Dreams

DREAMS
and
VISIONS
AN ECONI RESOURCE
Published by:
ECONI,
Belfast
www.econi.org
October 2003
Cover image:
Jason Felmingham
Cover Design and Layout:

Spring Graphics
Printing:
Dataplus Print and Design
This publication receives grant support from The

International Fund for Ireland - Community Bridges Programme,
which aims to support groups and organisations which
promote greater dialogue and understanding and tackle
issues of division between people from different cultures
and religious traditions within Ireland and from the EU
Peace Programme of the Community Relations Council.
The International Fund for Ireland
ISBN: 1 874324 71 9
DREAMS
and
VISIONS
AN ECONI RESOURCE
FOREWORD
ECONI formally came in to being in 1988. A group of evangelical Christians wanted to make a
contribution, however small, to the healing of bitterness and conflict in their community. They were
convinced that the truth of the Bible was critically relevant to the context in which they lived.
Between 1971 and 1988, more than 2500 people had been killed and many more horribly injured.
The scale of the grief and suffering was immense. Those responsible seemed to think it was
politically justified. There was a sense of hopeless despair.
Now, fifteen years on, the context has changed. The machinery of political terrorism no longer
dominates the daily news. The IRA ceasefire has its own integrity. But the republican movement is not
yet able to dispense with its threat to inflict more violence. As a result, our devolved power-sharing
government, after a promising if fragile early life, has been suspended. If it was actual violence that
dominated the political scene in 1988, today it is the threat of violence, real or perceived. The hoped-
for growth of trust from shared responsibility has been thwarted. With an election imminent, political
statesmanship has limited scope to compromise further. Peoples of different identities are more
geographically divided than ever and riots can ignite from the colour of a youngster’s football shirt.
It is in this polarised sectarian context that ECONI offers Dreams and Visions, an updating of biblical
materials appropriate to the current needs of our community. Central themes of biblical teaching
such as peacemaking, reconciliation and forgiveness are increasingly relevant. There are at least three
reasons why these are presented now with confidence.
First, ECONI has had increasing opportunities to work alongside those with important
responsibilities in Church and State, publicly and privately. Many meetings have been held and much
material published. Positive response has encouraged us to keep at it. Much needs to be done and
doors continue to open.
Second, there are many in civic leadership whose pragmatism has led them to recognise that the
sectarian problems of Northern Ireland cannot be resolved by law enforcement alone or a
multitude of independent commissions. There is a necessary spiritual element to the healing of hurts
as deep as those we have encountered. Rightly do politicians look to Christian Leadership for input.
Third, those of us who struggle to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ, have an unavoidable
mandate to practice His teaching with its radical implications for our citizenship. ECONI’s primary
aim is still to address its fellow Evangelicals, so that we shall portray a body of people more
identifiable with the glory of God alone, than with our personal political preferences.
David Hewitt
ECONI President
DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 5

INTRODUCTION
“. . . shine like stars in the universe in which you hold out the word of life . . .”
Philippians 2:15-16
What a dream! What a vision! Imagine what it would be like if the members of the body of Christ
shone out like stars in this world, in practical, active love, with hearts set on building peace, holding
out the word of life to those around them.
That is Paul’s dream, his vision of what we could and should be in this world. And this is the dream
that Dreams and Visions seeks to fulfil; the vision on which it sets it sights.
ECONI’s vision was expressed back in 1988 when it published For God and His Glory Alone, ten
biblical principles for Christians living in Northern Ireland. Fifteen years on, Dreams and Visions
returns to that original vision, seeking to re-envision people in this land to continue living for God’s
Glory alone – to fulfil that dream of Paul’s that we “shine like stars”.
In the following pages you will find the ten principles – love, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace,
citizenship, truth, servanthood, justice & righteousness, hope, repentance – explored through Bible
passages, pertinent questions, personal reflections, provocative quotations and responsive prayers.
This mixture of elements adds depth and appeal in its diversity, which we have not sought to over-
harmonise or make bland. There is also a useful guide on how to make the most of this resource,
as well as a sermon outline and suggestions either for a Sunday service or another time.
At this point, many thanks should be given to the contributors (whose names are given under their
particular essays); Ruth Hutchinson for proof-reading; Merve Jones for the design templates; Ben
Walker for editing; the various members of ECONI staff who have brought their talents to this
resource, especially Claire Martin and Anna Rankin for layout and production; Amy Ornée and
Helen Smith who have developed the concept and contents for this resource.
As a church/group leader or member, as someone seeking to learn what biblical peacebuilding

means, and someone concerned with living the Christian life in this divided world, we hope that you
will find these study materials challenging and inspirational. We hope that you “dream the dream”
and “catch the vision”.
6 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

INTRODUCTION
But of course, words don’t fulfil dreams. People do. Words express our visions but it is we who live
them out. So, in saying that Dreams and Visions seeks to fulfil the dream that we “shine like stars”,
what is really meant is that Dreams and Visions seeks to help us to fulfil that dream, by the power of
the Spirit. We are called to be peacebuilders. We are called to live for God’s glory. As W. B. Yeats
said, “In dreams begins responsibility”.
It's not enough to have a dream,

Unless you're willing to pursue it.
It's not enough to know what's right,
Unless you're strong enough to do it.
It's not enough to learn the truth,
Unless you also learn to live it.
It's not enough to reach for love,
Unless you care enough to give it.
Samuel Smiles

CONTENTS
HOW TO USE THIS RESOURCE 8
LOVE 13
FORGIVENESS 23
RECONCILIATION 33
PEACE 41
CITIZENSHIP 49
TRUTH 57
SERVANTHOOD 67
JUSTICE & RIGHTEOUSNESS 75
HOPE 85
REPENTANCE 93
LIVING FOR GOD’S GLORY IN A DIVIDED WORLD 103

How to use this resource
Dreams and Visions is designed to enable and encourage Christian groups – house groups, study
groups, social concern groups – to become involved in the task of peacebuilding.
Peacebuilding is a range of activities, which create and sustain in the long term a peaceful society
characterised by attitudes, behaviours, and structures which promote: justice; diversity; healing
relationships; the on-going transformation of conflict.1
Dreams and Visions attempts to stimulate thinking, discussion and decision-making but there is not a
set pattern for using the material. It is dependent on the resources and experience of the group and
should used in a way that accommodates the pattern of the group.
DREAMS AND VISIONS STRUCTURE
The resource provides the base material for biblical reflection, discussion and engagement with the
complex realities of living out the Christian faith in a contested society.
Quotations
Coming from a wide variety of people, the quotations are intended to provoke, stimulate and help
the group engage in a new way with the key themes. They can be presented in many ways:
1. Print and distribute them around the walls of the room. Encourage the group to read each
quote and then ask which provoked the strongest reaction both positively and negatively.
Why do they think it caused that reaction? This can open the theme up to both the opinions
and feelings held by members of the group.
2. Split the group into pairs or groups of three and distribute one quotation per group. Give
participants 5-10 minutes to reflect on what is being communicated, why they think the
author might reflect this view and what their own reaction to the quotation is. All the
groups’ views can be heard in a feedback session. As a variation, each pair or three can be
given a sheet with all of the quotations and asked to comment.
3. Depending on the size of the room or meeting space, the quotations could be used in a
more interactive way: The leader divides the space into two distinct areas. One area is for
those who agree with the quotation and the other for those who disagree. The leader then
asks participants to listen to the quotation and to choose sides. If people are unsure about

HOW TO USE THIS RESOURCE
what the quotation means, it may be necessary to facilitate some initial discussion on what
the author might be saying. Group members should still be encouraged to make a choice.
In their groups, “Agree” and “Disagree”, participants should take time to talk to others
about why they chose to take this side. The leader then facilitates a discussion between the
two groups about the statement made by the author. Many people may want to ‘sit on the
fence’. This usually happens when people are not sure about what they think. It is possible
to create a third group, “Not Sure”; however, if this happens too soon the initial impact of
having to form an opinion quickly can be lost.
Depending on the size of the group, the leader may only be able to use one or two quotations.
Listening to the groups’ points of view and experience can take more time than expected. The
pressure to get through each section, or get to the Bible study, or answer the questions can often
shape the agenda for the small group. Recognising that tension, our experience has been that time
given to the groups’ experience and views is not wasted time. Good facilitation and leadership will
identify the connections between the comments from the exercise and the rest of the material to
be covered.
Introduction
The introduction simply ‘sets the scene’ for each of the ten themes. It offers a broad overview of
the subject, linking the quotations with the content of the essay, the Bible passage and the key issues
to be explored.
Essay
Each theme has a short essay. These essays are personal reflections that give participants the
opportunity to reflect on and react to what is being communicated. The aim is to stimulate a deeper
exploration and with this in mind, we recommend that the essay is photocopied and distributed in
advance to give the participants sufficient time to engage properly with the theme. It takes time to
read and absorb the essay. If this is not possible the leader might convey some of the ideas to the
group, perhaps using the structure of the talk outline as a guide (see note on Talk Outline).
Bible Reference and Questions

Each section has a passage of scripture to read together in the group. Biblical reflection is at the
heart of this resource and it is essential to root personal opinions, reactions and the discussions in
the teaching of Christ, the early church and the Old Testament. We recommend reading the text
together, maybe in a variety of translations. (The group can be sub-divided to cover a number of
versions and then the meaning of the text can be explored collectively). We also recommend that
the leader help the group with a contextual understanding of the passage being studied.
The questions should be asked within groups that are small enough to enable every member to
participate at some level. This may mean creating sub-groups, perhaps pairs, though we suggest that
a sub-group should be no more than six people. You will notice that, of the six questions, two relate
more directly to the essay while the others explore the Bible passage, although there are common
ideas between the two. It is not essential to ask every question and we encourage you to choose
the questions that are ‘right’ for your context. Your choice will be determined by the experience of
the group, your church community, denominational expression, your locality and the particular
issues you face living out the Christian faith in your area. We encourage you to make those
connections and add your own questions to those we have listed in the resource.

Talk Outline
The resource contains a suggested general outline of how the material can be used as a talk. This
may be appropriate for a midweek meeting or for small groups that value a presentation from the
front.
The outline can also be used by a study group to help them break down and understand the Bible
passage before coming to questions. Similarly, the questions can and should be used by those giving
a talk to help them think through and properly apply some of the key issues.
Prayer
Each section contains a prayer that we hope will frame the group experience. It can be used at the
start or end of the group, or as part of worship if this is part of your group’s pattern.
Extract: For God and His Glory Alone

Dreams and Visions is a fresh look at the themes identified in For God and His Glory Alone, the
original and foundational publication for ECONI. As supporting material to enhance the resource
we have included the original text for each principle. Shaped by the context of violence in 1988 it
reflects the high energy levels in churches to address division and to see these issues named in
churches. Aimed primarily at the Evangelical Protestant community the challenge presented then
has played a significant part in initiating healthy debate concerning the role of evangelicals in our
divided community. It is our hope that the inclusion of the original text will generate new energy to
re-engage with the biblical principles that are as relevant now as they were fifteen years ago.
PARTICIPATIVE AND EXPERIENCE BASED STYLES
Our hope is that this resource will help Christians think biblically and become peacemakers in the
community. We recognise that people engage and learn more when they fully participate in the
learning experience. Because of this, we have created a resource that relies on group leaders who
are comfortable with groups and with facilitation as a way of leading groups.
A number of styles can be used to create the a helpful environment for learning to happen:
• Giving information: to enhance or challenge views expressed, or to support the group in

further study.
• Using exploring and open type questions: helping people to express their ideas and
opinions.
• Sharing responsibility: it can be helpful for group members to take on responsibility for
aspects of the session.
• Accessing the experience contained within the group: every group has a wealth of
experience that can be unlocked if handled appropriately by the leader.
The style largely depends on the skill and experience of the leader and ECONI can offer you further
support in this area. While many groups express valid concerns about activities or exercises, these
can be overcome if the group and the leader come to an agreement about the process of learning
and the delivery of the material.

There is a well-known Chinese proverb that says:
What I hear I forget

What I see I remember
What I do I learn
Participative and experience-based activities expand the capacity of the group to make the
connections between an idea and the resultant action. We do not want people to know about
peacemaking alone, but to know how to be peacemakers. As you plan each session we offer the
following suggestions:
• Reflect on the experience already in the group and consider ways in which you can access
that experience.
• Use appropriate questioning. Questions that simply require a ‘yes or no’ answer are often
the least helpful in small groups.
• Make spaces in the session for feedback and questions from the group. This is often
ignored because the leader is unsure whether these questions can be answered. As a leader,
you are facilitating everyone’s learning; you do not need to be ‘the expert’ as well. Complex
or unanswered questions can bring other ‘experts’ into the group or can be a means for
group members to follow up between sessions.
• Make links to current issues, your locality and your own experience. The biblical principles
need to be rooted in behaviours and actions.
• End the session with a summary – again leave space for people to comment on what the
session has meant to them. A closing activity which encourages them to say one thing they
are ‘taking home’ with them can be enough for them to leave with a focus, and for you to
gauge how they connected with the theme.
THE WAY GROUPS WORK
A safe environment needs to be established so that:
• The themes can be explored without people feeling too vulnerable. Some of the themes
require more sensitivity than others. It should be remembered that many people have been
deeply affected and traumatised by the violence of the “Troubles”.
• People are not afraid to share their beliefs, opinions or experiences with others. Our
‘default’ culture is one of blame and scapegoating and group members need to be
‘protected’ by the process and the ground rules you establish together.
We encourage anyone who leads a small group to engage in a short group work course and to read
about group processes and dynamics. ECONI has resource material on group work and can
facilitate short courses for small group leaders.
Lynda Gould
Learning Director with ECONI
1
Pathways: A Resource Manual For Peacebuilding. Corrymeela Press 2000

NOTES

Love
Forgiveness
Reconciliation
Peace
Citizenship
Truth
Servanthood
Justice &
Righteousness
Hope
Repentance

Love
Quotations
There is no disguise that can for long conceal love where it exists or simulate it where it does not.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Love is never lost. If not reciprocated, it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.
Washington Irving
Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.

Peter Ustinov
It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more
solitary I am the more affection I have for them. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers
for what they are, not for what they say.
Thomas Merton
There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.
Charlie Brown (Charles M. Schulz)
‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Brothers, do not be afraid of contact with sinful men. Love man even in his sin, for that love is like
the divine love – the highest of all. Love all God’s creation – the whole of it, every grain of sand. Love
every leaf, every ray of light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love each thing
you will perceive the mystery of God in all. Once you perceive this, you will begin to understand it
better every day, and you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Introduction
“Love is all you need.”
The Beatles
Despite being a contender for the most overused and oversung word in the English language, “love”
is still profound for all of us, and is a deep mystery which originates in God himself. The following
reflection considers the importance of understanding the love of God and its significance for living
love amongst ourselves.
This was pertinent for the church at Corinth. The Corinthians were very “gifted”, but Paul was
compelled to teach them about the most important gifts, the greatest of which is love. Perhaps it is
less “love is all you need” and more “without love you are nothing”.

LOVE
Essay
A thousand words on love? A thousand years might cover it.
Parents may love their children, and children their parents. Brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts and
uncles, nephews and nieces, grandparents and great grandparents may love each other. Friends,
soul-mates, fellow-workers, partners, carers, teachers, helpers. Pupils, recipients of help, care and
love: these too are lovers.
Opposites may attract. Cats and dogs, pigs and chickens, all sorts of unlikely partners learn to love.
Humans love animals; animals’ love humans. Humans love inanimate objects, sports and hobbies,
work and leisure, places and cultures, home, country, fictional characters and celebrities, stories,
music and art, sounds, smells, colours, textures, patterns, nature, fresh air. Oh yes, and then there
are the loves about which the media are obsessed: erotic love, sexual love, the love of the idea of
being in love.
And there is the love of God. By God and for God.1 Love which God is.
How can I write about love? What do I know of the loving faithfulness of daily devotion to God?
What can I say about loving my neighbour, when I so frequently let others down, retreat into myself,
break promises, and avoid difficult conversations and encounters? I, who live in a secure home, have
a regular income, a loving family and a caring church, I who have received so much love, what do I
know about loving my neighbour? I know that I have received far more than I appreciate, I know that
she who is forgiven much loves much2, but what do I know about giving love, the kind of love
demanded by Jesus? To the man who obeys the legal requirements but lacks the love for God which
would inspire him truly to love his neighbour, Jesus says, “Sell all you have and give to the poor.”3
I am in no position to teach others how to love. It’s like asking the blind to describe light. And yet, it
may be given to the blind to see some light, even to appreciate light in ways which those with perfect
vision take for granted. So, from my spiritual blindness, I hope to speak of the love I have seen.
Insofar as our first childhood lessons in love come to us from people, this too is God’s gift of love
to us, to help us as we grow to appreciate God’s own love for us. But since we do not all receive
the love we need as children, let us begin with God’s love – that love which gives itself sacrificially,
generously, without insisting on its own way.4 All love, even God’s love, hopes for requital, though
it does not demand or insist upon it. Human loves often insist, demand, harass for a response. God’s
love is gentler, more giving, more patient, but still seeks a response.
This raises a fascinating and contentious question – one which raises strong emotions but it may also
bear spiritual fruit in our lives if it leads us to appreciate how much we are loved. The question is
this: does God need love? Let me resume the issue as follows: if God truly loves, firstly within the
trinity, then extending that love towards creatures, does such love create a need for the love to be
requited? Within the Trinity, the question of need does not arise, because the faithfulness of the love
is constant. But what of God’s love for us? Does it create a need for our love in God? (e.g. Parents
may choose not to love their child, but if they love, they will long for a loving response.) For some,
such a suggestion appears to demean the sovereignty of God.
For others, the biblical concept that “God is Love”, meaning love is God’s very nature, implies that
in a sense God cannot help loving. To stop loving would be to cease being God. “Can a mother
forget her nursing child? She may forget, but I will not.”5

LOVE
The danger is that we take our limited understanding of love, or need, or sovereignty and rationalise
God into their image.
Even humans have responsibility for elements of our character: whether to be loving and honest, or
unloving and without integrity. It is surely inconceivable that we should have such a moral
responsibility and at the same time deny to our understanding of God the moral capacity to choose
to love. Is it not possible that God sovereignly chooses to act in loving character, and so chooses to
bestow love?
Abstract as it may seem, this question has real consequences for how we relate to and understand
Jesus; and it affects how we will choose to love our neighbours and our enemies. If God cannot help
loving, then we may be tempted to take that love for granted, even to assume that it is ours by right
and not by grace, and to respond to the call to love by merely hoping one day to be sanctified
enough to love like that. If God has no choice about loving, the cross itself becomes the inevitable
consequence of God’s self-destructive addiction to loving human beings.
But if, in Christ, God chooses to become vulnerable to the love and lovelessness of human beings,
there is hope of a purpose, of a constructive outcome. One’s love becomes valuable to God, like
the poured out nard (John 12) and the commitment of Peter (John 21). As I read Scripture it seems
that, at the most basic level, the child Jesus relied on the love of human parents for his survival. By
becoming human, he – both God and Man – needed love, both human and divine. This is mystery.
What we celebrate at Christmas meets its terrible and terrifying consequence at the cross. Love is
truly costly, a matter of life and death. A price Jesus chose to pay. At last we are confronted with the
price of our failure to love.
But we are also offered an alternative, an escape from the catastrophe of lovelessness. An
opportunity to contribute to the happiness of God through our loving response to Jesus! His love
for us, since he thereby makes himself vulnerable to us, also gives us the privilege of making a
contribution to God’s eternal happiness. (I can hardly breathe with wonder . . .)
To love us, Jesus made himself needy of our love. To love our enemies we will have to make them
our neighbours and our brothers and sisters – people whose love we need. Isn’t that the meaning
of the Good Samaritan?
Such vulnerability is the ultimate self-giving. God’s love for us has not remained at a safe distance.
Rather, God has sovereignly chosen to create and to love creatures in such a way that we may be
in intimate loving relationship with God for eternity. (“As the father is in me, I am in you . . . that you
may be in me as I am in the Father . . . John 15.)
This is the love we live and breathe, whether or not we recognise it. It is the love that creates and
sustains all our being, from the tiniest particle to the vastness of galaxies. It is the love God calls us
to receive, to learn to appreciate and enjoy. Terrifying love. Unspeakable love. And yet God, in love
for us, hopes to teach us to love like this. It’s demanding love in that it calls us to carry a cross; yet
it is not demanding like certain human loves which drain and sap us of our attentions and energies.
God’s love demands in order to make us grow, in order to heal us. The cliché puts it succinctly: God
loves us the way we are; God loves us too much to leave us the way we are.
How then shall we love our neighbour as ourselves? How shall we love our enemy?
How shall we distinguish between tough love and cruelty?

LOVE
How shall we distinguish between self-love and patriotism?

What is the difference between love and desire?
When is duty mere religiosity? And when is passion love?
When is our least passionate duty more loving than our passionate devotion?
The matter of love is the eternally significant factor in all our life6 : our worship, our work, our prayer,
our leisure, our families and our enemies. With so many books on self-help and on marital love and
sex and “keeping the passion alive”, why is there so little on Love? Are sexual partners the only
people we need to love?
Perhaps no words can make love happen except the words of the Lover himself: “I no longer call
you slaves . . . I call you friends.” “No one has greater love than this: that he lays down his life for his
friends.”7
Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus. (What shall we give in return for so much?)
The motto of the City of Belfast
Cheryl Reid
Associate Minister at Gilnahirk Presbyterian Church and an ECONI Board member
1
For a thorough examination of different types of love, their strengths and pitfalls, C. S. Lewis, The
Four Loves, is an excellent starting place.
2
Luke 7:47
3
Mark 10:21
4
1 Cor. 13
5
Isa. 49:15 This imagery is powerful in assuring us of God’s love, but gets us no nearer to
understanding how God comes to love us – whether by choice or of necessity.
6
“Faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Cor. 13:13
7
John 15:13

LOVE
Read: 1 Corinthians 13
Talk Outline
This is a rebuke to those who do not practise the most excellent way (cf. 12:31)
• No matter what our gifts, if we are not loving, we are nothing and nobody (v1-3)
• No matter what the situation, love is committed and enduring (v4-10)
• No matter what we think we know, love is the greatest sign of real maturity (v11-13)
Questions
1. How necessary do you think God’s love for us is?
2. What implications are there, in the author’s opinion and in yours, that both God and we
“choose to love”?
3. What does love look like in attitude and behaviour (v4-8)? Can you replace love with your
name in the passage and read it out loud without shame? Is there a particular quality of love
that Paul is revealing here, or a description that you find especially striking?
4. Do we struggle to love because we think of it primarily as an emotion? Can you make a

distinction between passion, desire and love? What might this teach us about our commitment
to others and to ideals, particularly when we don’t feel passionately about them?
5. What do you think Paul is describing when he uses the phrase “childish ways” (v11)? In
what ways should we be more “mature”?
6. All Christians are probably agreed on the importance of love. Would you have come to
this conclusion from observing the contribution they have made, individually and collectively,
to the peace process? If so, what can you as a Christian individual/group do to continue and
increase this portrayal of love? If not, what can you do to make this other people’s conclusion?

LOVE
Prayer
Leader: Out of judgement came mercy;

All: And God did not abandon the people.
Men: For the love that God bore them, coming again,
Women: For the hope that God had for them, bearing their pain.
Leader: Out of gentleness came strength;
All: And God spoke a word:
Men: To the outcast and stranger, making them welcome,
Women: To the sick and despairing, making them whole.
Leader: Out of freedom came faithfulness;
All: And God died on the cross:
Men: For the poor and the prisoner, the sign of deliverance;
Women: For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,
All: That everyone who believes in him may not die, but have eternal life.
Leader: Out of death came life;

All: And God defeated evil:
Men: An empty cross and an empty tomb,
Women: A nail mark shown and a presence known.
Leader: Out of sorrow came joy;
All: And God sent the Spirit:
Men: Coming like fire to all people and ages,
Women: Coming to birth in the water of life.
Leader: Out of difference came unity;
All: And God’s people were called:
Men: Called to receive him in bread and wine,
Women: Called to be free in the power of love.
Leader: For when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power,
All: And be witnesses for Christ to the ends of the earth.
Leader: Out of love comes celebration;

All: And God’s Kingdom is among us:
Men: Where peace is the means of making us one,
Women: Where truth does not stumble and justice is done.
Leader: Out of change comes possibility;
All: And God’s new creation is begun:
Men: Promise of splendour and signal of worth,
Women: Source of all goodness, renewing the earth.
Leader: Out of freedom comes responsibility;
All: And God calls us to discipleship:
Men: In our compassion, making love known,
Women: In our conviction, God’s power shown.
Leader: You did not choose me, I chose you.
All: This, then, is what I command you: Love one another.
(The Iona Community, The Iona Community Worship Book, Wild Goose, 1991)

LOVE

NOTES

NOTES

Love
Forgiveness
Reconciliation
Peace
Citizenship
Truth
Servanthood
Justice &
Righteousness
Hope
Repentance

Forgiveness
Quotations
Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.
Peter Ustinov
To err is human; to forgive, infrequent.

Franklin P. Adams
There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.

Josh Billings
Forgiveness is almost a selfish act because of its immense benefits to the one who forgives.
Lawana Blackwell
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Mohandas K. Gandhi
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

Oscar Wilde
Introduction
“Perhaps forgiveness is the last thing mentioned in the Creed because it is the last thing learned
in life. Perhaps none of us can understand the forgiveness of God until we ourselves have learned
to forgive.”
Joan Chittister
Forgiveness is central to our understanding of the gospel, and quite easy to talk about, but becomes
seriously difficult when we come to practise it. The author of the following reflection explores what
it really means to forgive for someone who thinks they know.
In the parable of Jesus in Matthew 18, we are posed a huge challenge – do we truly know God’s
forgiveness without being forgiving ourselves?

FORGIVENESS
Essay
Forgiveness is a hard one, isn’t it? It lies at the heart of the gospel, yet it goes against so many of our
natural instincts. I vividly remember the first time I really made the connection between God’s
forgiveness of me and the consequent need to pass on some of that grace to others. A situation had
arisen in which I had been hurt (nothing particularly unusual in that) but somehow this particular
wound had tapped into previous events, where the damage caused had been much more serious. I
didn’t realise it at the time but the recent hurt was acting like a drill which had struck the black oil of
old pain and grievance. Now it was welling up into the present: hot, sticky gouts of visceral anger
bubbling from below. I was raging. What’s more, I was right – how dare these people behave the way
they had? So, when my hapless husband suggested the path of forgiveness, I turned to him and
through gritted teeth uttered three words which shocked me deeply: “I don’t forgive.”
It was one of those moments when the contradiction between what you think you believe and what
you actually do becomes sickeningly apparent. Now I didn’t mean that I never forgave – that would
be quite an achievement in 20+ years of marriage! I meant, rather, that when things went deep I was
better at holding on to grievance than letting it go, better at burying things than dealing with them.
You might want to say: “But that’s normal. When you’ve been hurt, you want to hit back. You need
to defend yourself from further pain and get your own back if possible”. This is what feels right – it
seems just: the perpetrator needs to suffer for what they have done. Only then can the pain they
have caused diminish; only in this way can you hold on to your sense of yourself and the way things
should be in the world. And if there’s to be any chance of forgiveness or reconciliation, then the
wrongdoer must own up to what they have done, apologise sincerely and mend their ways. Only at
the end of such a process should forgiveness even be contemplated . . . shouldn’t it?
This question brings us face to face with the complex nature of the issues and feelings that surround
forgiveness. It only makes sense as part of a peacemaking process whose goal ideally is the healing
of fractured relationships, the mending of what has been broken: both individually and communally,
on occasion nationally. It involves issues of justice and identity (will I lose an essential part of myself
if I let this go?), truth and honesty. For Christians, it means having the courage to take Jesus seriously
in relation to the way we judge both ourselves and others (cf. planks and specks, Matt. 7:1-5); being
willing, from a grace-filled perspective, to look at our own sin as well as the sin of others.
It was, after all, while we were still sinners that Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). It was to mend his
relationship with us that God took the initiative in sending Jesus to effect reconciliation. It was indeed
God who paid the price. Is repentance necessary for full reconciliation and restoration of
relationship to take place? Definitely. Is the other’s repentance also necessary for the process of
forgiveness to begin? Christians disagree about this, but I would say “no” because it seems to me
that, with God, grace comes first. He makes the first move. Holding on to grievance puts obstacles
in the Spirit’s path. He can still operate, but with more difficulty.
If we are to take the gospel seriously in this (and other) areas, we really need to let Jesus’ teaching,
and indeed the whole pattern of his life, in; into the places where it hurts and seems too hard; into
how we conduct our relationships and what we do when people wound us. We need to look at the
way God acts, and pray for that to be reproduced at some level in us as individuals and Christian
communities who are committed to learning, in Eugene Peterson’s words, “the unforced rhythms of
grace”. Listen here to Jesus’ answer to Peter’s question about forgiveness:
Peter: “Lord how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven
times?”

FORGIVENESS
Jesus: “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

(Matt. 18:21-22)
It’s not hard to sympathise with the bemused disciple. To forgive a Christian sister or brother seven
times seems challenging (and therefore commendable) enough, but seventy-seven times? No
wonder he’s shocked - such a demand must have seemed ludicrous. Is Jesus serious? The answer, of
course, is “yes”: Peter has just encountered afresh Jesus’ radical attitude to restored relationships
within His kingdom. Here, they are a priority. Here, Jesus wants his disciples to move to the rhythms
of grace, not law; to reflect in their dealings with others the mercy which they have already
experienced from God. And when we look at the Sermon on the Mount we see that this does not
only apply to relationships within the Christian community. We are called to love our enemies (Matt.
5:43-8), not to condone their evil or gloss over their wrongdoing, but to transform it with good, as
God does in us (Rom. 12:17-21). In the Beatitudes, God tells us that those who are peacemakers
will be called the sons and daughters of God. Why? Because they are doing his work in the world.
(Matt. 5:9)
Is this easy? No. Will it ever be perfect this side of heaven? No. But can we get better at it? Yes!
Through the grace of God and with the help of others, we can learn, over time, to get better at
letting grudges and grievances go and to build better relationships. Does this have any direct
relevance to Northern Ireland? Of course. Here we have two communities which have hurt each
other badly over a considerable period of time; two communities which (generally speaking) deal
with their hurt by holding on to it, keeping alive the memories of wrongs inflicted down through the
generations; holding on to grievance and woundedness as a way of holding on to a sense of identity
- waiting for “the other sort” to change; waiting for “the other side” to see it from “our” point of
view. Of course the gospel has something to say to this. It has everything to say to it because it
shows us that change is possible. It gives us the hope, in Seamus Heaney’s words, “For a great sea
change on the far side of revenge.” It gives us the faith to believe “That a further shore is reachable
from here.”
Which brings me back to where I started in this article, to my “Damascus Road experience”. There
I was, an advocate of peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, well-versed (as I thought) in the
relevance of the gospel to conflict situations, saying that I didn’t forgive; that, in effect, my response
to serious personal conflict was to put up the shutters, adopt a position of unassailable moral
righteousness and surf the tidal wave of anger. A shock, indeed, though you will note, not unrelated
to the normative behaviour of the community I grew up in! The incident certainly prompted
considerable soul-searching, ultimately beginning a redemptive process of change which involved
travelling into some dark places and bringing them (kicking and screaming) into Christ’s light.
This journey continues today and has a name, I think. It’s called Christian discipleship – in all its ups
and downs, struggles and joys. Life touched by the grace of God.
Janet Morris
Teacher in Bangor Institute and Belfast Bible College and former member of ECONI Central
Co-ordinating Group
With acknowledgement to the work of:

L. Gregory Jones, Embodying Forgiveness
Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace
Various works of Jean Vanier

FORGIVENESS
Read: Matthew 18:21-35
Talk Outline
We are called to be abundantly forgiving (v21-22)
• God’s forgiveness does not ignore justice (v23-26)
• But God’s forgiveness is overwhelmingly merciful (v27)
• We do not know that forgiveness unless we practise that mercy (v28-33)
• So if we are unmerciful with others, God will be just with us (v34-35)
Questions
1. Is the other person’s repentance necessary for the process of forgiveness to begin? What
are the stages of the process of forgiveness?
2. How might I “lose an essential part of myself ” in forgiving others? Is this a good/bad thing?
3. What did the servant ask for from the master and what did he receive? What does this
teach us about God’s forgiveness?
4. How do the servant’s actions with the fellow servant compare? Should he never have
demanded what he was owed, or did he get it wrong only when he refused mercy? What
might we draw from this about the relationship between justice and forgiveness?
5. What is the main focus of this story as an illustration of the kingdom of God? Is it primarily
about God’s anger when we don’t forgive, or his compassion that should lead us to forgive?
Or something else?
6. What do these combined thoughts about process, identity, mercy, justice and anger at
unforgiveness teach us about our understanding of forgiveness in Northern Ireland? Can we
be involved in actions of forgiveness and not just words? (cf. v27, 30-31)

FORGIVENESS
Prayer
Holy God,
You have called us to live holy lives

in all our relationships,
and especially among those who are our enemies.
We thank you for the example of Jesus who,

though he was shamefully abused,
did not retaliate or offer threats
but trusted himself to your justice.
Forgive us for those times

when we have dishonoured the gospel
by meeting insult with insult,
or abuse with abuse.
Forgive us for believing the worst about our enemies

or bearing false witness against our neighbour.
Forgive us for being apathetic in the face of injustice

and silent when we should have spoken out.
Teach us how to forgive in an unforgiving world.
AMEN

FORGIVENESS

FORGIVENESS

NOTES

NOTES

Love
Forgiveness
Reconciliation
Peace
Citizenship
Truth
Servanthood
Justice &
Righteousness
Hope
Repentance

Reconciliation
Quotations
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you
are the one getting burned.
Buddha
It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your
enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.
Mohandas K. Gandhi
If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and
suffering enough to disarm all hostility.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with
the powerful, not to be neutral.
Paulo Freire
There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other.
Eric Hoffer
Introduction
“Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for
peace it shouldn't be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice.”
Corazon Aquino
This essay explores the journey leading towards reconciliation. It suggests that, following Christ’s
example, our sights must be set on the creation of a new human community, one healed and
renewed by God’s ongoing transformation of our lives and broken relationships.
In Luke 15:11-32 the younger son takes his inheritance and departs for another country, severing
his family ties. When he returns, destitute and seeking only his father’s pity, much to his surprise and
to the indignation of the elder brother he is received back into the family as a son.
Where is the justice in this story? In the case of the elder brother, could it be that an outward
appearance of obedience and faithful service belie a heart more concerned with his brother’s failings
and his own perceived righteousness than with seeing wounds healed and the family reunited?

RECONCILIATION
Essay
War weariness and not the embrace of reconciliation is the primary driver of the peace. Not the
voice of the cynic but an honest recognition that in the difficult task of peacebuilding reconciliation
remains an elusive goal. Is a tolerant coexistence the best we can expect from communities where
wounds run deep and hatred is kept alive by the insistence that “we” are different to “them”?
No one finds it easy to live in the tension that exists between the call to solidarity with our people
and the call to embrace the diversity of others. It is the choice between obedience to the ancestral
voices of our traditions and obedience to the voice of God. At a deeply spiritual level it is the tension
between remembering the hurt of our people at the hands of others and healing the wounds that
threaten to overwhelm us all in a cycle of vengeance.
For the Christian this is at the heart of our call to discipleship. To follow Jesus is to declare ourselves
under a new loyalty to the kingdom of God and committed to a new currency of reconciliation that
enables us to embrace diversity and celebrate our common humanity in the grace of God.
Lessons in reconciliation often come not from our success but our failure. Reflecting on our
struggles towards reconciliation in Ireland to better understand how we can be a people of
reconciliation, three pictures come to mind. Reconciliation as a place, a pilgrimage and a process.
In Psalm 85:10 we read, “Truth and mercy will meet; justice and peace will kiss each other.” For John
Paul Lederach this is a crossroads where four characters meet – truth, mercy, justice and peace. Each
of them has to be present to bring their unique contribution. This place is called reconciliation.
Such reconciliation is a place in the past, that point where God’s truth and mercy, justice and peace
meet and embrace in the crucified Christ. But it is also a place in the future when Jesus returns to
fulfil the desires, aspirations and longings of all the peoples and cultures of our world. A new city
with a tree of life the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations.
Yet reconciliation is also a place in the present and that place is the church, God’s people, a new
human community where Jesus is Lord. Forgiveness is the cure for vengeance, reconciliation the
alternative to fear and hostility. This is the hardest challenge. For reconciliation is not simply what we
aspire to as Christians; it is what we are as community.
Luke tells us of Jesus, weeping over Jerusalem crying out: “If you, even you had only recognised on
this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:42). The
implication is that it is possible to know what makes for peace. It may be hidden but it can be
discovered. And that discovery involves us being willing to embark on a journey, for the second
picture of reconciliation is that it is a pilgrimage.
It is a pilgrimage from hurt to healing that begins with Jesus in the place of lament. “Reconciliation
in the evangelical sense”, says Annemie Bosch, “is not built on forgetting but on remembering.” To
begin the journey we must acknowledge our wounds and grieve for the hurt of our people, as did
Jesus and Jeremiah before him.
But Jesus our healer has a more disturbing lesson for us. Here, as the victim, Jesus weeps over the
wounds of the victimiser. The city that is about to crucify him will see judgement for their inability to
recognise the time of their visitation from God. For Jesus this is a cause not of delight but of lament.

RECONCILIATION
The hardest part of reconciliation is our ability not only to grieve for our own wounds but also to
acknowledge the wounds of our enemy and weep for their hurt. Furthermore a test of true
Christian reconciliation is that the initiative for reconciliation begins with the victim. It is God who is
in Christ reconciling a world that has rebelled and rejects the divine rule. Jesus, the truly innocent
victim, becomes the vehicle for the reconciliation of the truly guilty party.
“In Christian reconciliation”, says Bosch, “we always have two parties – the perpetrator who
remembers his guilt and therefore repents and the victim who remembers his suffering but in spite
of this forgives.” The reality in the sinful complexity of our conflicts is that we can be both perpetuator
and victim, called to repent and forgive based on a profound remembering of the hurts of both.
Division and conflict are found not in constitutions or lines drawn on a map, but in the hearts and
minds of people. Paul’s declaration in Romans, “be transformed by the renewing of your minds”,
gives us our final picture. God is in the business of transforming hearts and renewing minds.
Reconciliation is a process, an ongoing transformation at the heart of our being and communities
that results in God’s will being done on earth as in heaven.
At the centre of this process is repentance. When Jesus came his essential message was “Repent,
for the kingdom of God is near.” Repentance in a community must begin with God’s people. It must
start with an acknowledgement that for too long we have created God in our own culture-bound
image and have been paralysed in our effectiveness in response to the idols which have nurtured
the conflicts of our world, tending but not healing our wounds.
Furthermore Jesus calls us into new relationships with all those around us, relationships built on love,
agape, that committed act of the will to give ourselves for the good of others. And Jesus specifically
calls us to love our enemies. It is on this basis that we can begin to build trust and work for justice
(Luke 6). It is in this that we fulfil the law of God (Luke 10) and it is the offence of this that is the
stumbling block to faith (Luke 4).
Jesus was not an escapist. He faced the realities of his context. He accepted the legitimate
expression of cultural, political and national preferences. Jesus did not deny these, but redefined
them (Luke 9). This involved Jesus in taking risks. The embrace of the prostitute, the touch of the
leper, the friendship of the tax collector, the service of the centurion. He challenged the vested
interests of privilege and power that militate against walking in the way of peace.
This vision is a vision for the church. The people of God are called to be a place, to be on a
pilgrimage and to be part of a process, the common theme of which is reconciliation. This is our
responsibility in a broken world. We must avoid the danger of expecting society and the wider
community to live as though it was the redeemed church. We must be passionate in our
commitment to ensure the church is not allowed to live as though it was the unredeemed
community. As those who in Christ have been reconciled to God we share a new reality, the
revolutionary potential of the kingdom of God in which all things are being made new.
David W Porter
Director of ECONI

RECONCILIATION
Read: Luke 15:11-32
Talk Outline
Reconciliation between people and God:
• The guilty son (v11-16) comes to his senses (v17), recognises his sin against his Father
(v18) and humbles himself (v19)
• The injured Father sees his son a long way off (has he been watching and waiting?) and runs
to meet him with compassion and acceptance (v20). He exalts his humble son (v21-23)
• Reconciliation means what is lost being found and what is dead being made alive (v24)
Reconciliation between person and person:
• Cannot happen while there is jealousy and bitterness (v25-30)
• Involves the truth about both parties (v31-32)
• Needs people to see first and foremost the joy and celebration of God when the lost are
found and the dead made alive (v32)
Questions
1. As you read the story, with which of the characters do you feel the most sympathy? Why?
2. Both sons share a sense that the younger son has broken some of the basic rules for the
ordering of civil life - he has done wrong and dishonoured his family (v18-19 & 29-30). What
consequences do each expect should follow from his actions? What actually happens in
verses 20-24? How is this different from their expectations?
3. Reconciliation with one son has meant the alienation of the other. Can you identify with
what the elder son is saying? Does the welcome given by the father make a mockery of justice?
4. Do you agree that truth, mercy, peace and justice must meet in order for reconciliation
to take place? To what extent are they present/absent in the father/son relationships in the
story? How do we bring them to bear in our relationships in our churches and in our society?
5. Does doing something wrong make you a bad person? Have we created a culture –
Christian or secular – which doesn’t permit people to make mistakes, or put the past behind
them? Is an apology ever enough? How can we release others from their guilt as the father
does in this situation?
6. How would you describe reconciliation? Is there a “right time” for it?

RECONCILIATION
Prayer
“He has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility”

Ephesians 2:4
Almighty God,
You stand above all the nations,

You take no side in petty ethnic squabbles,
You are not interested in arguments but in people,
You care not about territory or tradition,
You wish only for justice.
Forgive us Lord for harbouring distrust

and encouraging suspicion,
for dealing in half-truths and lies.
We pray for your church,

that we would not be sucked into one side or other,
but be able to stand in the gap
as a living powerful witness
of how Christ the reconciler can bring together
those whom tradition and politics would seek to drive apart.
AMEN

RECONCILIATION

NOTES

Love
Forgiveness
Reconciliation
Peace
Citizenship
Truth
Servanthood
Justice &
Righteousness
Hope
Repentance

Peace
Quotations
Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all
other living beings, we are still savages.
Thomas Edison
We make war that we may live in peace.

Aristotle
I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our
governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments
had better get out of the way and let them have it.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
If man does find the solution for world peace it will be the most revolutionary reversal of his record
we have ever known.
George C. Marshall
If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
Moshe Dayan
Introduction
“A parting of the ways is clearly not yet peace. Much more than just the absence of hostility
sustained by the absence of contact, peace is communion between former enemies.”
Miroslav Volf
Peace or shalom is not the natural state of things in a fallen world and has to be deliberately created
first of all by God and emulated by God’s children. This essay reflects on the goal of peace and on
our own readiness for the costly pursuit of peace. The passage from Ephesians raises issues of
difference, hostility and distance, as they exist within the body of Christ.
We are not good at dealing with conflict and often seek to avoid it at all costs. It can be hard enough
to make peace with those closest to us and with whom we have most in common. How then do
we begin to dismantle the hostility we harbour towards those who are “different” from us especially
if by keeping ourselves to ourselves that very distance creates a comfortable illusion of peace at the
cost of true shalom?
“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.”
Matthew 5:9

PEACE
Essay
Peace can mean many things; the end of hostilities; a time without war; a period of rest; tranquillity
and stillness; an inner sense of contentment. All of these important ideas arise in the Bible.
However, in the Bible plot-line, peace has a fundamental role in describing the beginning and the
end. Peace is the state which God creates – the wholeness, rightness and perfection of relationships
between God and humans, humans and humans and in creation.
And this peace is the state to which God is working to bring the world; in which God will live with
his people; in which there is no sadness or sin or suffering; for which all creation is groaning.
This is the true peace of the Bible, and the peace which the angels announced with the birth of
Christ. For at root, this Hebrew shalom can be understood, not just as wholeness and perfection,
rightness in relationship, but as paying the price, buying back, redemption. To be at peace with
someone, in the sense of shalom, means that there is sacrifice, there is cost.
Biblical peace, first and foremost, is the establishment of eternal wholeness in relationship between
God and humans through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To this extent peace is the
message of the Bible as it expresses between Genesis 3 and Revelation 22 how God does and will
bring peace from the state of “unpeace” that the world is in.
As God is the God of Peace, and Christ is the Prince and Preacher of Peace, Christians, who are in
Christ, are to be peacemakers and servants of peace, peace loving and full of peace by the power
of the Holy Spirit. It is this gospel of peace which drives us to action, fitting us with shoes of
readiness. But ready for what?
Paul tells us that it is a “struggle . . . not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.” (Eph. 6:12)
In other words, the gospel of peace gets us ready for a fight. This is not a fight of violence, bloodshed
and death. As Paul has said, it is not a struggle against flesh and blood. So this, if nothing else, warns
us against any kind of condoning of, loose association with, even apathy about any such action in
Northern Ireland.
It is not a call to law-breaking, disobedience, anarchy or even revolution as such – it must be held in
tension with Paul’s instructions elsewhere.
But it is a call to stand, and stand actively, against the devil’s schemes – schemes which bring about
hostility, envy, hatred, doubt, fear, chaos; the ways of the world which emphasise fulfilment, identity
and true peace in anything but Jesus Christ.
For the soldier of Christ, it is a call diligently to do right in the eyes of everybody; powerfully to repay
good for evil; positively to live at peace with all around us. It is a call to “turn from evil and do good;
. . . seek peace and pursue it” (1 Pet. 3:11). It is a call to fight against human injustice, and offer instead
the message of a God of true justice who will restore real peace.
In the light of this active call to God’s peace, what is the plight of political peace in Northern Ireland?
What relation does it have to this “spiritual peace”? Can we entrust peace to our secular

PEACE
governments? Has the Belfast Agreement brought any sort of peace? Is it peace worth fighting for?
It will be necessary for our concern for godly peace to affect our conception of political peace. This
may mean allowing the rulers of society power and responsibility to fight for peace. Luther was clear
that the state should use the “power of the sword”, as he called it, to restrain evil. He held that
Christians in the world needed the protection of the secular government to “bring about external
peace and prevent evil deeds.” Calvin also recognised that civil government,
has its appointed end, so long as we live among men, to cherish and protect the
outward worship of God, to defend sound doctrine of piety and the position of
the church, to adjust our life to the society of men, to form our social behaviour
to civil righteousness, to reconcile us with one another, and to promote general
peace and tranquillity.1
The world will not be receptive to a message of peace if those proclaiming it are marked by their
apathy and conflict. We are told first to turn from evil, that is, to repent of any such sinful attitudes
in ourselves, and then to pursue peace (1 Pet. 3:11). We should always be ready to give a reason
for the hope we have, implying that we live in such a way that people want to inquire of us where
we get our hope of peace (1 Pet. 3:15-16). Christians need to be involved in activities that
encourage such questioning to occur.
It is not easy for the message of peace to be heard amongst the hostility and warring of the world,
amongst its bitter arguments. The Lord’s servant is not to be embroiled in foolish arguments, but to
pursue peace and instruct with kindness and gentleness. Rather than being those who shout the
loudest, Christians in Northern Ireland need to work to make our context quiet and “peaceful”
enough for our message of peace to be heard faithfully and clearly.
Too often the offer of peace, and our involvement in it, seems to be conditional on others somehow
deserving it, and properly paying for it. Certainly the establishment of peace involves justice and the
judgment of sin as exemplified in Christ, and this will ultimately need to be a part of the “peace
process”. But God offered his Son, the Prince of Peace, to the whole world while we were still
sinners knowing that many would not recognise or accept him. If we follow God’s example, our
attitude may well need to change in order that we ceaselessly work for peace notwithstanding the
reaction and response.
Since creation, and man’s inability to follow God without messing it up, it is noticeable that the
achievement of peace has involved cost and sacrifice. Just as peace-making is not optional for the
children of the God of peace, neither is the suffering that will come with it. Pursuing peace is costly,
but it is a calling if we follow Christ.
For do we have a saviour who remained in heaven to enjoy the fellowship of the Trinity? Or one
who came to a broken, agitated, distrusting and apathetic world to proclaim, live for, work for, die
for, restore and hence offer peace even to those who rejected him out of a love for his Father and
the world?
Ben Walker
Volunteer Research Assistant with ECONI and part-time lecturer at Belfast Bible College.
1
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, 20, 2

PEACE
Read: Ephesians 2:11-22
Talk Outline
• The state of “unpeace”: without Christ, aliens and strangers to God’s promises, possessing
no hope (v11-12); even objects of wrath (cf. 2:3)
• The Peacemaker – Christ: Came to bring reconciliation between man and God, through
his death which unites Jew and Gentile. The peace he preached means we have access
together to the Father by one Spirit (v13-18)
• The state of peace: being fellow citizens and the dwelling place of the Lord (v19-22)
Therefore, since Christ has achieved this cosmic peace can we:
• Be hostile to our fellow member’s in God’s household?
• Let anything (hostility, division, arguments) get in the way of proclaiming the peace we
know to those who are, like we once were, “without God in the world” (v12)?
Questions
1. Do a quick brainstorm on “peace”. How does the Hebrew term shalom differ from ways
in which we commonly use the word peace?
2. What does it mean to have an attitude of “readiness for peace”? How might we help
nurture such readiness - in our own lives, in our church and our community?
3. In Ephesians, two groups whose identity and heritage are very different are declared one
in Christ. What range of diversity exists within the church and within your local
congregation? How do we deal with difference and with those who differ from us? What
practical steps can we take that might enable us better to understand, value and celebrate
difference within the body of Christ?
4. With whom do we find it hardest to make peace? What are the things standing in the way
of us making peace with these people or groups? Can these hostilities be put to death by
Christ? What role has forgiveness?
5. Identify some of the “dividing walls of hostility” in our society. What can be done in our
society and the wider world to break down the walls which stand in the way of shalom?
6. To think about: what types of costly action might be required of us to bring hostilities to
an end in our family, church or community?

PEACE
Prayer
“Let us go that we might walk in his paths . . .”

“They will beat their swords into ploughshares”
Micah 4:2-3
Lord,
We praise you that your rule knows no borders

nor your love no ethnic nor tribal limits.
We praise you that through the incarnation of

your son Jesus Christ
we have the one true Prince of Peace,
and the government is on his shoulders.
Forgive us for the times our words and actions

have reflected the divisions of the earth
rather than the unity of the kingdom of heaven.
Enable us to play our part

in creating a community of peace
where all can live securely.
Help us transform a culture of death and destruction

into a culture of peace and productivity
as we learn your ways
and seek to walk in your paths.
AMEN

PEACE

NOTES

Love
Forgiveness
Reconciliation
Peace
Citizenship
Truth
Servanthood
Justice &
Righteousness
Hope
Repentance

Citizenship
Quotations
To have doubted one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other.
Eric Hoffer
He who would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he
violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.
Thomas Paine
If a man be gracious and courteous to neighbours, it shows he is a citizen of the world.

Francis Bacon
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.

George Jean Nathan
So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private citizens will occasionally kill theirs.
Elbert Hubbard
To try to improve society is not worldliness, but love. To wash your hands of society is not love, but
worldliness.
Sir Frederick Catherwood
Introduction
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
Greek proverb
The implication of the proverb is that great citizenship is doing things, not for one’s self, but for the
sake of others. This resonates strongly with the way of the kingdom of God.
The following essay develops this theme, concerned with what it means to be a good neighbour. It
gives a striking example of someone who in faith and love modelled good citizenship even to those
who had wronged him. Paul has this notion in mind too when he writes to the Romans and urges
them, out of honour for God, to be obedient and loving citizens.

CITIZENSHIP
Essay
Our lives are interconnected in myriad ways with the lives of people who are outside the circle of
family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. How we live affects the lives of our neighbours. We
contribute to the welfare and well-being of all in society; indirectly through taxes, for those of us in
paid employment; and through the support and direction (or lack of it) we give to those charged
with provision of services for the whole of society. Yet we think of politics and government as
remote and impersonal, unless of course we are affected ourselves. The challenge for Christians is
to see politics, and our involvement in it, as part and parcel of our discipleship – loving our neighbour
as ourselves.
So who is our neighbour? The story Jesus told challenges us to include not just the person who may
attract our sympathy but also the outsider, the one we exclude. Jesus lived this out in his own ministry,
time and again recognising, affirming and setting as a standard the faith of those who were considered
to be outside the community of faith at that time. So from his life and from his teaching our view of
our neighbour is stretched to include those with whom we would not normally identify ourselves.
The early church faced this as they struggled with how Gentiles like us could share the faith, and its
dramatic and successful growth in the Roman world was largely the results of the efforts of one man,
Paul, who saw no-one as beyond the reach of God’s care. The attitudes of Jesus and Paul are totally
in line with the care God instructed the embryonic people of Israel to have for the welfare of the
alien and stranger in their midst. In our private and individualist society, our citizenship is an
opportunity to pay attention to the needs of the marginalised, the powerless and the alien and
stranger in our midst. Since we are willing to give our money to Christian and other organisations
involved in such care shouldn’t we also be willing to use the power we have as citizens to focus the
use of our collective financial resources for the good of all?
Are we thankful for the opportunity and responsibility we have for contributing to others lives? Do
we pray for wise and careful governance so that all may benefit but especially those on the margins
of society? Do we discuss with God how we can be more responsible citizens, more loving
neighbours? When we lay claim to our rights as citizens, do we also ask how we can ensure that
these rights are available to all other citizens?
So, more specifically, what might being a good citizen involve? Let us look at a powerful successful
country in early biblical times. It was a sophisticated, technologically advanced society. Wealthy,
stable, well-ordered it had a highly developed government and justice system. Individuals had a
comfortable, indeed luxuriant, lifestyle. Its religion was powerful and adhered to all by all, but God
was not included. It was confident and complacent. It seemed secure but in fact it was heading for
disaster. It was totally dependent on one natural phenomenon and therefore very vulnerable.
God knew, God cared and therefore He acted. He dropped a strong hint of the impending disaster
to the country’s ruler. The ruler had a choice – did he or didn’t he pick up on God’s nudge? He did,
he sought guidance and he took advice, he recognised ability, he set in place measures that would
and did avert the disaster. He accepted God’s offer of help.
God’s human partner in the situation also had a choice – would he accept that God cared enough
about this “God-less” society to want to save it? He did, so he got involved, first by giving advice. He
had a further choice – would he use his abilities and energy to help this country prepare for and
avert the disaster? He did and it took 14 years.

CITIZENSHIP
This man had a painful past. He could have been bitter and vengeful towards his family and towards
this country where he was an alien. He had been unjustly treated on more than one occasion,
costing him many years in prison. But he chose to create a better future for these people who had
wronged him, who didn’t recognise his God or share his faith. It involved taking his eyes off his pain
and sense of injustice and seeing God’s perspective and accepting the opportunity he had to help
God achieve His purposes. This was his faith and it was reflected in the names of his children: “It is
because God has made me forget all my trouble and my father’s household” and “It is because God
has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”
Joseph wasn’t a citizen of Egypt, yet he worked for the well-being of all its people. Central to his
motivation was his understanding that God cared enough for this people to want their well-being.
How would we have acted if we had been in Joseph’s position? How big is our view of God?
God is good to all, has compassion on and loves all He has made (Ps. 145:9, 13, 17). He cares
particularly for the oppressed, the hungry, prisoners, the blind, those who are bowed down, the
alien, the fatherless and the widow (Ps. 146: 7-9). As disciples we are to be like-minded and have
no limits to those to whom we are to do good. We have the opportunity to do so using the time,
the money and the rights and responsibilities we have as citizens in a wealthy democracy. Are these
the “talents” we are to put to use and for use of which we will be judged? (Matt. 24:14-30) Are our
fellow-citizens and the stranger and alien in our midst the needy ones that we either help or ignore
and thus incur Christ’s pleasure or His wrath? (Matt. 25: 31-46)
Citizenship is about using all our gifts and resources and “encouraging” government (of whatever
state of which we are citizens) to use the resources they have for the good of all, including the
marginalised and the outsider. Put simply, citizenship is about being a good neighbour.
Ethel White
Research Scientist in Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, lecturer in Queen’s
University, Belfast and Chair of the ECONI Board

CITIZENSHIP
Read: Romans 13
Talk Outline
Citizenship is the God-given opportunity and God-ordained responsibility to contribute to
others’ lives.
• Regarding the state: to do good and obey those in authority as God’s servants for the sake
of good, Godly governance. (v1-7)
• Regarding fellow citizens: to love them as neighbours as our fulfilment of the law (v8-10)
• Regarding ourselves: to live lives that honour Christ, doing all we can for his sake, not what
we can get away with for our sake (v11-14)
Questions
1. “Since we are willing to give our money to Christian and other organisations involved in
such care, shouldn’t we also be willing to use the power we have as citizens to focus the use
of our collective financial resources for the good of all?” Discuss whether you think this is
true, and if it has any implication for our view of taxes – are they a way by which we fulfill
the commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves?
2. What are legitimate and illegitimate ways for Christians to “encourage” the government
to “use the resources they have for the good of all”? Are there occasions when it would be
right to challenge, or even oppose, civic authority?
3. Paul must have heard something about the church in Rome which caused him to write
the first few verses of chapter 13. If he was around today, might he be hearing the same
things about us, or are we good subjects of the governing authorities?
4. The words “is due” are mentioned four times in verse 7. Are these a get-out clause (“only
if you think it is due”) or a command (“recognise that it is due”)?
5. How is love the “fulfillment of the law” (v10)? Is it just about avoiding doing wrong, or are
there positive things we can do? Give some practical examples, particularly for Northern
Ireland.
6. Read verses 11-14. Would you agree that “What makes people good Christians makes
them good citizens” (Daniel Webster)?

CITIZENSHIP
Prayer
Leader:
God beyond borders,
We bless you for strange places and different dreams;
For the demands and diversity of a wider world;
For the distance that lets us look back and re-evaluate;
For new ground where broken stems can take root,
Grow and blossom.
We bless you for the friendship of strangers;
The richness of other cultures;
And the painful gift of freedom.
All:
Blessed are you, God beyond borders.
Leader:
But if we have overlooked the exiles in our midst;
Heightened their exclusion by our indifference;
Given our permission for a climate of fear;
And tolerated a culture of violence;
All:
Have mercy on us,
God who takes side with justice.
Confront our prejudice;
Stretch our narrowness;
Sift out our laws and our lives
With the penetrating insight of your Spirit
Until generosity is our only measure.
AMEN
(Iona Community, The Pattern of our Days (ed) Kathy Galloway, Wild Goose, 1996)

CITIZENSHIP

NOTES

Love
Forgiveness
Reconciliation
Peace
Citizenship
Truth
Servanthood
Justice &
Righteousness
Hope
Repentance

Truth
Quotations
I am not sincere, even when I say I am not.
Jules Renard
Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while or the light
won't come in.
Alan Alda
The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.
Groucho Marx
The truth is rarely pure, and never simple.

Oscar Wilde
There are two kinds of truth, truth that lights the way and truth that warms the heart.
Raymond Chandler
The fact that astronomies change while the stars abide is a true analogy of every realm of human life
and thought, religion not least of all. No existent theology can be a final formulation of spiritual truth.
Harry Emerson Fosdick
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.
Mark Twain
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if
nothing ever happened.
Sir Winston Churchill
Truth-tellers are not always palatable. There is a preference for candy bars.
Gwendolyn Brooks
Introduction
“The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.”
Herbert Agar
The Bible tells us that the “truth that sets men free” is actually a person, Jesus, the “Truth”. The
author of the following essay wants to reclaim the notion of “biblical truth” from certain
misconceptions and help us to understand that through “biblical truth” we should be encountering
and in relationship with this person, the “Truth”.
In Ephesians, Paul is concerned for truth that shapes and builds the unity of the body, not expressed
in a way that is unlovingly divisive or unneccessarily confining.
Throughout this study the pressing question is: Are we willing to hear when we are challenged that,
for all our talk of “truth”, we have too often failed to represent faithfully the “Truth”?

TRUTH
Essay
Truth in Scripture
“Biblical truth”, by which I mean the vision of truth which we gain from the scriptures of both the Old
and New Testaments, is comprehensive in its reach and wide-ranging in its scope. It is certainly much
more than the rather static and cerebral concept to which it has been reduced in much of our thinking.
The Hebrew root ’amn, specifically the common noun ’emet, carries the connotation of reliability
and trustworthiness. We see this in Psalm 119:142 where it is applied to the law of God. It can also
have the straightforward meaning of truth as opposed to falsehood – a certain statement is factually
true (1 Kgs. 10:6) or has been investigated and its veracity established (Deut.13:14). However,
significantly by far its greatest usage relates to truth as a characteristic of Yahweh. In Exodus 34:5-7
God performs his, to date, greatest act of self-revelation as he passes in front of Moses on Sinai
proclaiming, among other things, that he is a God who “abounds in faithfulness”. Truth therefore in
Old Testament parlance was not so much conceptual or factual but personal, often paralleled with
the strong word hesed “covenant love” (Ps. 108:4). This is reflected later in Paul’s words to Timothy
regarding God’s inability to be faithless (2 Tim. 2:13).
Another aspect of the word’s meaning concerns moral righteousness and integrity. It is important
to realise that this link between truth and faithfulness and moral uprightness does not necessarily
imply sinlessness or perfection, since two of the characters specifically referred to as exhibiting this
truthful integrity are David (1 Kgs. 3:6) and Hezekiah (2 Kgs. 20:3). As fallen sinful human beings it
is still possible, under grace to reflect something of God’s ’emet.
The fact that truthfulness is an integral part of Yahweh’s character can be seen again in the Ten
Commandments where, just as God’s love of fidelity is reflected in the 7th commandment, his love
of life in the 8th, so his commitment to truth is reflected in the command not to bear false witness.
His people of course failed in this area as they did in all the others, so much so that by the time of
Hosea God could utter the stinging criticism that there was neither faithfulness (’emet), love (hesed),
nor knowledge of God in the land. The singular absence of these three key qualities was to prove
the unpromising context in which One would arise who would take the concepts of truth, love and
God-knowledge to a whole new level.
The main New Testament term for truth is alethein, and again this covers everything from
straightforward factual truth (1 Tim. 2:7; Mark 5:33) and the absolute truth of God’s word (Eph. 1:3)
to the same sense of dependability and uprightness that we saw in the Old Testament as indicative
of the character of God (Rom. 3:7). John is particularly fond of the term (both alethein and the well-
known word amen). To him it refers to ultimate reality: Jesus is full of grace and truth (John 1:14) and
specifically says he is the truth (John 14:6; see also 5:33; 8:32). The extent to which the concept of
truth was central to the ministry of Christ can be seen in the fact that a mammoth 78 times in the
Gospels Jesus uses the phrase “I tell you the truth”, including the characteristic idiom in John “Truly,
Truly I say . . .” (amen, amen).
Proposition or person?
If we look at the wide range of usage within the New Testament we can see without doubt that
truth is often clearly presented in a propositional form. As such, it can be suppressed (Rom. 1:18,25)
rejected (Rom. 2:8; 2 Tim. 4:4; Titus 1:14) denied (Jam. 3:14) set forth (2 Cor. 4:2) spoken (2 Cor.
12:6; Eph. 4:15) believed (2 Th. 2:12) “walked in” (2 Jn. 1:4) and known (Titus 1:1; 1 Jn. 2:20-21).
However, it can also be rejoiced with (1 Cor. 13:6) live in us (2 Jn. 1:2 cf. 2 Cor. 11:10), acted against
(2 Cor. 13:8), obeyed (Gal. 5:7; 1 Pet. 1:22), loved (1 Tim. 3:15; 2 Th. 2:10 – where it is paralleled

TRUTH
directly with God himself), and belonged to (1 Jn. 3:19 where it is paralleled with the Spirit cf. John
4:24; 1 Jn. 5:6). In addition people can be “loved in the truth” (3 Jn. 1) and the truth can actively
bear witness (3 Jn. 12).
Whilst not denying the basic propositional component of truth, these other references force us to
broaden our understanding and begin to see truth as something more personal and dynamic. How,
for instance, is it possible to rejoice with or act against a concept; or love, or obey, or belong to a
proposition? It seems that the New Testament writers, and John in particular, are taking seriously the
statement of Christ where uniquely, and alone in history, he makes the existential statement “I am
the truth”, and are therefore indeed seeing Him as the fullness of God’s revelation.
Scripture therefore, while attesting its own veracity, trustworthiness, reliability, truthfulness etc. (John
17:17; 2 Cor. 4:2; Ps. 119 passim), is not only the locus of truthful statements, but also the place
where we encounter the One who is the epitome of truth, and where we learn how to order our
lives so that we can “walk in” that truth; i.e. to so make it part of constitution that not just what we
say but how we live reflects the utter trustworthiness of our God. In fact, Paul’s famous statement
in Ephesians 4:15, often translated “speaking the truth in love”, is more accurately to be rendered
“truthing in love”. Truth is not only to be verbal, but visible.
“Biblical Truth” – and beyond!

For many years, for many people, the phrase “biblical truth” has been synonymous with doctrinal or
creedal statements. As such it has been, for some, a buzzword of (a certain type of) orthodoxy and,
for others, a quasi-fundamentalist slogan to be avoided. In the light of the biblical material surveyed
above, I would suggest that the phrase needs to be retained and reclaimed. In popular usage the
two terms are almost equal in value, and the emphasis is on the truth statements contained in the
Bible. In reclaiming the term, let me suggest that the word “biblical” should qualify the word “truth”
and that the emphasis should be on the type of truth, the approach to truth, the understanding of
truth, which the Bible itself encourages. A truth that is both propositional and relational, that does
not exclude statements of fact or reality but which goes beyond them to include an encounter with
the Truth Himself. To hold to our faith convictions firmly but to do so in a way which does not belie
those very convictions. In short, to “truth in love”. This is surely what is presented to us as the only
type of “biblical truth”.
Truth for our time

Any attempt to ascertain the appropriate place of this type of “biblical truth” in our Northern Irish
context will involve the asking of serious questions regarding the way in which this concept has been
abused in the past, as well as tentative suggestions for the way forward.
Looking back
Specifically the following questions may prove helpful:
• In what ways might the condemnation of Hosea 4:1 be true of our land today?
• How big a part does the development of Godlike character play in our traditional
approach to standing for the truth?
• In what ways has our concern for truth been expressed and pursued individualistically, (i.e.
outside of community, dialogue and relationships)? How is this manifest in the way we deal
with those with whom we disagree? How has this undermined “biblical truth”?
• What might a more relational, community-based pursuit of truth look like in our context?

TRUTH
• In what ways have we paid lip service to the truth but failed in being pro-active in making
our society more truthful?
• In what ways has our concern for truth only been partial? In what ways, and why, have we
been afraid of the implications of acknowledging the truth in “the other side”? How might
seeing truth as more personal than a list of doctrines threaten us?
• How have our attempts to proclaim the truth been negated by our less than truthful
methods? What role have half-truth, misrepresentation, false witness, unhelpful
generalisations and stereotypes played in our religious and political development in
Northern Ireland? How can we behave more truthfully in these areas?
• If “biblical truth” still includes the articulation of true statements and the exposure of false
ideas and doctrines (see above), then how can this be pursued in a way which is faithful to
the character of God? Is there a difference between “Truth”, “biblical truth” and our
formulations of the truth? If so, how can we avoid equating them all?
• Is there any significance in the fact that while we often employ the popular idiom “standing
for the truth”, the biblical image is not static but dynamic: “walking in the truth”? (Ps. 26:3;
86:11; 1 Jn. 1:6; 3 Jn. 3) What would it mean for us to walk in the truth in a conflictual or
divided context?
Looking ahead
The role of truth in a post-conflict situation has been highlighted most obviously in recent years with
the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa and the call in some
quarters for a similar one to be held here. Similarly, the pursuit of the Omagh bombers through the
civil courts, the Bloody Sunday enquiry and the calls for other tribunals to be set up to investigate
past atrocities, have put the quest for truth to the forefront of the political agenda. While Christians
should support and agitate for anything which uncovers and enhances truth and which exposes
duplicity and deception, we must recognise that the discovery of facts alone does not constitute truth,
in fact can turn truth into a weapon. If we pursue the relational, community-based vision of truth
espoused above, there may be times when the desire to establish facts may need to be subordinated
to the greater goal of repairing and restoring community. On some, though certainly not all occasions,
a blow-by-blow account of the facts may not contribute in any way to this greater cause.
What must at all costs be avoided is a never-ending sequence of investigation that never looks
beyond the facts nor addresses the crucial issue of how we live with the truth. Or, in other words,
how truth in the factual sense can aid truth in the deeper sense of lifestyle, where “brute facts” are
balanced by other truths such as grace and forgiveness.
Into a context where many have defined their identity, organised their strategies, prioritised their
activities, ostracised their opponents, and justified their actions in the name of defending the truth,
we do well to remember that the Truth we serve calls us to vocal and visible proclamation, not to
defence. He is more than capable of defending Himself.
David Montgomery
Associate Minister at Knock Presbyterian Church and a member of ECONI

TRUTH
Read: Ephesians 4
Talk Outline
• We are one in the body of Christ – there should be humility, gentleness and love (v1-6)
• There is Christ-ordained diversity in the body (v7-11) so that we might be taught (v11)
and therefore active (v12) to become mature (v13)
• “Truthing” therefore is about building, supporting and growing together (v14-16)
Truth is not:
• About sensual preference (v17-20)
• To be separated from lived holiness (v21-24)
• To be spoken in anger, bitterness, malice or slander, which will grieve the Holy Spirit
(v26-27, 30-31)
But is:
• To be expressed with the benefit of others in mind (v25, 29)
• To be expressed with Christlike kindness, compassion and forgiveness (v32)
Questions
1. In his section Looking back, the author poses some searching questions. Choose two to
think about or discuss as a group.
2. What does Paul see as being the main attributes of a Christian calling? (v1-3) Does the
unity which Paul speaks of in v3 mean the same as unanimity, uniformity, union?
3. How does the concept of “truth” fit in with this calling and what should characterise our
conveying of it? (think about these short passages . . . v4-6, 11-13, 15, 21-24, 25-27, 29-32)
4. Paul seems to suggest that foolish arguments are a lack of maturity (v14). How should we
handle the grey areas where we differ?
5. The phrase in verse 15 is translated by the author as “truthing in love” and by the amplified
Bible as “let our lives lovingly express truth”. Do we too often make the assumption that we
communicate only with our mouths (and just possibly with our ears!)? What might this say
about conveying the truth of Jesus in Northern Ireland?

TRUTH
Prayer
Given that the subject is Truth, this prayer comes in the form of a creed, expressing the living power of God
We believe in one God,

Who gave birth to the cosmos and to us,
Creating, out of nothing but his will,
A world of rocks, plants and human longing;
Whose eyes will not fail to cry for it all.

Who redeems the waste of all things good,
Weaving, from the griefs of our freedom,
New and un-hoped for things;
Whose mercy will not fail
To heal it all.

Who lives among all people in all places,
Calling us from our despair and sleep
To live out Easter in our generation;
Whose love will not fail
To hold us all.
(Sophie Churchill, Dare to Dream (ed.) Geoffrey Duncan, Fount 1995)

TRUTH

NOTES

NOTES

Love
Forgiveness
Reconciliation
Peace
Citizenship
Truth
Servanthood
Justice &
Righteousness
Hope
Repentance

Servanthood
Quotations
Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.
Muhammad Ali
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Mohandas K. Gandhi
He profits most who serves best.

A. F. Sheldon (motto for International Rotary)
Freely we serve because we freely love.

John Milton
Introduction
“Everybody can be great . . . because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree
to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full
of grace, a soul generated by love.”
Martin Luther King Jr
Servanthood is so clearly part of Christian life that we often overlook its implications. Yet three
things become clear from this study. First, servanthood is often costly; second, servanthood is
something all Christians can do; and third, we have a model for our own practice in the life and
words of Jesus.
The opening reflection challenges us to see the radical nature of servanthood that calls into question
the values of the world in which we live. The following passage for study from Mark’s gospel brings
us into an encounter with the Son of Man who came not to serve but to be served, and with
disciples and would-be disciples as they face the challenge of Jesus’ call to follow him.
Servanthood is costly, but Jesus is our model.

SERVANTHOOD
Essay
There is a hymn that begins: “Brother, sister let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you”.1 This
strikes at the heart of servanthood: being Christ-like. Paul says as much in Philippians when he
writes: “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:4-5).
The thing is, it is not just a particularly holy thing to do. Being a servant is not to be thought of as an
added level of wondrous lowliness and humility or deep piety. We shouldn’t think of service as the
way of “Saints” alone, but of all saints – all Christians. Servanthood is the way of the kingdom. It is
for you, says Paul, “if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ . . . any comfort
from his love . . . any fellowship with the Spirit . . . any tenderness and compassion . . .”(Phil. 2:1).
We see the same thing in Mark. Jesus states: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The implications for all his followers are
spelled out not just in the preceding verses but in earlier chapters: “If anyone would come after me,
he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34); “If anyone wants to be first,
he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35).
Sure enough, you would have got this message just reading Isaiah 40 onwards. The Lord’s way is to
work through his suffering servant – the person and the people.
But servanthood can only follow a secure identity rooted in that person, Jesus, and his achievement
in making us children of God. Jesus did not “grasp equality” with God, yet was secure in his
relationship with his Father. We cannot serve while we are grasping at an identity which rests on
earthly reward or appreciation, or the hope of being moved up the pecking order from apprentice-
servant to servant-in-charge. Only with our hope, our trust, our identity held firmly in our
relationship with God and in nothing else are we able to “make ourselves nothing” and serve
without thought of esteem, repayment or recognition.
This means understanding that the reward for service is not found in the world. Whatever thanks
people give us; however great it is to receive praise and honour; whatever the world encourages us
to think we deserve as recompense for the sweat and tears we have put in, Christian servanthood
must look to Christ for its meaning and reward. It is “encouragement from being united with Christ”
(Phil. 2:1); gladness and rejoicing that we are like-minded, “one in spirit and purpose” (Phil. 2:2);
delight at hearing those words: “Well done good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21-23), sharing the
master’s happiness. On one hand this is a terrifically hard thing. It is the crunch of being aliens in the
world and understanding our completeness in Christ alone. But on the other hand, it means that
we don’t have to rate ourselves by the esteem, or lack thereof, that the world gives us. God is
pleased with our service when we offer ourselves as spiritual sacrifices (Rom. 12:1; Heb. 13:16).
Everybody is able to be a “good and faithful servant” in the eyes of the Father. It doesn’t depend on
what our “position” is in life or even the church. It relies on our response to what God has given
each of us to do; to the opportunities he sets before us.
Not only does Christ call us to servanthood, but he also enables us to serve, that we may enable
others to serve too. When Jesus asks that amazing question “What do you want me to do for
you?”(Matt. 20:32) he is offering the most amazing service to the two blind men. Now it may seem
obvious that they choose to be healed. But this means that no longer will they rely on the service
of others around them as before; no longer can they be tempted to root their identity in their
constant incapacity to see or help themselves; healing means there is no longer any reason not to

SERVANTHOOD
serve others and follow Christ, which is what they did. Because we have been and are being made
whole by Christ’s service for us, our responsibility, without excuse, is to set about following him and
serving others. We neither need nor should think of ourselves as unable. It may be tempting and
easy to let others be the servants, but we have no reason not to be. And serving others means
enabling them to serve too; not being a crutch for their dependency, but a facilitator for their own
life of service.
However, this is not to detract from the importance of being served. In fact it emphasises the need
to let others be servants as part of the kingdom way and to be one in the spirit and purpose of the
church. As the hymn continues: “Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant, too.” Peter
had to learn to have the grace to let Christ wash his feet. We also need to get rid of our self-help
pride and let Christ serve us through others.
A servant-community is a powerful revelation of the message and purpose of God in the midst of a
society that is vying for individual rights, recognition and power, and in which self-assertion is the
recommended route. The servant attitude that puts others first out of love for them rather than self
is wholly antithetical to the way of the world. What an impact Christian servanthood, faithfully
practised in community, would have on a society that is searching for meaningful identity, purpose and
love, where community serves the individual, rather than the individual serving the community. If we
could embody in our churches that Christ-like servant-heart that longs to offer true healing, identity,
unity and purpose, surely we would have an effect on our hurt, lost, fractured and uncertain society.
Ben Walker
Volunteer Research Assistant with ECONI and part-time lecturer at Belfast Bible College
1
Richard Gillard, Brother, Sister, Let Me Serve You

SERVANTHOOD
Read Mark 10:13-52
Talk Outline
Servanthood is the way into the kingdom by Jesus (v45) and the way of the kingdom, as exemplified
by the King, the Son of Man (v43-45)
• Servanthood means setting aside pride and position (v13-16)
• Servanthood means setting aside material self-dependence (v17-31)
• Servanthood means setting aside worldly ambition (v32-42)
• Servanthood means accepting the amazing service of Jesus (v45-51) and following him (v52)
Questions
1. In a world which rests on earthly reward or appreciation do we have to live differently in
the church and in society? If not, how can we bring the servanthood values of the church
into that society?
2. “Serve without thought of esteem, repayment or recognition.” Is this a good description

of your church or of your life?
3. For the rich man (v17-22) the challenge to serve was costly, not just in terms of his wealth
but also his reputation. What might the cost be for contemporary Christians in responding
to the call to serve? What has it cost us?
4. James and John (v35-40) aspired to greatness in the kingdom of God, but their ambition
had blinded them to the nature of true greatness. Why do you think James and John thought
this way, despite having spent so much time in the company of Jesus? Can our ambitions for
the kingdom of God also blind us to the way of service?
5. Bartimaeus (v46-52) was dependent on the service of others to survive. He was

vulnerable, but he also knew where he stood. When he met Jesus he was healed and he
“followed him in the way”. Is it easier to be served than to serve? Can a relationship of
service become one of exploitation? How can we ensure that service is about
empowerment rather than dependency?
6. At the core of this passage is Jesus teaching in verses 42-45 regarding the nature of
service. Is this your experience of Christian leadership in the community or in the church?
In what way might your church look different if we were all able to live to Jesus’ model?

SERVANTHOOD
Prayer
Lord Jesus,
In a world of selfishness greed and power

we thank you for the way you have overcome the world.
Expecting you to come in displays of strength

we find you in the weakness of a baby.
Expecting you to demonstrate your glory
you come concealed in the flesh and bone of a man.
Expecting you to assert your power
you submit to insult and humiliation
and hang meekly on a cross.
In you we see the nature of God

and learn the power of compassion
and the strength of weakness.
Help us to live in the light of your life

and your ways in the world.
Teach us to serve rather than expect service

and show us the freedom of following you
that the world may believe.
AMEN

SERVANTHOOD

NOTES

Love
Forgiveness
Reconciliation
Peace
Citizenship
Truth
Servanthood
Justice &
Righteousness
Hope
Repentance

Justice & Righteousness
Quotations
Self-righteousness is like body odour. It is difficult to smell your own.
John Dunlop
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Abraham Lincoln
Justice is the bread of the nation; it is always hungry for it.

François de Chateaubriand
Children are innocent and love justice, while most adults are wicked and prefer mercy.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
Justice is always violent to the party offending, for every man is innocent in his own eyes.
Daniel Defoe
Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can
finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Justice is the firm and continuous desire to render to everyone that which is his due.
Justinian
The love of justice in most men is only the fear of themselves suffering by injustice.
François de La Rochefoucauld
Justice and power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever
is powerful may be just.
Blaise Pascal
Introduction
“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds and it were necessary
only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts
through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Justice and righteousness can seem both simple and essential – some are evil and should be
punished, some are righteous and should be rewarded. Yet, as Solzhenitsyn (a good man who
endured unspeakable evil) reminds us, the demands of justice and righteousness must be worked
out in a world where things are rarely so straightforward.
In his reflection the author looks at this challenge through the eyes of the Psalmist who recognises
the injustices of life but remains confident of God’s vindication. The study questions take up these
themes from Psalm 37. In a fallen world injustice will always be with us; but God will establish justice
and righteousness and so we must “wait for the Lord” (Ps. 37:34).

JUSTICE & RIGHTEOUSNESS
Essay
Which debate do you think is most likely to get the phone lines humming on BBC Radio Ulster’s
Talk Back programme? The justice of the Tony Martin case or that of the early release of prisoners?
Or which of these disputes is most likely to test David Dunseith’s patience: the righteousness of the
invasion of Iraq as a pre-emptive action or righteousness of protestant clergy participating in the
Loyalist Commission? Without wanting to make a value judgment as to the relative merits of either
argument there is no doubt that those issues closest to home are going to raise the greatest ire.
It seems that, viewed from a distance, justice and righteousness make fascinating debating topics. But
the more I feel the justice or righteousness personally (or more accurately the injustice or
unrighteousness) the more difficult it is to remain rational about the matter and even the most
liberal of liberal value systems can become stretched when illiberality serves my personal needs.
Theoretical or abstract discussions of justice and righteousness, whilst valuable, tend to skirt around
the real heat and emotion generated when justice and righteousness becomes a personal issue. We
seem to be hard-wired to expect retributive justice. And there is something inherently comfortable
in righteousness gaining its just reward. Thus when the killers of my partner are released early, or
my cultural or political identity is ridiculed, I demand justice and a recognition of the righteousness
of my cause.
In the context of ancient Israel, Psalm 37 concerns itself with the most personal of justice and
righteousness issues – the possession of the land. The recurrent theme in the psalm is about how
tenure in the land can be sustained and how it may be lost.
The psalm itself emerges from a context in which its intended audience has shaped its life and faith
round the settled notion that deeds invite appropriate consequences. Those who live faithful lives will
be blessed, whilst the wicked will be punished. Righteousness will be rewarded and justice will be upheld.
The Psalmist, like the audience, has no problem in seeing a direct consequential relationship
between moral behaviour and issues of security, wealth and power. The continued possession of
land and the subsequent enjoyment of its wealth, status and power are not just economic or political
privileges, but are intimately connected to intercommunity relationships and moral behaviour. This
moral-relational web is characterised by justice and righteousness and held together by God’s power
to bless or withhold blessing.
What happens then to such a worldview when the wicked appear to possess or inherit the land?
When the simple deeds-consequence model of the world begins to break apart what happens to
people of faith who have learned to rely on that model and have shaped their faith life and their view
of the world according to its dogma? When all public discourse is shaped by the deeds-consequence
view of the world what is left for the righteous when it collapses?
It seems that those conditioned by the deeds-consequence model of the world were prepared to
jettison dearly held beliefs about justice and righteousness in order to reassert their claims over
against those who were perceived as wicked. In fact, the wicked are almost ignored in the psalm in
favour of asking the righteous to calm down (Ps. 37:1,7,8) and to refrain from anger and wrath,
which may be justifiable, but which if not carefully directed lead only to evil acts (v8).
Into such a context falls the admonition to “stay calm” with all the subtlety of a Victorian wardrobe.
The fact that it does so three times in the opening eight verses simply compounds the shock. Do

not fret or fly into a passion because the wicked seem to flourish. It is an instruction to those who
are anxious over the apparent success of “those who do wrong” as if this success, by its very
existence, will undermine the righteousness and sovereign power of God.
The psalmist makes the admonition in full recognition that real wickedness exists (v7, 21a, 35) and that
often the deeds of the wicked are directed deliberately at the righteous (v12, 14). Yet the writer
recognises that the just and righteous God sees (v7-10) and will act both to uphold the righteous and
punish the wicked (v17-20). This is no encouragement to flee behind virtuous walls into pious enclaves.
Rather it is an encouragement to resist the temptation to retaliate in like fashion (v8) for ultimately
“there is a future for the man of peace” (v37) and a judgment for the wicked (v38).
The righteous are encouraged to “trust in the LORD and do good” (v3); to “delight in the LORD”
(v4); to “commit their way to the LORD” (v5), with the result that “He will make your righteousness
shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun” (v6).
Walter Brueggemann describes this psalm as “a profound act of determined hope.” He writes, “The
psalm is a promise and guarantee of land for those who seem to have no means (except the claims
of morality) whereby to acquire land and, therefore, is a critical assault on present land
arrangements that are unjust and cannot be sustained. That is, the psalm is turned against the
‘wicked’ who now possess the very land that was promised to ‘the meek’ and will indeed be given
to them.”
In the ferment of what passes for public debate in Northern Ireland’s civic space not many of us are
genuinely willing to place our vindication in the hands of someone else, even if that someone is a
Supreme Being. If our cause needs to be upheld, better to do it ourselves even if our methods are
at best questionable or at worst a compromise of biblical justice and righteousness.
But God’s purposes in the world, which includes the establishment of justice and righteousness, are
served best by a realistic acknowledgement of the true state of the society and the realisation that
my actions alone are not going to change what is an essential characteristic of a fallen world.
That is not to say that I shouldn’t struggle against injustice and unrighteousness where I see it. But
to think that my efforts alone can sort it out is to put myself in the place of Almighty God. The
salvation of the righteous comes from God (v39). The revelation of my righteousness and the justice
of my cause is his responsibility (v6), and he doesn’t need my help.
The instruction not to fret in the face of the extreme provocation of injustice and unrighteousness is
not a comfortable one in Northern Ireland. The temptation is very real to establish justice and
righteousness with the means by which they were overthrown in the first place. But it must be resisted
by the righteous who hope for a better future where their righteousness will emerge with the
suddenness and glory of the dawn, and where the justice of their cause will blaze like a noonday sun.
Glenn Jordan
Director of Care and Training Services at East Belfast Mission and an ECONI Board member

Read: Psalm 37
Talk Outline
When the world around seems to give success and profit to those who are evil and practice
wicked ways:
• Be assured that God is in control of justice and righteousness (v6, 12-15, 18-20, 34, 38-40)
• Do not fret though they seem to succeed for they will wither and fade (v1-2, 7-8)
• Do not try to restore justice and righteousness by their wicked ways (v8, 27)
• Trust and be content in the Lord and walk in blameless ways (v3-7, 16-19, 27-8, 34, 37-38)
Questions
1. What kinds of issues have raised questions of justice and righteousness for you?
2. “We seem to be hard-wired to expect retributive justice.” Is this true of our society in
general? Is it also true of Christians? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
3. “I have been young, and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their
children begging bread.” (v25) Is this just wishful thinking? If not, do you think you could say this?
4. “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath” (v8). This would suggest that others see the
wicked prospering, often at the expense of the righteous (v12, 14). Do you get angry when
you see evil prospering? Some might argue that anger at injustice is a right and proper
response. Why do you think the Psalmist counsels against it?
5. The righteous are encouraged to “trust” (v3), “be still” (v7), and “wait” (v7). This might
suggest that our attitude should be one of patience and quietism in the face of evil. Do you
think this is what the Psalmist is advocating? Is there ever a time when resistance is to be
preferred to patience?
6. What relevance does this passage have to those of us who live in democratic societies
where we share responsibility for dealing with the wicked? Would it be easier if the
government had decided to release prisoners without asking us to endorse it or reject it?

Prayer
“Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.”

Micah 6:8
Lord,
Forgive us for our detachment from the plight of others,

and our blindness to the sins of our own community.
Enable us to reflect the attitudes of our God
who has no favourites,
and to love those we have been conditioned to dismiss.
For we have not acted justly.
Forgive us for pretending we desire justice

when really what we seek is vengeance.
Enable us to seek the good of those who do us wrong
and to bless those who persecute us.
For we have not loved mercy.
Forgive us too, Lord, for our cultural or spiritual arrogance;

for demanding our rights, while despising the rights of others.
Enable us to consider others better than ourselves.
For we have not walked humbly.
Teach us the way of the cross we pray,

and hasten your kingdom of justice and peace.
AMEN



NOTES

NOTES

Love
Forgiveness
Reconciliation
Peace
Citizenship
Truth
Servanthood
Justice &
Righteousness
Hope
Repentance

Hope
Quotations
He is the best physician who is the most ingenious inspirer of hope.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A misty morning does not signify a cloudy day.

Ancient Proverb
Hope is a waking dream.

Aristotle
In all things it is better to hope than to despair.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.

Martin Luther
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.
Oscar Wilde
Hope is believing in spite of the evidence, then watching the evidence change.
Jim Wallis
Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all . . .
Emily Dickinson
Introduction
“Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same
as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for
success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.”
Václav Havel
If we are involved in reconciliation work in Northern Ireland we walk along a precipice of hope, just
one step away from falling into a state of hopelessness. We will need a spirituality that is more than
wishful thinking. If we are not people of faith, hope and love we will easily succumb to debilitating
feelings of frustration, disappointment or resignation.
This essay will help us examine how robust our hope is as we think about the nature of this hope
and the promises and character of God. In the study we find Habakkuk concluding that in the middle
of apparent or real disaster we can discover God to be the one who enables us to walk a difficult
path with confidence.
Our concern for justice and righteousness will soon dissipate if not accompanied by a confidence in
God’s faithfulness.

HOPE
Essay
Hope forms the basis of a spirituality for the long haul. With hope we can have access to the
abundant life to which we are called as followers of Christ. This is why hope appears with faith and
love as one of the three marks of Christian character referred to by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:13.
As Christians our hope is from God and in God. Throughout the Old and New Testaments men
and women of faith have placed their hope in the God who acts to liberate and save his people –
from the exodus from slavery in Egypt to the overcoming of death in the cross and resurrection of
Christ. Biblical hope is grounded in the promises of God, is nurtured by the stories of God’s
faithfulness and looks forward to the eternal presence of God in glory in the promised new heaven
and new earth. In this way Christian hope becomes more than simply a wish or a wistful desire, it
contains within it a strong sense of expectation and confidence that our hope will be fulfilled.
However, until that fulfilment we live with the tension between the “already” and the “not yet”. In
the meantime, faith, which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things yet unseen
(Heb. 11:1), enables us to discern the presence of God’s providence in the world. The challenge to
Christians in every age is, “How do we bear witness to God’s promises and God’s kingdom in a
hope-starved world?” “How do we keep our own hope alive in the face of evil and death?”
Firstly, we need to know more about the unique quality of Christian hope. We live in an age and
culture in which it is all too easy to confuse hope with psychological optimism. There is a thin line
between optimism and pessimism: whether we regard the glass as half-full or half-empty tends to
depend on how we feel, how much control or influence we think we have on our circumstances and
how much we think they control us. Because a positive mental attitude or optimism depends on
personal psychological resources it is susceptible to changes in our moods and our circumstances.
When exposed to the pain, injustice and disappointment of life optimism either dissolves or requires
the denial of the painful elements of reality. By contrast, hope is not sustained by our own effort. It
is sustained by sharing the stories of God’s action in the world which shape our relationship with
God – without whom the circumstances of our world cannot be redeemed.
In true human style we often only become aware of the need for hope when life pushes us to the
limits of our human resources in times of crisis or suffering. The Bible recognises a significant
relationship between hope and suffering. Hope manages to hold together the experience of pain
and suffering with a belief in the sovereignty of God; the bitter taste of present circumstances with
the foretaste of God’s kingdom of righteousness.
The redemptive possibility which is always at work in the world means that nothing and no one is
beyond hope. We can recall how Job not only struggles with personal tragedy he also has to suffer
the fatalistic attitudes of his friends. However, what makes the story of Job significant for faith is that
he resists despair. The bottom line for Job is his assertion, “I know that my redeemer lives” (Job
19:25). In other words, he holds onto the promises of God. He bases this hope on God’s history
with his chosen people. Therefore hope is an act of resistance against the fatalism in the world which
seeks to persuade us that God is dead.
Hope is not a form of spiritual escapism because it is not simply a matter of individual destiny.
While hope has a deep personal dimension it is not merely a private concern. Hope looks toward
the kingdom of God, therefore, hope is ultimately concerned for the whole of humankind and
creation and it cannot stand aloof in the face of suffering and injustice. Hope for a new creation
draws believers into the life of love and a concern for right relationship with our neighbour, our

HOPE
enemy and the world we live in. Therefore the things we hope for should shape the way we live
in the present.
The kingdom of God promises a radically different future for all who enter it. Christian hope
demands that we are open to God’s future which is already at work in our present circumstances.
However, in our fearful desire for certainty and control we can resist the incredible newness of
God’s future and the surprising ways of the kingdom which are deeply subversive of the ways of the
world. Jürgen Moltmann, author of A Theology of Hope, suggests that for many of us, for whom the
world is a relatively comfortable place, hope may – paradoxically – bring a deep sense of disquiet
rather than a sense of peace. This brings home to us the strong moral and prophetic dimension to
hope which takes seriously the gap between the way the world is and the kingdom of God.1 Thus
hope calls us to radical discipleship – which is perhaps easier for those whose need for hope is most
deeply felt and who have less to lose.
While we may be comfortable with a notion of hope which focuses on certainty of salvation, lurking
in the back of the mind is the notion that hope should be handled responsibly and with care. Perhaps
like a child with a Christmas wish-list, in order to avoid disappointment we tell ourselves we shouldn’t
hope for too much. Past disappointments have taught us to be cautious and timid with our hopes.
For many Christians, particularly within evangelicalism, the notion of certainty is a key element to
faith. We tend to shy away from anything which might threaten that sense of certainty and therefore
fear that disappointment may call faith into question. The danger is that in so doing we take our
orientation from our circumstances by weighing up the evidence and calling things as we see them.
But where is the evidence of things unseen, that which we hope for?
Welcoming in God’s kingdom demands hopeful action in the world in response to God’s call to
radical discipleship. Do we perhaps harbour the fear that if we are caught up in the hopeful demands
of the kingdom of God and truly become “prisoners of hope” then more will be required of us than
we bargained on?
Maybe so. But what we stand to receive could be more than we ourselves dare hope for.
Anna Rankin
Resource Co-ordinator with ECONI
1
See Jürgan Moltmann, “Hope”, in A New Dictionary of Christian Theology, (ed.) Alan Richardson &
John Bowen, London, SCM Press 1989.

HOPE
Read: Habakkuk 3
Talk Outline
In chapter 1, Habakkuk cries out to God about the violence and injustice in the land. God replies
that he is sending Judah’s enemies to punish them. Habakkuk finds this surprising and wonders if it
is fair, just or merciful, but waits for God in hope of an answer. In chapter 2, God shows Habakkuk
in a vision the destruction of all those who are wicked (arrogant, greedy, extortionists, unjust,
drunkards, lustful, idolaters etc.) in true justice.
In Habakkuk 3:
• Habakkuk recognises the awesomeness of God in his deeds (v2)
• Habakkuk asks and trusts that God will show mercy in his anger (v2)
• Habakkuk accepts that the judgement of his people will be bad (v3-15)
• But despite this trouble, he waits in joy and hope for the saving and strengthening of the
Lord (v16-19)
Questions
1. How do the things we hope for in the future shape our lives in the present?
2. What is the difference between hope and optimism?
Read Habakkuk 3: 17-19
3. How do we keep hope alive when everything around us spells disaster?
4. Are the high places in verse 19 places removed from trouble, or places of difficulty, doubt
or fear?
5. Discuss the relationship between hope and patience.
6. What insight is Habakkuk given which would encourage us to keep on working for peace
and justice in Northern Ireland?

HOPE
Prayer
“I watch and hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Saviour. My God will hear me.”
Micah 7:7
Lord God,
We thank you for how you have brought us

to this point in our search for peace.
Out of darkness and despair, you have given us hope.
In our land,
where it is easier to glorify the past than build a future
and where it is more common to despair than to hope;
where cynicism trips more neatly of the tongue than encouragement
and begrudgery more naturally than blessing,
give us power by your Spirit
to be catalysts of change and agents of renewal.
Implant within us the mind and heart of Christ

and the discernment, flexibility and courage
to admit mistakes and take risks in the task
of bringing about peace, justice and reconciliation.
Above all, O God, give us Hope.
AMEN

HOPE

NOTES

Love
Forgiveness
Reconciliation
Peace
Citizenship
Truth
Servanthood
Justice &
Righteousness
Hope
Repentance

Repentance
Quotations
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.
Blaise Pascal
It is foolish to lay out money for the purchase of repentance.

Benjamin Franklin
True repentance is to cease from sinning.

Ambrose of Milan
It is much easier to repent of sins that we have committed than to repent of those that we intend
to commit.
Josh Billings
Introduction
“Most people repent their sins by thanking God they ain’t so wicked as their neighbors.”
Josh Billings
Hopefully this reflection will lead us to a greater appreciation of the grace of God when as Christians
and as church we are prepared to acknowledge that we have done wrong or failed to do what was
right. Repentance is rarely popular unless we are demanding it of another group or community. We
tend to take it personally but the call to repentance in the Bible is often to a community or to a
nation. This is challenging to us in Northern Ireland as we struggle to acknowledge the collective
wrongs of the past but demand individual acts of repentance from members of the other
community.
We reflect on a chapter from the book of Jonah where we see this reluctant messenger
disappointed with his own success in calling people to repentance and resentful of the extent of
God’s mercy shown to an undeserving people. We may find ourselves thinking about prejudices in
our own lives that block good and gracious thoughts about the other side and prevent us from doing
those things that we ought to have done. When we repent we may discover the kingdom of God
to be very near.

REPENTANCE
Essay
Repentance is a little like housework – few of us enjoy it, it consumes our time, we prefer others to
do it, it makes us see just how filthy we are, and no sooner have we finished than we need to start
all over again. And yet, the word “repentance” probably conjures up more horrific images than even
housework does. Our images of repentance might be of the man, complete with sandwich board,
grizzly frown upon his face, KJV Bible in his left hand, megaphone in his right, shouting at an
uninterested crowd about their eternal state and how to dodge the fires of hell. Such people are
often viewed as dinosaurs and, unfortunately, their language, of which “repentance” is a part, has
tended to be relegated to the archaic. But, despite such negative associations, the concept of
repentance is worth preserving – in fact it is necessary that we do so, for Christ calls both the church
and the world to repent.
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have done
those things which we ought not to have done.1
Only the self-righteous have nothing to repent for. All of us mere mortals most assuredly do. And
yet our repentance frequently amounts to little more than thanking God that we aren’t as sinful as
some other person, just like the Pharisee in Luke 18:9-14, blinded to his sin and therefore to his
need of repentance. In this case a person’s religion has caused self-righteousness and arrogance.
Now, of course, we aren’t as explicit as the Pharisee but such an attitude is a strong undercurrent
through the Church today.
Lies, brutality, abuse, theft, destruction, hatred, murder, torture, lust, gossip, arrogance, oppression,
failure to defend the poor and failure to fight for justice are but a few things in the catalogue of
nasties that have at some point or other, and even now, been a part of that establishment which
many of us identify with – the Christian church. We have much of which to repent – things done
and left undone, wrongdoing and wrong non-doing, actions and inaction.
But what is this thing called repentance? One of the central features of biblical repentance is
“turning.” This turning is two-dimensional. The first dimension is a turn away from sin and that which
hinders our relationship with God and with others: hatred, self-righteousness and cruelty. The
second dimension is a turn towards God – living in right relationship to Him, obeying His commands
and seeking to be more Christ-like. Too often repentance is conceived in terms of ceasing some
action, attitude or behaviour, thus portraying an obsession with “turning from” and neglect of
“turning towards.” Repentance is not merely about not doing wrong. It is about doing right. Not
doing wrong does not necessarily amount to doing what is right. Repentance involves both negative
and positive aspects of reorientation and we should hold on to both.
Turning from sin will involve recognising some act, or failure to act, as a sin and acknowledging our
guilt and culpability for it. These acts of moral conscience naturally lead us to remorse. Desiring to
be free from the sin sets us on a path to reorientation of our lives, or at least of some aspect of our
lives. We make an act of will, consciously deciding to avoid the sin in the future. Alas, being human
we are a frail bunch. Like so many things we need God’s help in repentance. Perhaps this partly
explains why in some instances repentance is described as a gift from God to us, rather than simply
something originating in our own being. Sometimes we need assistance to see the gravity of sin or
help to avoid that sin, or both.
Repentance is therefore a struggle. “I’m sorry” does not amount to genuine repentance, although
it is often confused with repentance in common parlance. The words “I’m sorry” are often just that

REPENTANCE
– words – little else. Often we utter such words because it might yield practical benefits to us, for
instance, in helping us to escape due punishment. Repentance is a more costly business and not so
easy. It is a process over time, one that actually changes us.
This process is one in which “fruits of repentance” should grow. This should hardly surprise us once
we realise that repentance is not just a change of mind but also a surrender of our will to God and
a change in our behaviour – a “turning to” as well as a “turning from.” Isaiah 1:16-17 provides this
fuller account of repentance:
Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing
what is wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the
cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
This indicates that repentance begins within us and is then evidenced in actions and behaviour, a
ceasing of wrongdoing and a doing of right. Jesus speaks in such terms also and emphasises action,
works and behaviour much more than a certain contingent of Christianity would care to admit.
There is a clear tendency within sections of Evangelicalism to elevate doctrinal purity over Christian
living. What I call “believe, only believe” theology has played a part in destroying the true concept
of repentance which, according to Paul, is proved “by their deeds” (Acts 26:20). It is erroneous to
think that since we belong to a certain religious tradition, or hold certain beliefs, we are exempt
from growing “fruits of repentance” in our lives (Luke 3:8), as if mere belief itself was the fruit of
repentance. Such a position is arrogant, self-righteous and superficial – not to mention contrary to
the gospel. It must be remembered that the holding of certain mental propositions and beliefs does
not amount to an act of repentance. The words of A. W. Tozer are apposite:
Where real repentance is, there is obedience; for real repentance is naturally sorrow
for past failures and sins, it is determination to begin now to do the will of God as
he reveals it to us.
When Christ called people to repent he meant more than simply “start believing this and that”.
Christian life, therefore, is not simply about believing in Jesus and accepting the grace of God. It involves
living a transformed and continually transforming life in which we are actively involved with God.
The biblical narrative provides us with pointers as to what “fruits of repentance” are, such as those
mentioned above in Isaiah. In Luke 3:11-14 it appears to be linked to sharing material possessions
with those less fortunate, honest social practices, developing good inter-personal relationships, and
living in a godly way regardless of one’s station in life. In Zacchaeus’ act of repentance for cheating
people of money he pledges to restore them four-fold. Zacchaeus’ action was reparation for
damages, an act of love towards those he had offended against. Such actions would raise eyebrows
today, yet they clearly stress the importance of action in repentance.
Although repentance is extremely important for both church and world, does the church really want
it for either? Since repentance will necessarily involve meekness, humility, acknowledgement of
weakness and of wrong, we must ask are such things characteristic of Northern Irish Christianity, and
of Evangelicalism in particular. If not, then does the Church really want to live a life of repentance at all?
Regardless of what the church does with repentance for itself, does it really want others to repent?
Listening to some preachers it is easy to get the impression that judgement is more desirable than
repentance. Such a desire has a long history, stretching at least as far back as Jonah. Jonah was sent

REPENTANCE
to call the people of Nineveh to repent for their sins to avoid God’s judgement. One sea storm and
a giant fish later we find Jonah on his way to give his fire and brimstone message. The people accept
his message and repent, thus avoiding God’s wrath. You would expect a preacher to be happy that
people not only listened but also accepted the message. Not so with Jonah. He wanted judgement
to fall. Ironic, since he had been in the same boat (quite literally) earlier in the story – disobedient,
suffering judgement, repenting, and experiencing God’s grace. Did he think he deserved God’s grace
more? Did he consider the sins of others to be worse than his own? Is the church today suffering
from a bad dose of Jonahitis?
Stephen Graham
Former Research Assistant with ECONI
1
Prayer of Confession, Common Worship, Church of England

REPENTANCE
Read: Jonah 3 & 4
Talk Outline
In the first two chapters of Jonah we see the prophet called by God to preach to the Ninevites and
yet, as a reluctant evangelist, he disobeys and runs the other way. However, caught up inside a fish,
he realises God’s saving grace and vows to make good on what the Lord has asked him to do.
The final two chapters might be summed up like this:
• Jonah is given a second chance to do what God wants. (3:1-4)
• The Ninevites repent by throwing themselves on God’s mercy and turning from their evil
ways, and God relents. (3:5-10)
• But this is not the end of the story – Jonah has not yet fully repented from his attitude to
that of God – the concern for all people to repent rather than face judgement. (ch. 4)
Two striking lessons:
• It is easier to call for others’ repentance than it is to repent ourselves
• God calls us all to repentance, which means being reliant on his mercy and saving grace
and changing our attitudes and ways to his, not a continuing self-justification (cf. 4:1-3, 9)
Questions
1. How does repentance impact our future as well as our past?
2. Can you envisage a situation when judgement might seem preferable to repentance?
3. What motivates us towards repentance?
4. Which aspect of God’s character are we particularly dependent on as penitents?
5. How might repentance by the “other” have a destabilising effect on our group?
6. What are some of the things that we might need to repent of as a faith community in
Northern Ireland?

REPENTANCE
Prayer
Lord,
You know that we love you
And we know what you ask us to do . . .
But for those times when we have been too busy;
When we have been hard-hearted;
When we have been lukewarm;
We say sorry
And ask for your forgiving love.
Prepare us for your way, O Lord.
YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE.
Lord,
You know our good intentions
And we know your will . . .
But hold us back long enough to listen to those in need,
And to learn from them,
And to learn of our own need.
Where we think we are sent, make us ready to receive;
Where we are keen to teach, make us ready to learn.
Lord,
You know our deepest desires
And we know the vision of your kingdom . . .
We bring before you those elements in our lives
In need of your transforming power:
That which we misuse or neglect;
That which we most reluctantly let go of;
That which we believe is not good enough.
Inspire us and disturb us to examine our deepest desires.
Lord,
You know our potential
But what is your purpose for our lives?
In our uncertainty
And in the knowledge of your faithfulness,
(Iona Community, The Pattern of our Days (ed.) Kathy Galloway, Wild Goose, 1996)

REPENTANCE

NOTES

NOTES

WORSHIP
LIVING
for
GOD’S GLORY
in a
DIVIDED WORLD
SERMON
LITURGY
SONGS

Dreams and Visions
Living for God’s Glory in a Divided World
SERMON OUTLINE
“Shine like Stars”

Philippians 2:1-16
Dreams and visions

Many of us have dreams and visions . . .
• Sometimes they are pipe-dreams or day-dreams with no hope of fulfilment – e.g. playing
sport for our country
• Sometimes they are dreams that express our heartfelt desires, or visions of how we would
like things to be, or how we think things will be – e.g. our house, our business
Dreams give us inspiration and a goal, especially in tough times. They can be self-obsessed, self-
gratifying and unrealistic. But when they are godly visions, they inspire and activate for God’s good.
An illustration: Martin Luther King – 40 years ago said “I have a dream”:
• A vision of equality and freedom
• To give hope, inspiration and a goal in the midst of difficulties and trials: “Let us not wallow
in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and
frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream.”
• This dream/vision also meant something had to be done – people would need to be
together and active in achieving this dream. It saw men and women work together on and
in the earth for the glory of God

WORSHIP
Dreams and visions in the Bible

Dreams and visions play a big part in the Bible – dreams and visions that God give to people.
• Sometimes in mystical, unconscious ways – Jacob, Samuel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Peter, John.
• Sometimes in less exotic, but no less meaningful/spiritual ways – Nehemiah – a vision to
rebuild Jerusalem.
Any survey of the dreams and visions that people have in the Bible will show that they are not
daydreams. They are not there for a pleasant experience, or solely to give optimism for the future.
They never seem to give much immediate gratification for the dreamer, but instead call for
immediate action. They each demand a response in the present, while holding out certain fulfilment
in the future.
Paul’s dream and vision

In Philippians, Paul has a vision and a dream:
• He has a God-given vision that ultimately every knee will bow before Jesus to the glory of
God (v10-11) – what a fantastic sight this will be! And the work needed for the fulfilment of
this vision has been done by God. The work of Christ in making himself a servant, becoming
obedient to death on a cross, and being exalted by God is the work which guarantees the
fulfilment of this vision.
• But Paul has another vision, or dream. He has a dream that, as Christians wait for the
fulfilment of this vision, they would shine like stars in this crooked and depraved generation
(v15-16) – Paul knows that the generation in which he lives does not know God’s love, or
forgiveness, his truth or his justice, his peace and his hope. He has a dream that Christians
would shine like stars in this generation, that they might see the light – see God’s glory, see
Christ shining from their lives.
And Paul suggests that, while Christ has done the work to make the first vision happen, we have a
contribution to make towards the fulfilling of the second dream of his. He has a dream that we would
shine like stars, and we are to catch that vision and work at it ourselves, otherwise it becomes a pipe-
dream for Paul. Perhaps you think it is totally unrealistic? How on earth will Christians shine like stars?
Paul is no daydreamer, reclusive visionary or feel-good talker. Paul knows this dream can and will be
realised. He wants nothing less. And he knows it involves a response now, here in the present.
Shining like stars is not something that will just happen. It is a dream to be worked for – and it is
hard work. He himself runs and labours, and has no intention of it being for nothing (v16).
ECONI entitled this resource Dreams and Visions, that we may understand what it is to be inspired
and hopeful to shine like stars in this generation, or as we’ve put it “live for God’s glory in a divided
world”. This collection of reflections and Bible studies is designed to inspire and envision people to
live out the life that thinks biblically and builds peace in this world, by returning with fresh vision and
insight to the biblical principles that ECONI began with and continues. These are for longer thought
and perusal than a sermon can give, but let’s reflect on them as we look at the two responses Paul
tells us must be made to this dream.

WORSHIP
Two things to make it happen

They come in the verses before – in effect Paul is saying, if you do these two things, you will fulfil my
dream of shining like stars.
1. Being One
Phil. 2:1-2 – Paul’s emphasis in the opening verses of the chapter is that if there is anything Christian
about you – if you are at all encouraged or compelled by Christ, his love, his Spirit – then be like-
minded, have love and be one in spirit and purpose. This is not a call to bland uniformity, but to
recognise and demonstrate the oneness that there is in Christ (cf. John 17:20-23)
This oneness means humility on the part of everyone:
Phil. 2:3-4 – “in humility consider others better than yourselves . . . look to the interests of others”
Phil. 2:5-11 – “attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus”
Phil. 2:14 – “Do everything without complaining or arguing”
Are we humble and as one in our bid to shine into this generation?
• Have we tender, compassionate, comfort-giving, sacrificial love for each other?
• Do we rejoice in the truth with and not against each other?
• Are we willing to forgive the hurts that we have caused each other?
• And are we willing to repent of the ways in which we have hurt each other?
• Are we willing to be reconciled where sinful attitudes have parted us?
• Do we encourage each other in the hope that we have as one body in Christ?
• Do we willingly and cheerfully partake of the responsibilities and burdens we have as

citizens of the church?
• Do we speak and live in peace with each other?
• Are we looking out for the interests of justice, fairness and righteousness for our
sister/brother?
• Are we humbly willing to serve not counting the cost, or our appearance to others?
If the answers are no – what can we be doing about it? We must be one in trying to live out these
biblical principles amongst ourselves if we are to approach the world with them with any integrity . . .
2. Being active
Phil. 2:12-13 – “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works
in you to will and to act according to his good purpose”
Phil. 2:16 –“hold out the word of life”
God works in us, and it is for us to work this out – to be motivated and active according to his good
purpose. Our arena for this is the world, the generation in which we live. They are the people to

WORSHIP
whom we hold out the word of life. This dream of shining like stars is not achieved by retreat, or merely
by good thoughts and good theology, but by acting and by holding out life to others. Hence we take
our biblical principles and hold them out to the world in action, according to God’s good purpose.
• Will we show love to this generation that comes from God, is sacrificial, and is committed
to action, not love that is self-absorbed and conveyed in unproved words?
• Will we speak of truth, embodied in Christ Jesus, that is not spun, twisted or destructive,
but is real, reliable, vibrant and life-giving?
• Will we live out forgiveness of others in the way we speak of them and address them, and
in our commitment to understanding their point of view?
• Will we repent of the things we have said and got wrong as Christians, so that people will
know we are committed to truth and a change for the better?
• Will we actively pursue reconciliation between those who have great differences but are
ultimately all made in the likeness of God?
• Will we speak of the hope that we have in us which is not of this world, but compels us
to be involved in this world?
• Will we take up the responsibilities we have as citizens to play a part in a society that we
made influence it for the good, rather than shun without regard?
• Will we endeavour to seek a peace in society that enables the gospel of peace to be preached?
• Will we press for fairness, justice and what is right for those who are oppressed and
mistreated, whatever their background?
• Will we serve, not counting the cost, nor our appearance, but with the interests of others first?
We have been given a dream to fulfil – to shine like stars in this generation. Do we share that dream?
Are we committed to making it a reality?

WORSHIP
LITURGY
Affirmations and prayers of commitment
Leader: As followers of Jesus Christ living in Northern Ireland, we are drawn together by our
relationship to Jesus Christ and our commitment to biblical faith. As those who emphasise
conversion to Christ, we affirm that its fundamental meaning is a change of allegiance.
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD.
We are to be like Christ; our minds transformed, and our character shaped by the values
of the kingdom that Christ initiated and demonstrated throughout His life on earth. We
are marked by that way of life, which is like no other.
All: “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who
are perishing.” (2 Cor. 2:15)
We confess that far too often our attitudes, values and actions have been but an imitation
of society and not the character of Christ. May we truly be the fragrance of Christ.
IN YOUR MERCY O LORD, FORGIVE US AND RENEW YOUR CHURCH.
Leader: We acknowledge the suffering and distress that have resulted from violence and
community strife. We recognise the difficult paths that lie before us as we try to rebuild
relationships and communities in this land. We ask for courage as we learn to live alongside
those who committed murder and those who condoned violence. We ask for grace and
mercy as we remember the pain and hurt of our past.
Together we face the challenge of examining before God our effectiveness in making
kingdom values evident, not only in our individual lives, but as members of our community.
All: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if
you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matt. 6:14-15)
O God, the cross of Jesus reminds us how seriously you regard sin. You have borne the
pain and cost of forgiveness and we receive that forgiveness through the Holy Spirit.
Through faith, we have acknowledged our need to be forgiven and have claimed the gift of
new life. As we are forgiven, we know that we must forgive.
We seek your help O God to be agents of forgiveness in the face of pain and justifiable
anger. We seek to offer mercy as we have received mercy so that the transforming power
of forgiveness would be a defining characteristic of your church in this place.
Leader: We affirm that our confidence is in God alone.
As citizens of heaven our primary loyalty is to Jesus Christ, all other loyalties are secondary.
We are called to be good citizens toward all our neighbours. It is a divine obligation, part
of our obedience to Christ and the debt of love we owe; it is part of our evangelistic

WORSHIP
responsibility and an act of worship we offer to God. We worship a God who is

good to all; He has compassion on and love for all He has made. God cares for the
oppressed, the hungry, prisoners, the blind, those who are bowed down, the alien,
the fatherless and the widow. As disciples we are to be like-minded and have no
limits to those to whom we are to do good.
All: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Matt. 22:21)
We recognise that both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are passing
entities. Only the kingdom of God remains. Jesus gathers the Christian church from
all ethnic backgrounds and nationalities. We ask you O God, to show us how we
can be more responsible citizens and more loving neighbours. As we lay claim to
our rights as citizens, we also ask how we can ensure that these rights are available
to all other citizens.
Leader: We declare that Christ initiates reconciliation.
By His death, Jesus not only has reconciled us to God, but also has healed our
divisions and abolished the barriers that separated us from each other. This
ministry of reconciliation is the calling of all who follow Christ.
As Christians, we have allowed our differences to become barriers, sometimes

intentionally and at other times by our apathy and indifference. We have not always
recognised the signs of brokenness in our own lives, our churches, our community
and in the world around us. We have sometimes been slow to respond to that hurt
and brokenness.
Christ came to a messy world and in the face of chaos do we engage or retreat?
Are we trapped in the church and lost to the world?
All: “Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider,
uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is
defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.” (Col. 3:11)
In your presence O God, we say together that Jesus has destroyed dividing walls of
hostility and that there can be no room for arrogance and superior attitudes in our lives
or in our churches.
We say together that there is no place in the body of Christ for bigotry, prejudice
or hatred. Therefore, we ask for humility as we discern and apply the truth of
scripture to our lives and our community.
We pray we would be able to stand in the gap as living powerful witnesses of how
Christ the reconciler can bring together those divided by tradition and politics.

WORSHIP
Leader: We commit ourselves to the building of a new society.
At the heart of our understanding of Jesus is the concept and attitude of the Servant. People
of faith are recognised as those who serve, instead of rule; who suffer instead of inflict
suffering; whose fellowship crosses boundaries, instead of reinforcing them.
A servant-community is a powerful revelation of the message and purpose of God in the

midst of a society that is vying for individual rights, recognition and power; where self-
assertion is the recommended route. Christian Servanthood faithfully practised in
community would significantly impact a society that is searching for meaningful identity,
purpose and love. Yet the Body of Christ is often distracted from this call to love and serve
others and has failed to shape society.
All: “Our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant.” (Phil. 2:5-7)
Teach us, O God the way of love. May your love which transforms us, shape every thought,
attitude, word and action we take. Let our concern for the welfare and good of others
define this church in this community. Make us a people who care for those without power,
the poor and the outsider.
Leader: We share responsibility for the future.
As we face an uncertain future, what is our vision for this society? The Christian message
is a message of hope. We know that God is the Sovereign Lord and is working His
purposes out in Christ. Therefore, whatever the political prospects of this island may be,
as Christians we can view the future with hope. Hope in God, not in nationality, nor
politics, nor culture.
The task of the church is to make known the good news of the kingdom of God.
All: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who
proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your
God reigns!’” (Is. 52:7)
We will continue to praise you, O God, for the glorious joy of being born into a living hope
with an inheritance that is eternal.
We will call upon your grace to help us work out what it means to be faithful witnesses
and to act Christianly in the world.
We will be marked by the cross of Jesus rather than be identified with any particular social,
cultural or political system.
We will be courageous and remain true to our calling, to persevere in the face of
temptation, suffering, disappointment or fear.
Any by your grace and mercy O Lord, we will play our part in the renewal of your church,
so that the good news of the kingdom of God will be made known through us.
AMEN.

WORSHIP
SUGGESTIONS FOR SONGS IN WORSHIP
(Listed alphabetically by first line)

At the name of Jesus MP 41
Be Thou my vision MP 51
Father hear the prayer we offer MP 132
From heaven you came MP 162
I want to serve the purpose of God MP 859
Jesus all for Jesus SH2000 63
King of Kings, Majesty MP 1000
Let there be love MP 411
Meekness and Majesty MP 465
My heart is full MP 893
O Lord, the clouds are gathering MP 509
Purify my heart MP 921
Restore O Lord MP 579
Salvation belongs to our God MP 924
Take my life and let it be MP 624
Thy hand O God has guided MP 705
Who can sound the depths of sorrow MP 766
MP – Complete Mission Praise 1999/2000

SH2000 – Spring Harvest 2000 edition

NOTES

When ECONI began by publishing For God And His Glory Alone, it was billed as “an invitation
to ask God what kind of people we should be and how we should live as Christians in
Northern Ireland”.
Fifteen years on, with all that has happened since and all that the future now seems to hold,
our latest publication, Dreams and Visions, has the same aim. It returns with freshness and
insight to those original ten principles of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, citizenship,
truth, servanthood, justice & righteousness, hope and repentance,
These study materials, which include Bible study outlines and personal essays seasoned with
perceptive reflection and prayerful response, seek to inspire Christians to live for God’s glory
in a divided world. Clergy, group leaders and anyone concerned with encouraging biblical
peacebuilding will find this an envisioning and practical resource.
ISBN: 1 874324 71 9
£9.99

Dreams

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Dreams

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

DREAMS

Cover Design and Layout:

This publication receives grant support from The

The International Fund for Ireland

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 5

As a church/group leader or member, as someone seeking to learn what biblical peacebuilding

6 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

It's not enough to have a dream,

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 7

HOW TO USE THIS RESOURCE 8

JUSTICE & RIGHTEOUSNESS 75

LIVING FOR GOD’S GLORY IN A DIVIDED WORLD 103

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 9

DREAMS AND VISIONS STRUCTURE

10 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

Bible Reference and Questions

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 11

Extract: For God and His Glory Alone

PARTICIPATIVE AND EXPERIENCE BASED STYLES

• Giving information: to enhance or challenge views expressed, or to support the group in

12 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

There is a well-known Chinese proverb that says:

What I hear I forget

THE WAY GROUPS WORK

A safe environment needs to be established so that:

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 13

14 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 15

Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.

16 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 17

18 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

How shall we distinguish between self-love and patriotism?

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 19

• No matter what the situation, love is committed and enduring (v4-10)

4. Do we struggle to love because we think of it primarily as an emotion? Can you make a

20 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

Leader: Out of judgement came mercy;

Leader: Out of death came life;

Leader: Out of love comes celebration;

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 21

Extract: For God and His Glory Alone

22 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 23

24 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 25

To err is human; to forgive, infrequent.

There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.

Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.

26 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 27

Jesus: “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

With acknowledgement to the work of:

28 DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE

Read: Matthew 18:21-35

• God’s forgiveness does not ignore justice (v23-26)

• But God’s forgiveness is overwhelmingly merciful (v27)

• We do not know that forgiveness unless we practise that mercy (v28-33)

• So if we are unmerciful with others, God will be just with us (v34-35)

DREAMS AND VISIONS – AN ECONI RESOURCE 29

You have called us to live holy lives

We thank you for the example of Jesus who,

Forgive us for those times