Mercy is the point

Every once in a while I throw a recent homily up on the inter webs. As is always the case, homilies are offered to a particular people in a specific place and time; they’re also usually shorter and written in response to the week’s lectionary readings. This one happened to have an additional layer of the theme “service” tacked onto it, as the church I preached at is emphasizing the foundational pieces of who they are during the month of August. This one is also just going to out to paid subscribers — thanks, each one of you. Enjoy!

August 16, 2026, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, San Rafael, CA: Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28, Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

Mercy is the point. Service is one way it happens.

Long, long ago, when I was in college, I took a spiritual gifts test. A spiritual gifts test is exactly what it sounds like: a test that determines your gifts, spiritually speaking. I was deep in the trenches of evangelicalism at that point, and part of what we did, during our free time, I suppose, was try and figure out how we were gifted, so we might use the best of our abilities to serve the Kingdom of God. As an aside, this is not necessarily how it happens in our tradition: if there is a need, we step into that need. The need, not necessarily the person who can fill that need (with that gift) comes first.

But there I was, hanging out with my best friend and our official mentor, taking a 250-question test so I could find out my gifts and then serve according to those gifts.

I scored how I hoped I would score: high on leadership, teaching, and administration. But then, a surprise: I got a zero on mercy, as in, according to the test, there was not an ounce of mercy in me. I should therefore not pursue any area of service that might involve mercy.