🎭 Theme: Mercy over condemnation
🎬 Opening Scene:
[Lights up on the game show set.]
John walks on stage dressed as Judge Judy, complete with robe and gavel.
“Welcome to Leave the Judging! I’m Judge Judy here where we drop the gavel and pick up… grace!”
Marti walks in with a bag of popcorn: “Oh, please. You’ve been in costume three days straight. What is this, Method Acting for Ministries?”
John, slamming the gavel: “Order in the court! I sentence you to… 6 months of uncontrollable kindness.”
Cue laugh track
📖 Scripture Spark
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
— John 8:7
🎤 Featured Reflection: Where Did They Go? by John Fischer
Where did they go?
Where did they go?
All of those men who had so much to say
Just a few minutes ago
Where did they go?
Tell me: Where did they go?
I looked up and saw no one but you
Standing in a street strewn with stones
You are no loser
And where are your accusers?
There’s just you and me
Just you and me
What was that sound?
What was that sound?
What was that pounding in my ear
As their stones hit the ground?
Why are you here?
Why are you still here?
Are you waiting for something from me?
Well you’ve got nothing to fear
You are no loser
You’ve got no accusers
There’s just you and me
Just you and me
Where will you go?
Where will you go?
Will you go back to living your life
The only way that you know?
I see no sin
You don’t have give in
You don’t have go back to living
The way that you’ve been
You are no loser
You’ve got no accusers
There’s just you and me
Just you and me
John, still acting as Judge Judy has a convicted sinner in front of him being held by a court marshal. On the judge’s desk is a rock about the size of a baseball.
Judge: “What was this large rock doing in your pocket?”
Defendant: “To throw at Marti.”
Judge: “And why would you do that?”
Defendant: “I caught her doing something wrong.”
Murmurs in the courtroom coalesce into, “Throw that rock! Throw that rock!…”
Judge, sounding the gavel: “Order in the court! Wait a minute. Who’s the judge here?”
Defendant: “You are, your Honor.”
Judge: “What does the judge say? Lose the rock. Is anyone in this whole courtroom, myself included, without sin? This is the Mercy Court. Case Dismissed,” and pointing to the defendant, “and no more rocks.”
How many of us walk around with rocks in our pockets ready to unload on the next bad person we meet? Don’t. Don’t even carry any rocks.
John’s reflection reminds us: Mercy disarms the mob. The very presence of Jesus causes stones to fall, egos to shatter, and masks to slip. We can’t judge anyone, because we’re standing right there as sinners, too.
We love to wear “good Christian” masks, pretending our sins smell better than our neighbor’s. But that’s when the darkness becomes darker—because real grace only shines against the truth of our own sin.
🎯 Quickfire Challenge: Mercy Over Condemnation
🎧 Reflection Prompt: When was the last time you caught yourself judging before listening?
🎯 Quickfire Challenge
Question 1: What did Jesus say to the woman caught in adultery?
A. “Go, and do not sin again.”
B. “Your sins are forgiven.”
C. “You are healed.”
D. “You are free to go.”
✅ Answer:
Question 2 (Match the Phrase to the Book):
“Judge not, lest you be judged.” →
A. John
B. Matthew
C. Romans
D. Proverbs
✅ Answer:
Question 3: Why do we like to judge so much?
- It makes us feel we are better than the other person.
- It gets the focus off our own sin and guilt.
- It allows us to let in who we like and keep out who we don’t.
- All of the above.
✅ Answer:
Question 4: If you want to be given mercy for the wrong things you have done, what must you be willing to give those who have wronged you? ____________
✅ Answer:
Question 5: Who did Jesus shock the crowd by dining with in Luke 19?
✅ Answer:
🏆 Points: 30
🕵️ To Tell the Truth: Mercy Edition
Question 6: Which is the real story
A. A police officer anonymously pays traffic fines for first-time offenders.
B. A restaurant owner forgives dine-and-dashers with a free meal offer.
C. A school principal gives suspended students a poetry assignment instead.
📖 Scripture Link: Micah 6:8 — “Do what is right, love mercy, walk humbly with God.”
🕊️ Daily Act of Grace: Drop Your Stone
Question 7: Essay
Mission: Assume the best in someone who frustrates you today.
Instead of mentally “throwing a stone,” hand them mercy, and write about it. How did it make you feel?
📸 Share your story for 25 Grace Points.
💬 Catalyst Reflection
Question 8: Essay
“Have you ever been shown mercy you didn’t expect—or didn’t deserve?”
Reply in the community space. Bonus points for encouraging someone else!
Send your answers to [email protected]
📊 Leaderboard Snapshot
🥇 Team Open Table — 112 pts
🥈 Jamie G. — 105 pts
🥉 The Seekers — 103 pts
👀 Tomorrow’s Teaser:
“Grace vs. Gravity” — What lifts us when life weighs heavy? Spoiler: It’s not John in a cape… (but he’s going to try).
🎬 [Commercial Break on the Grace Network]
[Upbeat theme music plays. A deep-voiced narrator begins…]
🎙️ ANNOUNCER:
“Coming this fall… only on the Grace Network!
Are you tired of boring old courtroom dramas… where everyone just yells and throws papers?
Then get ready for the reality show that rocks your world—literally!”
💥 [Stones clatter dramatically to the ground]
🎙️ ANNOUNCER:
“It’s DROP YOUR STONE™—the high-stakes game where contestants compete to let go of judgment before the clock runs out!”
👩⚖️ [Cut to John in his Judge Judy robe, frantically trying to hold onto a giant foam boulder]
JOHN: “I can quit judging any time I want… I just don’t want to!”
— BUZZER —
ANNOUNCER: “Ooooh… too slow! That’s 10 points off your Mercy Meter!”
🌟 BONUS ROUND:
“Catch Leave It to Grace, the brand-new sitcom where a small-town church learns the hard way that gossip is not a spiritual gift!”
🎶 [Theme song: “Mercy Starts at Home”]
🎙️ ANNOUNCER (final tagline):
“Grace Network—because holding grudges is so last season!”
✨ Logo sparkles: GN: Grace Network — Mercy Happens Here
John Fischer The Catch 