Sunday of the Fifth week of Pentecost
Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” (St. Luke 6:36)Mercy is what the Lord gives to sinners. Mercy is what we pray for in the Divine Service: “Kyrie, eleison. Lord, have mercy.” That is the prayer of lepers and the lame and the poor and the needy. It is the prayer of those whose only hope is that the Lord is full of compassion, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
If you have sins, dear Christian, then the Lord has mercy. If you need the comfort of One Who looks past what you have done, and does not treat you as your misdeeds deserve, then, “Kyrie, Eleison!” because the Lord has mercy.
The Lord went to the cross with your sins in tow because He has mercy. He suffered and died for what He did not do, because He has mercy. When your parents brought you to the font of Holy Baptism, the Lord had mercy and called you His own. When you come to your pastor, confessing your sins, listen carefully. Hear the mercy of the Lord calling you forgiven. When you approach the Lord’s Table, mercy upon mercy feeds you with a taste of heaven, fills you with the Body and the Blood of Him Who died to save you.
You see God’s mercy for you when the Lord is treated contemptibly, but you are treated as if your sins don’t count. It is mercy when the Lord agonized in the throes of hell upon the cross, but you and I are set free from such condemnation. We are free!
You and I beg for mercy in the liturgy. We pray for mercy in the Lord’s Prayer when we say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
As we forgive others. . . That is mercy, too. Mercy coming out of us for others, as mercy has gone in. Into our ears by way of His words of forgiveness. Into our mouths by way of His Body and Blood.
The Lord is full of mercy, and so are we! Full of mercy, because God has filled us with His Son.
“Grant, O Lord, we beseech Thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by Thy governance that Thy Church may joyfully serve Thee in all godly quietness.” (Collect for Fourth Sunday after TRINITY)
I don't have the daily readings for today because I'm in Oregon City and my Lectionary is in Dublin! Oops :-) This will suffice as my trip update, we made it last night to Dan and Connie's house, leaving in less than an hour for Dublin and hope to be home before dark. I'll sort through photos and post a couple here and maybe make up a slide show with music to link to. I'll give more info as I go along.
OK, now I'm home so here are the daily readings for today, better late than never:
Numbers 6:22-27 Acts 13:1-12 Luke 12:41-48