


“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)
As Christ’s people, we all live simultaneously as citizens in two Kingdoms: the nation we live in, and the Kingdom of God. The values of these kingdoms are not always aligned. That was glaringly obvious in the reaction to the sermon preached by Episcopalian Bishop Mariaan Edgar Budde in the US post-Inaugural Cathedral Service this week. Her address was rooted in the Kingdom of God. As a citizen of that Kingdom she directly addressed a plea for justice, mercy and humility to the President. A Bishop spoke to a President in the language of God’s Kingdom. A President replied to a Bishop in the language of a very different kingdom. Her Kingdom reminder of love was dismissed as ‘hateful’ and her plea for mercy as ‘nasty.’
In the clash of kingdoms, may we find the courage “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly” with our God… in our words, our ways and our works.