O God, I will sing to you a new song

For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
In returning and rest you shall be saved;
   in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. (Isaiah 30.15)
​Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
   therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
   blessed are all those who wait for him. (Isaiah 30.18)

The Great Hack is a Netflix documentary highlighting the power of Social Media on human mind and ultimately on human judgement.  In this week as we reflect on the second of the Four Last Things in Advent, we reflect on our judgement that relates to the Last Judgement.  Our judgement can be easily manipulated by those in authority and it is painful to see people who fear coercion.  In religious context the boundaries between coercion and genuine call to repentance can be blurred through manipulation.  Alexis Conran in his TED TALK, the Superpower of the Conman highlights these five aspects of con art: Misdirection, Time Pressure, Opportunity, Social Compliance and Social Proof.

It was rather troubling to find a someone use their title and address prior to retirement to impress upon the public that they are still in post and making a genuine appeal representing a community.  Having a poor judgement is BAD, impressing poor judgement upon innocent people must be evil.  How do we confront such evil in our time?  How do we have sound judgement in all things?

My English Teacher during my Curacy in Edinburgh, Miss Ambrose, always spoke about Whitsun Collect as her favourite Prayer.  May God grant us that prayer at this season of Waiting.
God, who as at this time taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.