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-======   ... ======
+====== Abundant Mercy  ... ======
-Friday, Feb 15, 2019.
+Friday, Feb 15, 2019. Sometimes when you see or hear things in our community which
+are not working well, you could become very angry. This can happen in politics. It
+can happen just around you, in your neighborhood. It can happen in our schools, when
+your kids talk about behaviour of teachers or administration. What when you see
+some behaviour of another person, which is really bad? You could become very angry
+about it! There are good reasons for this. There is, however,
+also another reaction pattern: mercy. What is it about?
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-** ... **
+** How to react? ... **
+Let us study a situation where King David, the great king of Israel, took Bathsheba
+as wife, the wife of Uriah, one of his soldiers. The prophet Nathan came after him
+to address the evil in his actions. Here is a Psalm about the situation:
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 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
 </color> (from Psalm 51)
+There are three main elements here in the psalm, and in the whole situation. First,
+the prophet is addressing the sin of David. Sin is a term used for any behaviour which
+does not meet the holiness and purity of the eternal God and creator. David is taking
+away the wife of another man. Also, he is killing this man through putting him into
+the front line in battle. Murder and adultery are both severe sins, very evil behaviour.
+It completely violates the trust, truth and love of God.
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-**  ... **
+** Repentance ... **
+The second element in the situation is truth and repentance. David is told his sin,
+and he is realizing it. He is admitting that it was sin and is sin what he did. It
+is evil against the man Uriah. It is evil against the woman Bathsheba. It is evil
+against mankind, it destroys reliability and trust. And it is evil against God,
+who created men to live in love and truth and unity with him.
+David is repenting. He is turing around from his behaviour. He is realizing the full
+gravity of the situation. He is admitting his transgressions. That is a crucial
+thing in the whole personal development of David, and even the history of faith
+as a whole. David is repenting!
+And, third,
+God is cleaning David from all his sin. He is washing him. He is showing mercy.
+It does not mean that there are no consequences at all. There are many. But God
+is filled with deep mercy. David is restored, and he is developing into the great
+king which he has been during his life time until today.
+God's mercy is always there. But for it to become powerful in our life we need
+faith and repentance. God is cleaning us. In Jesus and his death at the cross he
+is setting a cornerstone of this process. In him, we are renewed. Still, faith
+is needed, repentance is needed - otherwise we stay outside of this process. But
+the deep mercy and passion of the Lord is there, to enter our life today and
+tomorrow, to be in our life each and every moment forever!
 (Roland Potthast)
 [[http://www.jesusnetwork.eu/en/topics_collection_ix|... further texts]]