Use the arrows to see more variations of Jenga success...

It's all about having just the right touch at the right time.

That can also be said of how one makes use of mercy and justice, which is what we're focusing in on in the final Spotlight of this series: "Grace or Disgrace."

Before diving in, permit just a little review of where you've been in the series to set things up for its final Spotlight. Justice is passing, as a series, has been exploring humanity's (individuals, groups, societies, or everybody's) relationship with the big idea of a just world. 

1. At first, you focused on what justice just isn't, pointing out that if one is talking about a "good" version of justice, it will not include vengeful, retributive, or punitive motives. 
2. Next, you focused on a rational explanation of God's wrath: When God acts in wrath, or in a way that is punitive, it is done in order to disillusion humanity of the desire for the version of "justice" in which God pursues full, fair, merciless judgment.
3. Once you're moving away from a God who would act (and encourage people to act) with unflinching justice, how should you react when God puts you through things, even natural consequential things, that can be unpleasant and feel like punishment? In the third focus of the series, you saw that there are times when God is using the refiner's fire to move you toward the purer, better, mercy-oriented world that he has for you - despite your resistance.
4. And finally, today, you'll explore how both justice and mercy are tools you are equipped to use in moving the world toward God's loving kindness (and away from putting faith in justice.)

Here's where you're headed: 
There are still times when a justice-focused action or motivation can be appropriate even as you acknowledge that the true system in which humanity is meant to live - or better, needs to live - is an unjust (read: merciful!) one because it is defined by unconditionally loving kindness. Those who find hope in the story of Jesus are shaped by this, because they recognize that they are certainly not beholden to justice and certainly are beholden to mercy. This leads Jesus' followers to ask: What will it look like to think and act in a way that does not reinforce justice or enable injustice, but rather leads to loving kindness and mercy?

Now that you've answered the Icebreaker, here's another question - this one, about a bending universe.

Hopefully that makes enough sense to get you started. As you continue into the Worship portion of the Spotlight, pray this prayer together:

Lord,
Place in our hearts a dream of a world that
thrives beyond the constraints of justice,
where love and mercy are plentiful, free,
and sufficient to satisfy every heart.
Use that dream to draw us together
to act as if that world is here among us, even now.
Amen.

This loyal love of God - in Hebrew KHESED or HESED - is used to talk about mercy, love, and is sometimes even translated "lovingkindness" because it is too big a concept for just one English word.

In 2017, I (Kent) tried to write a song that explored how this quality of God transforms things for us. I called it "The Line" because it feels, sometimes, like this love puts you between some big concepts, including the big Biblical ideas of "Law" and "Gospel."

When theologians talk about "Law," they're talking about a set of standards that need to be met for everything to be OK - standards which, if left unmet, will have consequences.

When theologians talk about "Gospel," they're talking about the story of Jesus living a perfect life and giving the credit for that perfection to humanity in order to "make up for" our shortcomings when it comes to the "Law."

HESED kind of supersedes all this. If the Law was given to disillusion us of "justice," and the Gospel tells us that even within the justice-system we are loved by God, HESED tells us that all of this is true because God has always loved us.

Below is a pretty...mid-quality?...recording of the song. I offer it here because I think that lyrically it offers a couple of useful ways to consider what it feels like to be enamored with this "HESED" kind of love in a world where it doesn't always fit.

A Prayer of HESED

God of loyal love,
before there were commandments, before there was a cross,
there was you -
choosing us, holding us, delighting in us.

We confess that we still feel the weight of the Law;
the standards we cannot reach,
the justice we cannot secure,
the fear that we will never be enough.
We confess that we cling to the Gospel
as though it were a loophole, instead of a gift,
because we cannot imagine a world
where mercy is the starting point.

But your hesed -
this stubborn, steady, pursuing love -
stands before all of it.
It is older than our failures,
truer than our efforts,
stronger than our shame.
It does not wait for us to improve.
It does not negotiate.
It simply loves.
So teach us to live in that love—
not escaping the world,
but inhabiting it differently.
Let your HESED soften what judgment hardens,
heal what guilt corrodes,
and free what fear constricts.
Let it reshape our imaginations
so that mercy feels like home.
And when we find ourselves standing on the line
between justice and grace,
between command and promise,
between who we’ve been and who you are making us,
remind us that you are there too,
not pushing, not demanding,
but staying.
Thank You for being the beginning and the end
of every story we tell about ourselves.
Amen.

Take a look at the participant handbook and ReadMe guide of the "Mentoring a Returning Citizen" course offered by Prison Ministries. This is an excellent resource for anyone who is interested in helping people re-acclimate to society after incarceration.

View the resource here or scan the code below.

This closing prayer requires 3 volunteers. 
 
One:           O God, who has created your children to be free,
                  we attest in word and deed
                  that you are our God and we are your people.
                  From our earliest days you have called us forth
                  from self-seeking bondage, comfort,
                  complacency, and complaint,
                  to freeing and redeeming action for justice
                  everywhere in the world.
 
All:             You are our freeing God,
                  and we would be your free and freeing people.
 
Two:          O God of Exodus and the Burning Bush,
                  of the Prophets and of Jesus,
                  we hear your powerful calling to be your servants
                  in the service of all those who are oppressed.
                  At every turn we hear your voice in the cries of the poor,
                  the hungry, the imprisoned, and the broken,
                  for you made yourself one with those who seek justice,
                  freedom, and peace.
                  We share a vision, a promise,
                  and a yearning for the day of your reign, O God.
 
All:             You are our servant God,
                  and we would be your serving people.
 
Three:        O God, Our Sustainer,
                  search our hearts and reveal to us our sinfulness,
                  all the ways that we contribute to injustice
                  and to self-destroying bondage.
                  Give us deep courage to find the true path of your way,
                  ready to give our very selves as living sacrifices for your will.
                  We have heard your calling.
                  Hear us now as we make our pledge.
 
All:             You are our God and we are your people.
                  We pledge ourselves now to pursue relentlessly
                  that living, breathing grace
                  which transforms persons and peoples.
                  To your will for justice we recommit ourselves
                  and pledge ourselves, our funds, our actions.
                  Through Christ we pray. Amen.

Close this Spotlight with the song "May You Find a Light."