James 2:13
…Mercy boasts itself superior to judgment.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
This particular month of September comes loaded with thoughts and feelings about what all has happened in the last year on this planet. A year ago the Prayer of the Lamb was being practiced faithfully by a few people in intercession for the needs of the world prior to the terrorist attacks. The Prayer of the Lamb has since then been engaged by many more as a response to that violent event, and continues to be a form of meditational and intercessory prayer applied to daily life by those seeking a way to hold the whole world situation.
At this time it may be good to reflect again about mercy as it is expressed in the context of the Prayer of the Lamb, Yeshua, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.
It is all a matter of grace.
Grace is God’s unqualified love and positive regard directed toward all, and grace is the way God’s mercy comes to us. Grace is the process of mercy, the way mercy occurs. Mercy is at the heart of the Creator, and so it can be said that nothing comes to be or lives that is not of or from mercy, and is intended by the Creator’s heart to reveal mercy.
However we do not have to look very far before we encounter violence and injustice, war and suffering, either globally or in our own homes. Yet no event occurs in isolation or can detach from relationship. It is this absence of consciousness of mercy that is utter poverty of knowing and accepting the grace through which each has the possibility of emerging as an expression of the Creator.
The scandal of mercy is that mercy sees all as innocent. Mercy looks at each being as the creative expression of the presence of the Creator. Mercy responds to this presence with kindness and generosity. Mercy desires to give itself that all may share in the joy of awareness of Christ’s presence. In this giving the attitude of poverty cannot survive. In the realization of this abundance of mercy, anger and aggression dissolve. We are freed to express the generosity of the open heart ready to embrace union of hearts. And such open hearts come to discover that there is a process of transformation going on until we see in each other the image and likeness of Yeshua.
I would suggest that if this is the process going on, then offering the Prayer of the Lamb individually and in community is both opening the way for and offering the ministry of reconciliation. The vision is for all circumstances of violence, injustice and suffering to be addressed by strong, positive and merciful action that flows from hearts that know this abundance. When we come to wakefulness through our prayer practice, we see the connection between sitting and action. We see the ability to respond – response-ability – and the Prayer moves to action where each of us can be an icon of mercy living by grace, and where we can make a positive contribution toward transforming the condition of life from suffering to grace.
Here is an alternative for responding to violence with more violence. Here is the affirmation of creation through healing and reconciliation. Here is creative response-ability responding in mercy for the world.
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