December 17, 2021
Zechariah 7:8-8:8
​written by Bill Buchanan
Bill Buchanan is the Executive Director of Youth Mission Co. 
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The benefits of kindness and mercy

All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and
​forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives. - Dalai Lama

In the book The Sum of Us, Heather McGhee discusses the assumption in American society of a zero sum game.  In other words, if one group is losing, the other must be winning, and vice versa.  I believe that our text from Zechariah shows us how wrong headed that assumption is.  The prophet scorns the rich and powerful of Israel for their exploitation of the poor and marginalized, and that this behavior of domination and exploitation led to God’s anger and the scattering of their nation.  But God’s desire ultimately is to bring them back together into a better and more loving society, one of faithfulness and righteousness.  

Questions:

In what ways does our current culture and systems of living resemble the one being scorned by the prophet Zechariah? 
What needs to be changed to make our society more like what God intends for us? 
How can we take simple steps toward those changes?

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