Earlier this week, the sermon preached by Episcopal Bishop Mariann
Edgar Budde at Tuesday’s National Cathedral prayer service elicited a
storm of controversy. And President Trump seemed to have been
especially troubled by her plea that he “have mercy upon” the nation’s
immigrants, especially on families who were fearing deportation and fleeing
war and persecution. Referencing Trump’s belief that God had saved him from assassination, Bishop Budde said, “You have felt the providential
hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” Her message appears to have fallen on deaf ears. Indeed, the President called her
words “nasty” and “inappropriate,” and demanded that she issue an apology.

Like it or not, the Bible is filled with words and messages that aren’t always easy to hear. And Trump’s reaction caused me to wonder how many times the word “mercy” appears in the Bible. It turns out that the answer is 339 – 296 references are found in the Old Testament, and 43 in the New. What’s more, calls to be kind, compassionate, merciful and just appear far more frequently. – including in the suggested lectionary text for this coming Sunday (Luke 4: 14-21). Here, Luke describes Jesus’ first sermon in the synagogue in Nazareth, and it’s filled with words that are strikingly similar to those uttered by Bishop Budde on Tuesday. So we’ll reflect on what it might mean to take Christ’s message of long ago seriously, and what some of the implications can be for us and the world.
I look forward to seeing you on Sunday at 10:30 am.