THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
Every person of faith must ultimately make one central, defining choice about what they will believe and how they will practice their spirituality. And that choice is at the heart of this week’s theme.
If you attend worship this Sunday, you may hear Jesus say in the Gospel reading from Matthew: “Go and learn what this means: I want mercy and not sacrifice.” And that is the choice we must make: will we make our faith and lives about religious sacrifices, getting doctrine right, focussing on personal purity, and bending over backward to observe every letter of the Law, or will we choose mercy, compassion, grace, inclusion, and love as the basis for how we live and what we believe?
This week we shift from the first half of the Church Calendar, which focusses on God’s story of salvation, to the second half which highlights our story of following Christ in our lives and world. And how we answer the question of whether we choose mercy or (religious) sacrifice will shape what we believe, how we live, and how we treat the people around us. And that’s why it is one of the most important choices we will ever make.
This week, our meditations challenge us to release our legalism and self-righteousness and choose mercy and love as our guiding values.
To download this week’s reflections in PDF format, click here.
