfulness? Is it ok to mislead someone who may rely upon your word to their detriment?

Liberty that is unintelligent, unconditioned, and uncontrolled is a cruel deception that invariably leads to abject bondage for someone. It may be you; if you should decide to go wilding with the hordes through the hallowed halls of representative government. You could lose your freedom, for life, in accordance with the felony murder rule. You could lose your cherished 2nd Amendment right to own a gun. You could find yourself on a list that forever bars you from boarding a commercial flight. And, you may even end up complementing your mobile phone with an even more trackable ankle bracelet.

There is a delicate balance between true freedom and self-control. And, while good parents teach it, bad-faith pastors do not. The counterfeit wisdom that flows from many in authority, who are often enjoying excessive prominence, is leading us not into an era of light and life, but into an orgy of darkness and death. They often seem ignorant of the fact that, in Our Lord’s Universe, diminishing external restraints are always contingent upon augmenting internal restraints.

The Incarnation of Christ was about the achievement of God seeking us and finding us, together with the phenomenon of our seeking God and finding him. He did that to our mutual satisfaction, and during one brief lifetime in the flesh. The Bestowal was not about giving us license to presume upon Divine Mercy. When we act selfishly, we are behaving in ways that are antithetical to all that Jesus taught and exemplified. When we accumulate wealth, power, and prestige for self-aggrandizement, in ways that work to the detriment of others, we are like a cancer within the Body of Christ. We are modeling a depraved heart indifference.

If humanity chooses survival over extinction, we must turn our attention to those purpose driven leaders that are advancing us towardsan era of light and life. They are easy to recognize because their values proposition is crystal clear. There is no subterfuge. They focus us, as Jesus did, not upon themselves but on our own highest and best understanding of truth, beauty, and goodness as we give creative expression to these qualities. They encourage us to consider just how we can contribute, in an active and spiritually pragmatic way, toward the healing and elevation of life on our planet.

We must learn to recognize any sophistry that has the effect of corroding the democracy underpinnings of our constitutional republic. Long ago, Edmund Burke, in referring to the American colonists, described our ancestors as “able to snuff the approach of tyranny with every tainted breeze.” Today the tainted breezes are delivered by means of powerful airwaves that Burke probably never imagined. And, right now, the most deceptive practices, ones that leverage fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear are generating howling winds in contrast to the gentle breezes of true benevolence. The most refreshing breezes are the ones that are spiritually fragrant, the ones where truth, beauty, and goodness are clearly in evidence.

It is my fervent hope that you will learn to recognize the folly of succumbing to self-serving temptation and instead come to enjoy knowing Jesus, having an inspirational chorus of better angels and tutors on both shoulders.

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Our mind endowing, Spirit bestowing and personality bequeathing God is always aware of our limitations as well as our potential. We are judged fairly in light of our origin, nature and purpose. And, because mercy is inherent in Divine justice, we can always be assured of its availability.

It was Samuel who, at the Spirit’s urging, revived the Mosaic tradition of making comforting proclamations to the humble and the less fortunate. He said: “The Lord enriches and impoverishes; he debases and exalts. He raises the poor out of the dust and lifts up the beggars; setting them among princes to make them inherit the throne of glory.” Samuel also linked a merciful and forgiving attitude with such benefits through this statement: “The Lord is a God of knowledge, and actions are weighed by him. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth, showing mercy to the merciful, and with the upright man he will also be upright.”

Jesus specifically underscored this teaching with the words “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” He also reinforced such linkages when He told us that the merciful shall obtain mercy. He taught us to pray saying “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

And so, while it would appear from these passages that there is some reciprocal association in that you must be merciful to obtain mercy or be forgiving to obtain forgiveness, many of us are reminded of how we secured our own salvation under a circumstance where we were less than deserving. When Samuel’s people felt they were undeserving, he exhorted them: “Let us fall now into the hands of the Lord, for His mercies are great.”

God’s tender mercies may indeed temper His justice, but any presumption of Divine mercy while willfully missing the mark, is likely to bring harsh consequences. Of course it is not our place, or consistent with our calling, to sit in judgment on the hearts of others. That having been said, we should also be mindful of the fact that mercy is precious and dearly bestowed. It is not a gift to be trampled under foot by the unappreciative or those who would thoughtlessly make a mockery of God’s saving grace.

God inspires the higher impulses and holier emotions of men and angels and it is clearly within His purview to overshadow justice with mercy. So how do we engage in a ministry of mercy that does not run counter to His discipline? If we are to exercise wisdom, the relationship between justice and mercy may sometimes give us pause as we don’t want to thwart God’s purpose in any given situation. When we’re told “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” how exactly does that define our role with respect to mercy? Does the act of forgiveness presuppose some shortcoming on the part of those we forgive? We certainly have a biblical and historical basis for this question. After all Hosea preached forgiveness through repentance.

Now if we were to condition our forgiveness on repentance, we would find ourselves judging someone else’s sincerity or the quality of their repentance. Clearly this is not within our purview. But there is an easy way to avoid the whole minefield. We can simply adopt the attitude of Jesus as he was put to death. As his executioners were nailing his hands to the crossbeam, Jesus said: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

As for forgiveness and mercy in the absence of repentance, the big answers are, of course, found in prayer. And yet part of the answer is to be found in the definition and nurture components of mercy, for it is more than the forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power. It goes beyond the discretionary power of a civil magistrate to pardon someone or to mitigate punishment. Mercy can also be a simple act of compassion, or something that gives evidence of divine favor; merited or unmerited. It is truly a blessing and entirely consistent with Our Lord’s Gospel of loving-kindness.

As Jesus demonstrated on the cross, there is a higher quality of righteousness than justice. Jesus told us to minister to the sick, the fainthearted, and those bound by fear. As we share the Gospel, we help free those enslaved by evil. And we can do all of this unencumbered by any analysis paralysis or concern over judgment for excessive kindness because of the grace factor. Grace is, by definition, unmerited favor. Consider the words of Jesus: “Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”

Consider also, the example Jesus gave about the man who steals your coat. By the Master’s admonition, in our time we would likely give the thief a set of matching gloves and perhaps even a scarf for a dash of color. Now would we do this simply to keep from getting shot or is there a larger principle involved? I believe our act of kindness in the face of such evil is the Peacemaker’s equivalent of shock and awe. It would serve to challenge the righteousness of the self-centered thief. And even though it may not spur in him an instant conversion to altruistic hero, it also won’t support his notion that everyone’s in it for themselves. He has, at least, one unsettling example of a fellow human being acting unselfishly. Until he grows to understand your motivation, the unusual experience will be hard to reconcile in his mind.

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Ask any number of Christians why Jesus came to earth and you are likely to receive an equal number of different answers. While one camp will advance the statement “To die for our sins,” others will quote the Gospel according to John and the verse “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” While the unbeliever is likely to be confused by the difference in emphasis, those sharing the cardinal precepts of their faith are always free to choose what amounts to the lead line for the greatest story of all time.

Time provides the essential context for our story. When Jesus was born into this world as a helpless babe, Isaiah had already put forth the question: “”How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are you cast down, you who dared to confuse the worlds!” During his short sojourn on earth, as the Son of Man; Jesus was, in weakness, made powerful by faith and through submission to the will of Our Father.

Prior to the Incarnation Christ had declined to quash the Lucifer Rebellion by power and might. Lucifer’s blasphemous pretensions and shameful misrepresentations resulted in tremendous losses among the children of light. John in the Book of Revelations referred several times to the dragon that became the enduring symbol of the insurrection. He wrote:

• “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon” . . .
• “And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth” . . .

• In referring to God’s angel John said: “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Jesus referred to the devil as the Prince of this world. When the disloyal prince was confronted by the Sovereign of our universe incarnated as Jesus, a great humanity that had been rebellion-segregated was then, depending upon individual choice, liberated, set spiritually free. What Christ had chosen not to do, by the power of arbitrary authority, he did as the Son of Man. When Jesus said: “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you” he not only threw us a life line, but also revealed that Heaven abides personally. Our Heavenly Father actually resides within us.

Now you may be wondering why, as John wrote, the dragon was “loosed a little season.” Any understanding of why must be informed by taking a deep dive into the concept of free will. When we pray to Our Father; “Not my will but your will be done” or “It is my will that your will be done,” we are acknowledging the gift of personal volition. God could have easily created a race of automatons and yet, for a variety of reasons, he chose not to.

The Book of Genesis quotes God as saying “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

John Wycliffe, in the preface to his 14th Century bible translation to Middle English, made it clear that the bible advances “government of, by, and for the people.” The offended priesthood of his day, dug up and burned his bones. Lucifer, and apparently some priests of Wycliffe’s time, would deny the unalienable right of individuals, communities, nations, and even worlds to be the arbiters of their own destiny. 

The Son of God had declined, through the exercise of his creator prerogatives to discredit the those individuals fomenting insurrection. Instead, as the Son of Man, one who was made lower than the angels for a time, he then wrested dominion from the hands of the fallen. In so doing the whole local universe in all fairness clearly and forever recognized the mercy as well as the justice.

The next time you, or a friend in the grips of an atheist perspective, are caught up in the question “If God is all powerful, why does he allow such human misery to exist,” consider the wisdom behind the time lag, wherein the dragon must be loosed for a season. 

God will not allow his justice to destroy what mercy can save. The careful response to Lucifer’s sophistries is a clear indication that God wants us to be free and un-coerced in making a deliberate choice. The Father, and the sons for The Father desire only that loyalty and devotion that is voluntary, wholehearted, and sophistry-proof. We are the ultimate beneficiaries.

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To the earliest hunters and gatherers, the struggle for survival was often a lonely experience. The mind was occupied with fetishes, charms, and magic in an effort to better the odds in the attempt to insure good luck over bad luck. The agrarian societies were among the first to enjoy true settlements. But they were still dependent, to some extent, on the luck of the draw. The dealer in the latter case was one of the many fertility and sun gods that evolved on each continent.

The farmer’s survival depended upon the success or failure of the harvest. They sought to curry favor with their temperamental pantheon through a variety of bribes we term sacrifices. When Melchizedek, the Sage of Salem, introduced bread and wine as a sacrament at what is now Jerusalem, the practice of sacrificing virgins to the volcano became less important to those competing for the favor of distant deities.

By the time Jesus walked the earth, the quest for understanding the Nature and Attributes of God had advanced to a point where Our Heavenly Father was seldom seen as mercurial or wrathful.

One of the ways we rise to a plateau, where we can truly enjoy what God has provided, is through the communities where neighbors gather for the modern day equivalent of a barn raising or bringing in the harvest. The harvest is a time for gathering, sorting, separating, sifting and sharing. It is traditionally a time when the community comes together to assist neighbors with their harvest. It is usually the most labor intensive activity of the growing season. Nothing of value is lost when the harvest is conducted properly.

For those able to appreciate the inspirational qualities of God’s handiwork, it’s easy to become enraptured by the beauty of the landscape. Ralph Waldo Emerson suggested we should “Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God’s handwriting.” Rogers and Hammerstein observed “All the sounds of the earth are like music.” As we gaze upon and listen to the beauty of the countryside, we become more appreciative of and more responsive to the splendor of the stars and the music of the spheres.

All of the de-compacting, rock breaking, row clearing, and soil amending pays off as the objects of our labor come into full fruition. Whether the objects are hearts of lettuce the hearts and minds of humanity, there are similarities in the way we must work to produce results.

Grace is not a matter of luck. It is rather unmerited favor. As the faintest flicker of our faith becomes more serviceable, as our fledgeling loyalties become more dependable, our faithfulness yields increasing certainty as with the trust a child has for a doting parent.

Divinity is the unifying and coordinating quality of Deity. Our loving father is understood through his truth, his beauty, and his goodness. He has arrayed these like pearls on a drawstring that pulls us ever nearer to his heart. We are not coerced into God’s camp. We are instead drawn into the fold through the power of his love for us. We are attracted to his incomparable values, to his quality of coherence, and to his willingness to share even his divine attributes.

He has given us a perfection hunger that venerates all that is proven to be good. We, as an evolving species, have the potential to grow, to become unerringly appreciative of, and responsive to, beauty. And, we are insatiable as truth seekers. As we see the stars moving about some unseen center, and as we pay attention to the higher thoughts that stream through our consciousness, we understand there is much more to this life, than just what meets the eye.

In all of human experience as it relates to the pursuit of happiness, the joy of finding God is, by far, the most real. In the physical world the seedling had to poke through the soil and unfold its leaves as it reached for the warming fire at the center of our solar system. Similarly, our ancestors had to make their way from the slime of the lagoon floor, through a long arduous evolutionary struggle, to stand tall on the mountain tops. Even for them, while the blazing sun was once a focal point, the sun gods were not enough.

For those of us that need help to see past the sometimes blinding rays of the star at the center of our planetary system, God sent his son, that we should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus joined is in our struggle, meeting us on the long journey between the lagoon floor and the Paradise at the center of all creation. Today, he works along side us, doing the heavy lifting while at the same time nurturing.

When the community comes together for the harvest, the most labor intensive activity of the growing season, Jesus is working with us through the Spirit of Truth.

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary over-control.

Ok, well, maybe John expressed it a little differently when he said: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” In the days that Christ walked the earth as Jesus of Nazareth, he certainly knew about all those “pre-biotic events,” but his audience only knew seed that is sown in good soil quickly germinates. They did practice crop rotation so they knew it somehow benefits from an environment below the surface where the soil has retained much of that which nourishes.

They clearly understood that, once planted, a seedling can develop deep roots for water and nourishment while, at the same time, reaching for the warmth and nourishing rays from the sun. With the help of intentional sowers, it can become fully established early to take the best advantage of a long growing season. They also knew something about the laws of fruitfulness because, in the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree, when the farmer told the vinedresser to ‘Cut it down.” Saying ‘Why should it use up the ground?’ The head gardener offered instead to dig around it and put on fertilizer.

Like the gardener, the sower of Gospel seed may remain in place to tend the fields. Whether the sower also plays a role in nurture and growth is largely a matter of circumstance and tradition. Where there are others to whom cultivation may be entrusted, the sower may move on down the road, for there are always other fields to be seeded. Sowing is a speciality similar to that of the Circuit Riders of the early church. Today, they not only carry good seed, the circuit riders also engage in a certain amount of cross pollination.

Just as seedlings depend upon a rich variety of relationships within and above the soil, other communities need such complementary associations if they too are to thrive. To the seedling it is interactions with the microbial biomass together with the life sustaining water and the beneficial rays of the sun. To us, it is the love, mutual support, and the encouragement we enjoy courtesy of our fellows. This is augmented by the inspiration we receive as we grow to appreciate the attitude of bestowal as evidenced by the sojourn of our beloved Sovereign while he showed his desire to come close to the life he created. 

His mercy, his patience, his wise understanding was on full display as Jesus worked to understand our viewpoint through the incarnation experience. As he labored, to help us focus upon the qualities of good soil, he was also teaching us to build up foundations in the interest of authentic community. The individuals that express real appreciation for one another, are the same ones that have taken the time to know what truly motivates those in our midst. These are the building blocks of authentic community and congregations that are truly vibrant.

Few, if any, of those bearing responsibility for pastoral care would be content with tending the mission field equivalent of an ornamental garden. We are, after all, not called to build clubs of self-righteous exclusivity. A spiritual rebirth is not brought about through a program of selective inbreeding. We are instead focused upon the seed bearing and fruit bearing qualities of those within our sphere of influence. Of course all fruit production requires pollination and this is especially important with the Fruits of the Spirit. If the essentials of our faith can not be wisely and effectively socialized or shared, its value to a greater humanity is diminished.

A true understanding of the laws of spiritual fruitfulness is informed by what happens in the physical world. Pollination is an essential part of insuring agricultural crops, as well as human communities, grow to full fruition. Every spring, nearly half (about one million hives) of the honey bees in the United States are trucked to California almond orchards. In New York, the apple crop requires about 30,000 hives and Maine’s blueberry crop uses about 50,000 portable hives each year.

We live in a time when people display plants in their home that derive all the moisture and nutrients they need from the surrounding air. We enjoy salads that are produced through a water culture known as hydroponics. We have soil that is so depleted there is little of what nourishes and the microbial biomass necessary to replenish it has been poisoned. We also have a new generation of growers that view the entire process of growth in a more holistic manner. For much of what is contained in the soil can be carried by other means.

The challenges inherent to building authentic community are similar. When we view those within our unique sphere of influence as Jesus did, we are blessed with a greatly enhanced view of what’s on the horizon. We are better equipped to fulfill his commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Tooling Up for Hydroponics