1. The requirements

2. The Prophet Micah To act justly and to love mercy
The requirements
The Prophet Micah
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

3. The requirements
Reverse order
Wk 3
Wk 2
Wk 1

4. The requirements
Week 2: Love Mercy

5. To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
The requirements
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
“Many different words and concepts are involved in explaining mercy. It is loving-kindness, pity, compassion coming from the very center of the being of the one who is merciful”
(New Dictionary of Christian Ethics & Pastoral Theology. Mercy. P.589)

6. Key words? To act justly and to love mercy
The requirements
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Key words?

7. video

8. To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
The requirements
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
"I'm going to take all the circumstances you've just explained to me into consideration"

9. The requirements
BOTH Justice AND Mercy
Justice OR Mercy

10. The requirements

11. I. Behold TAKE ACTION How can we Love MERCY? The requirements
To love someone TAKES ACTION
I. Behold

12. The requirements
I. Behold
Old Testament:
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.
Micah 7:18
To love someone TAKES ACTION

13. The requirements I. Behold New Testament:
“This exact picture of the prodigal son's state of mind enables us to understand exactly what the mercy of God consists in.”
(IOANNES PAULUS PP. II DIVES IN MISERICORDIA)
The Prodigal Son

14. The requirements
I. Behold
The Prodigal Son

15. Who did you relate to? The requirements I. Behold The Prodigal Son
Elder son? Younger?
The Prodigal Son

16. The requirements I. Behold The Prodigal Son
“This is not a story that separates the two brothers into the good and the evil one. The father only is good. He loves both sons. He runs out to meet both. He wants both to sit at his table and participate in his joy”
(Nouwen. The Return of the Prodigal Son p71)
The Prodigal Son

17. The requirements
I. Behold
“As long as I stay outside in the darkness, I can only remain in the resentful complaint that results from my comparisons”
The Prodigal Son

18. The requirements I. Behold The Prodigal Son
“God is urging me to come home, to enter into his light, and to discover there that, in God, all people are uniquely and completely loved. In the light of God I can finally see my neighbor as my brother, as the one who belongs as much to God as I do. But outside of God’s house, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, lovers and friends become rivals and even enemies; each perpetually plagued by jealousies, suspicions and resentments”
(Nouwen. The Return of the Prodigal Son p81)
The Prodigal Son

19. The requirements I. Behold The Prodigal Son
“. . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. . .”
Romans 3:23
The Prodigal Son

20. II. Become TAKE ACTION How can we Love MERCY? The requirements
To love someone TAKES ACTION
II. Become

21. The requirements II. Become
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:36
"Mercy is not merely something that God shows to us (beholding). Mercy is a quality that God expects in us, for those who live close to the Lord are to reflect his character”
(Richards. Expository Dictionary of Bible Words p.440).

22. Who does this include? The requirements II. Become
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:36
Who does this include?

23. The requirements II. Become
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:36
“Not too many years ago I was very angry at individuals at groups at white people, at the corporations, at the United States, at the pope—and, l discovered, at myself especially. Many reacted to my anger with their own. Once I realized that my anger was based in a lack of pathos, I discovered that care, mercy, and genuine understanding must be at the heart of evangelization that invites people, groups, and institutions to conversion.
(Crosby, “Spirituality of the Beatitudes” p.139)

24. The requirements II. Become
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:36
“She was instantly transformed from an angry lecturer to a compassionate mother. ‘In that moment,’ she says, ‘I realized that, even though victims have every right to their pain, we can also turn it around” Hope Magazine

25. III. Bestow TAKE ACTION How can we Love MERCY? The requirements
To love someone TAKES ACTION
III. Bestow

26. The requirements II. Become
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:36
"The emotional session lasted eight hours, with a forty-minute break for lunch. 'I went in there totally for me,' admits Hines, 'but it changed for me as he listened to me. and I listened to him. At one point I remember saying, 'If you knew how much I loved him you wouldn't have shot him, and he just folded....That sad, troubled boy let me see inside his soul. I began to feel such compassion.“
Hope Magazine

27. TAKE ACTION How can we Love MERCY? The requirements I. Behold
To love someone TAKES ACTION
I. Behold
II. Become
III. Bestow

28. Who do you need to be merciful to?
The requirements
Call to Faith:
Who do you need to be merciful to?
To love someone TAKES ACTION