Jeweled Breadcrumb #21 : mercy, what is mercy?
letting the fig tree grow
woman harvests fecund fruit
creation continues
deep pruning in springtime
winter winds in summer
changed into something it is not
fig tree bleeds
letting a man step forward
all of his relations thrive
creation continues
dragging him through mud
crippling his desire
changed into something he is not
man and siblings suffers
when mercy meets affliction
woman waits ’til sap stops flowing
prunes fig tree in winter
wise leader favors people
governs without insisting
others become what they are not
creation continues
Breadcrumb
After listening to Episcopal Bishop Budde’s sermon, delivered at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC on January 21st, 2025, I kept asking myself, “What is mercy?”
(Click on this link to hear the 14 minute sermon)
The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde’s Sermon
I rarely find myself writing or speaking the word ‘mercy.’ I wonder why not? An online definition of mercy is Compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.
In a backhanded way it seems, mercy has to do with the exercise of power. How do I use my position and privilege? Is it to my benefit without regard for the consequences to others? Or is it warm-hearted and humane? Do I aim to exercise power over others? Or endeavor to share power with?
No wonder the word ‘mercy’ is mostly absent. I would rather not answer these questions.
I believe mercy is warm-heartedness, dignity and humanity extended to those over whom we have power. Even though I hear echoes of resistance in me, “I do not have power ‘over’ others,” I have shuttered my heart and done my share of storing up benefits just for me. Bishop Budde’s call to the president of the United States “to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” is a call to me and all of us. In the words of the prophet Micah “… to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6.8)
Thank you for reading these words,
written by grace and the grit of a real human being. Debra Asis
You may also appreciate
Mercy : i need mercy
or Mercy In The Borderlands
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The assignment that brings me to the writing of these words is to unapologetically tell the story of how God nudges, cajoles, drop kicks and masters me to be the real human being that I am … becoming … following God’s Jeweled Breadcrumbs. My daily writing challenge for 2025 is to share the Breadcrumbs with you.
You may also visit me at https://www.debraasis.org/
