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Mercy

beggar_r

Put to rest

what you thought of me.

While I clean this slate

with the hands

of uncertainty.

So let mercy come

and wash away

what I’ve done.

Linkin Park

The mercy of God is a well-known theme in the Bible, and we can see God’s mercy at work in the Exodus and the Cross. But what exactly is mercy? Is it an action or an emotion? Or is it more like a character trait? And more importantly, what does mercy look like in the life of everyday Christians? In the morning sermons at St James, we will try to tease out the nature both of God’s mercy and ours, and seek some inspiration and motivation for practising mercy. We will also try to distinguish mercy from other biblical virtues like grace and justice and love, and from other ideas of mercy which we might encounter outside the Bible.

As part of this three-week series, daily devotional readings and questions will be posted, along with other reflections and references for studying and practising the idea of mercy. Below are some of the key Bible passages for the topic, which we will explore:

The underlying idea for this sermon series comes from The Distinctiveness of Mercy as a New Testament Virtue, a paper which explores the biblical language and usage of ‘mercy’ with a view to its definition, fostering and practice.

Week

Passage

Title

Talks/Devotions
1 Ex 33:12-19, 34:5-10 God’s Mercy button_mp3button_pdf
2 Luke 10:25-37 Our Mercy button_mp3button_pdf
3 Matt 18:23-35 Other Mercies button_mp3button_pdf

By Jon 5:30 pm

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Continuing the Discussion

  1. Epilogue to Ephesians – St James, this Sunday linked to this post on Nov 2, 2009

    [...] Mercy – Coming Soon [...]

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