Mercy Trumps Vengeance

Post Author: Rev. Merianna Harrelson

On January 21, 2025 at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, the newly elected president and vice president attended an interfaith prayer service to begin their first full day in office. It isn’t a new tradition for the newly elected president and vice president to attend an interfaith prayer service the morning after inauguration nor is it a new tradition to invite faith leaders to be a part of the inauguration ceremony. So why did this year’s interfaith prayer service catch so many people’s attention?

It was because of the Right Reverend Bishop Budde. 

Bishop Budde has been ministering to the DC community for over ten years and has been a part of the interfaith service of newly elected presidents before, but there was something different about this service. She explained in her first interview since giving her sermon that as she was considering the portion of the sermon that often addresses the newly elected leaders of the country, she realized she had forgotten one of the “pillars of unity” mercy. 

Her sermon was fifteen minutes and it was the last two minutes where she said, “Let me make one final plea, Mr. President.” Speaking directly to the newly elected president, she asked that he and his leaders consider the way their actions and words impact others. She asked them to have mercy on those who have been marginalized, forgotten, and misrepresented. She asked him to have mercy on those who were scared. 

Perhaps it was her tone. Perhaps it was her direct address to the president (although it isn’t uncommon during this interfaith service to directly address the newly elected president). Perhaps it was the ability we have to share and reshare these two minutes using social media. Perhaps it was the Divine whispering to all of us to listen. 

Whatever the reason, her plea has echoed through phones, apps, conversations, and churches all over the country: Have mercy. 

In many worship services, there is a portion of the service entitled, “Prayers of the People.” Oftentimes, these prayers are spoken by a leader with the congregation responding: “Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.” Maybe what Bishop Budde heard when she was preparing for this sermon was the prayers of the people who have been calling on God to have mercy. Have mercy on the stranger. Have mercy on those who are scared. Have mercy on the children who are hungry. Have mercy on the refugee. 

In her own reflection of why her words reverberated with so many people she said: “Perhaps the reason it had the effect that it did was because for a while now there has been very little public…there hasn’t been much of a narrative outside of the narrative that the president has been describing. People have gone quiet or they have been ignored.” 

She continues saying, “I had no idea who was paying attention.” 

In a culture where we are constantly distracted by the interruptions and disruptions of breaking news and notifications for people to collectively pay attention to a sermon is astounding. To discover people still talking and discussing a sermon weeks later is even more encouraging. It means Bishop Budde spoke words that we all needed and wanted to hear. 

The response to her sermon wasn’t all positive. She received threatened messages and demands to apologize for her words. In response she explained, “I was trying to encourage a different kind of conversation…could we as Americans and fellow children of God speak to each other with respect?” 

Bishop Budde is invoking both the tone and the pleas of unity. Unity not in ideas or perspective, but unity in how we treat one another. Unity in believing that we will treat each other with respect and we will have mercy on those who are suffering while calling on our leaders to do the same. 

Although she didn’t know who would pay attention or that she would be accepting interviews after her sermon, what she did know is that mercy is crucial to uniting us as children of God and that mercy always trumps vengeance. 

The National Cathedral