"Have mercy."

And, courageous neighboring.

***If you’re new here, I want to say a huge ‘welcome’! In addition to being a global health epidemiologist, I am also a pastor’s wife of 21 years (and counting!). Sometimes I write more of a faith-based post from my Christian perspective. Not at all to proselytize or to ‘center’ Christianity, but just because it’s my vantage point. I do think many/most of the overarching themes I talk about transcend any religion and simply become about neighboring one another. I hope you see that common theme today, regardless if you’re a person of any faith or not.***

Mercy. Mercy. Mercy.

I’m sure by now you have seen the clip of Bishop Mariann Budde at the National Cathedral. I watched it and couldn’t stop watching. Then I wept. I think I wept because of how unexpected it was. How unexpectedly quiet it was, how unexpectedly courageous it was, and how unexpectedly powerful it was. And how true to me it felt. I wasn’t expecting the call for mercy in such a time of the lack of mercy. I wasn’t expecting the courageous neighboring words that were certainly not shouted - but were felt. Many of us who are in justice-type, equity-type, neighboring-types of work are probably distinctly feeling this week. So perhaps Bishop Budde’s words cracked open what needed to be broken again.

It also reminded me of courageous neighboring. My book has an entire section on courage, filled with several chapters of how I define courage. To me, simple courage is doing something despite some fear in doing it. Courageous neighboring extends that to our neighbors, for our neighbors. Doing something that takes some faith and courage and grit - on behalf of our neighbors. To me, that’s also an extension of mercy.

And, that’s the word that caught my attention.

Mercy.

Rev. Budde’s words centered our neighbors who are at real risk in the coming weeks. The policies being put in place directly affect families, children, brothers and sisters, parents, and neighbors. So, to ask for someone who holds immense power to change that by having mercy?

As a Christian, it took me aback that she even had to ask for it. One of my favorite Bible verses is Micah 6:8. The prophet is asking what God requires of humans? Out of everything that could be said in that moment, the answer was this - to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. This verse is one of the first that we taught our kids. We had it on a chalkboard in the kitchen and we would go over it every day. (Well, most days when we didn’t forget.) I remember one day when one of my kids, who was itty-bitty, recited this verse the way it was said at church. “What does the Lord require of you, O MORTAL?” And, the ‘O MORTAL’ was said with lots of gusto, voice inflection, and a hand in the air. ha! Now I can’t read this verse any other way. =)

To me, this question (What does the Lord require of us?) is like a meaning-of-life question. Or a summation of life question. It reminds me of when Jesus was asked another summation question by a Pharisee one day, “What’s the great commandment?” (Matthew 22). In other words, Jesus was being asked to sum it all up. Jesus could have talked about power or position or privilege. He could have used the opportunity to grandstand or show off. But, Jesus summed it all up by, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is LIKE IT: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. ALL the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (emphasis mine).

It also reminds me of when the Apostle Paul said to the church in Galatia that the ENTIRE law could be summed up in loving our neighbors (Galatians 5).

The power of mercy is it’s a summation of how Micah said to live our lives, Jesus defined the greatest commandment, and the Apostle Paul summarized the law.

Or I summarize neighboring.

To me, mercy feels like a keystone habit. Or a “one thing” thing. Or a summary word.

It’s only one word but holds the power of a life well lived, harkening back to that Micah question.

“What does God require of you? But to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.”

To me, mercy is an action verb of neighboring.

I know there are probably those of you reading this who are frustrated at the Bishop’s words. I would ask you to consider that showing mercy does not take away anyone’s power or authority. I think it extends it - and, also - redefines it according to Jesus. If you’re a follower of Jesus, sometimes the words of Micah or in Matthew 22 or Galatians 5 can be so challenging. May we heed them with humility (like Micah asks us to), while we love our God with all of our hearts (like Jesus asks us to), and by loving our neighbors (like Paul said).

For those of you in neighboring-spaces that are hard right now, let me give you some encouragement. Courageous neighboring doesn’t have to be all shouting and demonstrations and loud. To be clear, courageous neighboring does indeed mean those things at times. At other times, though, asking for mercy or neighboring that are not shouts can be just as powerful. I think Rev. Budde’s sermon, her posture and non-shouting-tone, were just that and can serve as a reminder for us to seek the wisdom we need to know when to shout and when to not. Like the writer of Ecclesiastes told us, there’s a time for everything. The next few years may be really difficult in neighboring spaces, and we don’t have the ability to shout the whole time. That will burn you out and make you cynical or unhappy. So, can I encourage you to notice the power of how Reverend Budde talked about neighboring? For sure, it took courage! It also likely took planning and wisdom and community. It took humble posturing and wise standing. Take some time to find that today if you need it. If you need to shout, by all means we do that. But I want to be known for also the non-shouting of words courageously spoken for mercy and a life that lives it out. In the quiet, the standing, and the shouting if needed. May you have the courage to do it all!

I want to end by including an excerpt from the end of Reverend Budde’s words. Find the words of Micah 6:8, Matthew 22, and Galatians 5 resonating through.

(Here’s the full transcript of Reverend Budde’s words.)

“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. Good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen”

For we were all strangers in this land. May God indeed grant us the courage to honor the dignity of our neighbors.

Now, in a very Charis-Bapt-Liturgist way (I grew up charismatic, married a Baptist preacher, and go to a liturgical church now), “and everyone said…”

Amen!

-Emily