But once you allow any invidious distinctions to creep in, you have broken God’s Law

 Don’t ever attempt, my brothers, to combine snobbery with faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ! Suppose one man comes into your meeting well-dressed and with a gold ring on his finger, and another man, obviously poor, arrives in shabby clothes. If you pay special attention to the well-dressed man by saying, “Please sit here—it’s an excellent seat”, and say to the poor man, “You stand over there, please, or if you must sit, sit on the floor”, doesn’t that prove that you are making class-distinctions in your mind, and setting yourselves up to assess a man’s quality?—a very bad thing. James 2:1-4

Anyway, you should speak and act as men who will be judged by the law of freedom. The man who makes no allowances for others will find none made for him. It is still true that “mercy smiles in the face of judgment.” James 2:12-13

So Marco posted a film clip on the gypsies of Napoli. And the camera lens was focused on the eyes and the hearts and the dancing feet. And not so much on the trash underfoot.  I love the focus of cameras, zooming in on what is important. Noticing. And it ends with the reminder that this is the story of just one of hundreds. Or thousands. Or seven billion. Give or take a few.

And I hung out with a guy last night that bombasted his way through the galaxies, sneering at my arrogance that I could believe that One could care for even me. The Puddleglum understanding of the Eye upon the sparrow promise. And there was another story last night, from a guy who heard the One speak to the specific whispers of his soul, word for word. And one conversation brought sorrow and the other joy. But I have to be careful because invidious distinction works both ways. 

And obviously my Italian is a little blurry and I didn’t get everything in the film clip. But there was a sequence with an old picture frame thing and one by one people stood in its dark outline. And one by one each was noticed. Framed.

And mercy looks for the other side of the story. And I am really starting to get how the rich man is to be pitied. And the stench of spiritual poverty.

And I think the mercy thing is also about intercession. Mercy in the face of judgment. Smiling, tenderly and time-and-time again release. To step into the gap and plead the cause of each framed heart: May this be the Day of Revelation. When He gets our attention and  we see life for what it really is. So I tuck my fixed prayers list into my thoughts for today, and  I take a deep breath just before the B4 door opens to let them into my day: May this be a Day of Revelation.

Frame by frame.