Queries:

How do you find faith in this scripture?

How do you find hope in this scripture?

How do you find Love in this scripture?

Queries:

What images from this Psalm are you finding most helpful today?

What emotional response are you having to this Psalm? What is that response telling you?

What clarity is this Psalm bringing?

What actions is this Psalm inspiring?

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this and whose title?” They answered, (“the emperor’s”) “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar (the emperor) the things that are Caesar’s (the emperor’s) and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.

Seth Mountain 이산 (Seth Martin) is a singer-songwriter, peace activist and poet from the Pacific Northwest who has been living and working with his partner Lee Nan Young in South Korea since 2015. When active as an artist and musician in Washington and Oregon, Martin frequently attended and shared music with Camas Friends, and still considers CFC to be spiritual family. These days in Korea, Martin teaches, writes, and frequently participates in and with various cultural and political solidarity actions, events, and groups, most often by performing for groups resisting gentrification and redevelopment violence and promoting local and sustainable cultural movements.

Then God spoke all these words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

“You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

“Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Queries:

How would you express the concept of ubuntu in the language or culture you are most familiar with?

What would the effects be if our global Quaker community were to follow the precepts of ubuntu more closely, and how can we go about this?

How can churches and communities work for changes in the governments, economic and political structures to embrace the principle of ubuntu?

As the climate crisis accelerates, what could the application of the principles and practices of ubuntu mean for us?

From where does hope come?