Hello, my friends,

During the presidential inauguration prayer service at the National Cathedral, the presiding Episcopal Bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde, ended her homily by asking the president to show mercy to several people groups who are scared right now about the things to come. If you haven’t listened to her entire sermon, I encourage you to go do so here. Her statement towards the end prompted severe backlash from so many. So, today, I want to reflect on these responses with you and invite us to ponder the difference between speaking truth to power and seeing power as truth.

Before we dive in, here are some resources I’d recommend:

​-Wellness 2.0: When It's All Too Much by Hidden Brain. I found this episode to be incredibly insightful and helpful. It deals with our emotional and mental posture towards seemingly unsolvable problems in our world that can easily cause us to spiral and lose both our hope and will to carry on. This episode really helped me to reorient my goal regarding the huge issues we are facing and gave me some needed perspective. I recommend listening all the way to the end where a writer talks about his time in a Christian monastery. I hope you find it as helpful as I did.

​-How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith By Mariann Edgar Budde If you are looking for a way to support Bishop Budde and add another great book to your reading list, you can check out her book linked above. I just received my copy and will begin reading it soon. Judging by the title alone, I am hoping it will be a timely resource. Let me know if you have or plan on reading it as well. Would love to hear your thoughts.

​-Challenging Narratives with a Grassroots Faith with Tim Whitaker and Ben Cremer. I had an honest and raw conversation with my good friend Tim Whitaker over at The New Evangelicals podcast, where we discussed both the challenges of our respective jobs in our time and issues like immigration. I thought this conversation was timely for this week and thought I'd share it again here.

​-Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies by N.T. Wright & Michael F. Bird. This is both a timely and sharp book for our current moment, challenging followers of Jesus to confront the way of the empire in all its forms. It is both insightful and equipping.

​-The Way of Jesus Isn't The Way of Thrones or Empires, but The Way of The Cross. I wrote this article a little more than 5 months ago now and thought it would be timely to share it here again if you haven't read it as I feel it relates to the content below.

​-American Gospel and Citizens by Jon Guerra. These two worship songs have been especially meaningful to me lately. Sometimes, artists like Guerra can put things to music that writers like me are striving to say. If you haven't heard these songs yet, I encourage you to listen and sit with their lyrics.

Okay, onto today’s content
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The Politics of Mercy

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Here is the excerpt from Episcopal Bishop, Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde’s homily that sparked international controversy:

“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you, and as you told the nation yesterday, 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. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara, and temples.

I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God, for the good of all people, the good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.”

These words not only sparked public outcry and filled social media with vitriolic hate and condemnation against her, but Rep. Mike Collins said online that she should be "added to the deportation list" for giving such a sermon. Then the president demanded that she and the Episcopal Church apologize for the “nasty” things she said, and most recently, a group of House Representatives have proposed a bill condemning her sermon.

After posting her sermon online myself, I also got tremendous backlash from people saying, among many other terrible things I won’t repeat here, that “the pulpit is no place for politics!” and “she isn’t a real Christian, she’s just a radical leftist!”

For many, like myself, this backlash was not a surprise but it was still deeply disturbing as it reflects how many people who claim to be Christian define power as truth.

Speaking Truth To Power

Notice she didn’t ask the president to change what he personally believed about morality or human sexuality? Notice she didn't say there shouldn't be any immigration reform? Notice she didn’t criticize or condemn the president for sins she believed he has committed? No, she simply and gently asked for mercy for people who are scared right now and advocated for their human dignity.

So why, then, was this so offensive to so many?

As a pastor who has spent my entire adult life preaching, my immediate thought when I saw the backlash was, “This is always what happens when you preach about the need for mercy to a people who worship power.” Especially mercy towards people many have already decided are evil and not worthy of love. People like our LGBT siblings and immigrant neighbors who have long been the target of disinformation, fear, and hateful rhetoric. An appeal to mercy for demonized groups challenges the narratives that demonize them.

When you worship power, things like mercy, empathy, and compassion will begin to sound like a compromise or a weakness, or even worse, they will sound like sins. When you worship power, the structures and people who maintain that power must prioritize authority, not mercy, forgiveness, or compassion. When you worship power, the more ruthless you are towards those you’ve already chosen to see as your “enemies," the more righteous you become. When you worship power, you see power as synonymous with the truth, and the truth should never be questioned or criticized. The worship of power has no room for mercy. This worship of power is why authoritarianism has become so appealing to far too many Christians. This worship of power is why the appeal to mercy is treated like a threat.

What About Religious Freedom?

Let's take this concept and apply it to the issues of free speech and religious freedom as an example. We have witnessed Christians win supreme court cases over the right to refuse service to LGBT people based on their religious beliefs and being able to conduct Christian prayer on public school grounds during athletic events. We have witnessed controversy after controversy, from Starbucks red cups and the phrase “Happy holidays” all the way to the Olympic ceremonies. We have seen major figures like NFL kicker Harrison Butker advocate his preferred brand of traditional Christian values at a Catholic commencement ceremony. We have seen mega-church pastors and leaders like Franklin Graham publicly support politicians and policies on the political right while criticizing other Christians who do not. All of which is framed in the context of “free speech” and “religious freedom.”

And yet, suddenly, none of this applies to a Christian Bishop preaching inside her own church. Suddenly, the group that claims to ardently support free speech and religious freedom because it believes Christians are being persecuted in our country turns around and vigorously condemns another Christian and demands an apology, says she should be deported, and even sponsors legislation against her sermon for daring to speak her faith.

Why? Because she wasn’t preaching Christian nationalism. She wasn't preaching about the legal enforcement of a certain set of “Christian values” over other people in the name of winning a culture war. Rather, she dared to ask those in power to show mercy. She dared to hold the powerful accountable to the wellbeing of the powerless. Asking the powerful to show mercy, especially towards those already designated as an “enemy,” is a complete heresy to a Christian movement that has come to see power as being one with the truth. Not even free speech or religious freedom can be used to justify such a heresy it seems.

This dynamic has always caused me great concern and heartbreak as a pastor. It is why you will see certain politicians and pastors alike being supported by many Christians for high positions of power, no matter their crimes or abuses towards others, because as long as they are willing to use their power in order to protect and enforce what they believe to be “Christian values,” their moral character doesn’t matter. Securing and maintaining power is all that matters in this belief system.

As I mentioned last week, this is why one of the most blatant forms of Christian hypocrisy in our time right now is Christians holding all the ordinary people we share this country with accountable to the most rigid moral standards while simultaneously holding their preferred politicians accountable to no standards at all. The greater the power one has, the less they will be held accountable to any moral standard. That's what worshiping power looks like.

We desperately need a collective repentance from the sin of turning political power into an idol within American Christianity.

In a country where there are more than 200 sects of Christianity alone, let alone a myriad of other religious and non-religious people, it should cause us deep concern that free speech, religious freedom, and positions of power are seen as only being available to a certain kind of Christian movement on the political right. What will be the fate of all those who simply do not measure up to that kind of “Christianity,” even among those faithful Christians in other Christian sects? Time will tell.

Jesus wasn’t crucified by those asking the powerful to be merciful.

What has always caused me the deepest and gravest concern about this power dynamic, however, is how it leads to the flagrant rejection of Jesus' teachings and the Biblical foundation of mercy, justice, and speaking truth to power.

It reminds me of the NPR interview where Evangelical Christian leader Russell Moore said that multiple pastors had told him disturbing stories about their congregants being upset when they read from the " Sermon on the Mount" in which Jesus espoused the principles of forgiveness and mercy that are central to Christian doctrine. "Multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount - [and] to have someone come up after to say, 'Where did you get those liberal talking points?” Moore added: "And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, I'm literally quoting Jesus Christ, the response would be, 'Yes, but that doesn't work anymore. That's weak.”

I cannot tell you how many times I have had this similar reaction to the teachings of Jesus in my ministry. Whether it was on a Sunday morning in church, a Bible study during the week, or something I posted online, inevitably, someone would tell me that I was "being too progressive" or "advocating a weak faith." The teachings of Jesus are simply seen as "too weak" for a Christianity that has decided to worship power instead.

This is all in spite of the fact that nowhere in the gospel accounts is Jesus seen checking someone's legal status before welcoming them. Nowhere in the gospel accounts is Jesus seen making sure someone has a job before he "hands out" food to them. Nowhere in the gospel accounts is Jesus seen making sure someone was straight so could make sure he wasn't "tolerating sin" by spending time with them.

Instead, you hear him say, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ -Matthew 25:40

Jesus didn't use all his cosmic power to force the world to obey his will. Jesus gave up his life out of love for the world, even for the broken, the sinner, and yes, even for his enemies.

Jesus didn't live by the love of power. Jesus lived by the power of love. We are called to live that way, too.

What kind of people do we want to be?

Whether it was asking the previous president to show mercy to Palestinians in the ongoing conflict in Gaza or asking the current president to show mercy to immigrants and the LGBT community who are scared about the days ahead, our response as Christians tells us who we are.

It shows us if we would be the kind of people who would have thought people like Isaiah and Jeremiah were false prophets or true prophets for declaring eunuchs as God’s children and that those with great power must prioritize the needs of the poor, the immigrant, the widow, and the orphan.

It shows us if we would be the kind of people who thought Nathan was a false prophet or a true prophet for calling out King David‘s sins directly to his face and demanding that he repent from his misuse of power and ruthless abuse and murder of others.

It shows us if we would be the kind of people who thought John the Baptist was a false prophet or a true prophet for calling out King Herod’s abuse of power and horrid behavior.

It shows us if we would be the kind of people who would condemn Mary, the mother of Jesus, or praise her when she boldly sang, “God has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. God has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. God has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” -Luke 1

It shows us if we would be the kind of people who would condemn Paul as a heretic or see him as an apostle for daring to welcome “those unclean outsiders” like Gentiles, into the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It shows us if we would be the kind of people who agreed with Jesus’ sermon or would be among those who eventually would try to throw him off a cliff after he prophetically preached: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because God has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (forgiveness of debts).” -Luke 4

It shows us if we are the kind of people who would choose nonviolent Jesus or violent Barabbas to lead us.

It shows us if we would be the kind of people who would betray, deny, and even demand that Jesus be crucified because he wasn’t leading us to overthrow the empire for our religious group, or if we would be the kind of people who followed his greatest commandment to the end like he did: love God and love our neighbors as ourselves.

It shows us if we are the kind of people who believe in speaking truth to power or if we are the kind of people who believe power IS truth.

As another powerful woman of God once said, "Jesus was not killed by atheism and anarchy. He was brought down by law and order allied with religion - which is always a deadly mix. Beware those who claim to know the will of God and are prepared to use force, if necessary, to make others conform. Beware those who cannot tell God's will from their own.” -Rev. Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor

You see my friends, the core of the gospel of Jesus is this: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” -John 3:16-17

Paul then describes the behavior of those who actively ignore this loving way of God in Romans 1:29-32 by saying, “They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are in opposition to God, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

As a follower of Jesus, I want to strive to be the kind of person who errs on the side of mercy toward others, especially toward the poor and the powerless who need mercy the most.

I want to strive to never be the kind of person who errs on the side of severity and cold enforcement of the law. For I was not saved by the law, but by the great mercy of God through Jesus Christ.

My friends, in a world where mercy is considered offensive, that is when we know that mercy is needed the most.

May God’s mercy be allowed to challenge the worship of power in us all.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” -Jesus