Filed under: Uncategorized
I’ve been meaning to put this up for some time now, but it’s only now I’ve have finally found a minute between essay work and the hundreds of other things that seem to have been going on recently, so forgive me for that…
Recently I’ve been thinking about the balance between justice and mercy. Justice meaning that people are treated as they deserve – that they are provided with their rights and are treated fairly. But, at the same time, justice can also be a case of those having done wrong not being allowed to get away with it – that they are shown justice and treated appropriately – relative to the deeds or acts they have committed.
Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God (Micah 6v8)
We are called to act justly, and to love mercy.
The bible also makes it clear that God is a just God – and so in light of that we really had better love mercy, because if God treated us only with justice, in the way that we deserve (relative to our actions and how we have lived) we wouldn’t stand a chance! Praise God for His mercy!
This got me thinking – that as Christians we are called to act justly and to not just stand back and let things happen and see people oppressed and downtrodden. We are to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves and demonstrate the love of God by ensuring that people are treated as we would like to be treated ourselves.
At the same time we are to love mercy. To show mercy to others and to not be judgmental in our attitudes towards others. The bit of the Hope2008 video that stuck out to me was about how the church should not be seen as ‘a million wagging fingers, but rather 2 million outstretched arms.’ This reminded me of the story in the gospels of the woman caught in adultery, who was humiliated and condemned (to be stoned to death) by the religious people around her – yet Jesus says simply: ‘Let him without any sin throw the first stone.’
Powerful words.
To me it seems that living out life as a Christian is something of a balancing act between acting justly (acting for justice) and knowing that only those without any sin have the right to throw the first stone. So we need to stand up for what is right, and for those who can’t, as well as not being judgmental and critical of others – and we should be wholeheartedly loving and praising God for His mercy that treats us in a way that we haven’t earned!
Filed under: Friday Night Project
Tonight (2nd Nov) we were challenged to move our faith into action . We asked you all to commit to commenting your ideas on how we should love our community. No ideas to small so start commenting your ideas
Filed under: Uncategorized
Hey guys – just a quick note to say that you did an awesome job over the past two weeks collecting money for the Hope Foundation. We managed to take a quick count of the collection on Friday night and it was currently standing at around £220 which is great! And there could still be some more money to come as some people had said they forgot to bring it. So if you haven’t given any money towards it yet and you still want to – then just speak to one of the leaders and they can point you in the right direction!
>>>UPDATE – The total is now £250!
Filed under: Book Review
Non-religious thoughts on Christian Spirituality
Donald Miller’s fresh and original voice may change the way you view the “status quo” faith and build a bridge to people who believe that organized religion doesn’t meet their spiritual needs.
“I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. . . . I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.” In Donald Miller’s early years, he was vaguely familiar with a distant God. But when he came to know Jesus Christ, he pursued the Christian life with great zeal. Within a few years he had a successful ministry that ultimately left him feeling empty, burned out, and, once again, far away from God. In this intimate, soul-searching account, Miller describes his remarkable journey back to a culturally relevant, infinitely loving God.
(Note: Encounter does not endorse every thought, idea, principle, and/or method addressed in any of its recommended reading.)
Filed under: Uncategorized
This year at Encounter I’m sure your all aware that we are trying to be more ‘outward focussed’ – meaning that we want to be a part of something bigger, and that has an effect outside the four walls of SBC. That’s why we have started ‘Making Our Money Count’, the first of hopefully many events and ideas throughout the year that will help us make a difference to the lives of people across the globe.
How does it work?
Basically the concept is that over the next two weeks (finishing on Friday 12th Oct) we all try and set some money aside, perhaps everyday, as an offering to God. We are suggesting
that you could do this by perhaps deciding that you are going to give up sweets, crisps, fizzy drinks, bottled water or whatever it is that you buy regularly for the two week period and put the money you would usually spend on that aside for a good cause. If you don’t buy anything regularly then maybe you could find another way to set aside money, or perhaps you could spend a little less on lunch everyday or bring a packed lunch occasionally instead of buying stuff all the time.
It doesn’t have be a huge amount – even if you set aside 30p a day for the next two weeks because you decided not to buy a particular chocolate bar everyday then that mounts up to £4.20, and if everyone at Encounter did that it would come to approx £252!
Then What?!…
Then bring the money you’ve collected or set aside from the two weeks along on Friday the 12th October to Encounter and we will put it all together and total it all up. The money that we have raised will then be given to the Hope Foundation, an organisation that Ken McCaw (from the office, but not the programme ‘The Office’) is involved with. This organisation works towards providing clean and safe drinking water for people in Nigeria, and is a very worthy cause.
Your money could literally be saving lives.
