who deserves mercy

Would it be an oversimplification to point to The Good Samaritan?

At this point, it feels like it.

All things considered, the sermon that the Episcopal Bishop gave was like the bread and butter of Christianity’s core message: be kind, love each other. If it was any other sermon on any other day to any other group of people, I honestly think we’d all be like… ok. Good. Now what’s for lunch?

What I find remarkable though is the pushback.

Pushback should always be marked. It should be considered and studied. It’s the way we learn. The give and take of learning. Or at least for those of us with a more, let’s say, Classical view of eduction. Question and answer. Push and pull. Let’s wrestle this out, maybe sometimes with fear and trembling or something.

For me, the pushback made me pay attention. I had very little interest in what someone at National Cathedral had to say to the Trump Administration on Inauguration Church Day. It wasn’t until someone I trust* (*definitions pending) posted some reflections that I took more notice. Oh, she said what now? Whew. Good for her.

It was to be expected for those of us on the Side of Evangelicalism that debunks some combination of All Mainlines, Most Mainlines, especially any fully affirming and/or women pastoring, because those things tend to coincide because gender and sexuality. But In my experience of both Reformed Evangeys and Less Defined Broad Evangeys through my life, I have realized that the lines of demarcation for these issues are not as cut and dry as I was told.

With that in mind, we were all claiming the Higher Ground and have consistently depicted our own traditions/ orthodoxy/ orthopraxy as THE BEST Good Samaritan Interpretation for all time for all of church history and so each of the Sides emerging as Pro or Con Bishop Budde were entirely predictable. You cannot affirm LGBTQ+ communities and women preachers are heretical. OR some version of that, plus the age old bonus of Who Deserves to LIVE HERE?

The underlying context of Samaritan v. Israelites is beyond my scope of expertise to be sure. I’ll leave that to scholars who better understand the long standing history and political maneuverings of the past, well, 2000 years give or take. What I do say here from my own experience is that everyone in evangey circles WANTS to be the Good Samaritan but without the implications of classism, racism, xenophobia, and misogyny.

[Yes misogyny because remember Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman? Jesus’ heart for the Samaritans seems clear when you read the gospel accounts, but then again, spiritual authority can always be thrown around to say whatever you want it to say.]

So who DOES deserve the mercy of The Church?

It’s a question we, the true Church capital C, will need to keep asking and answering as best we can in the days ahead. Are we ready for it? Do we know when we’ll fail at it? Will we count the costs with accuracy and humility and the heart of Christ?

“I wish we’d all been ready.”

PS. The unofficial Asking for Me MERCY PLAYLIST!

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