In a world that we experience so often as indifferent, impersonal, competitive and cruel, we are crying out for signs of mercy: a word of forgiveness, a comforting touch, a gesture of sympathy, a move against injustice, grounds for hope. The Scriptures speak to us of a God who is not indifferent or apathetic, who “hears the cry” of the rejected, the fearful, the disconsolate, the alienated, and the guilty. We meet this God in Jesus Christ, who not only healed the sick and blessed the children, but also ate with sinners, forgave his enemies, refused to return violence with violence, and in his risen body welcomed and commissioned those disciples who had denied and deserted him. 

The sermons in this collection point to varied aspects of divine mercy, suggesting but not defining the contours of a biblical theology of mercy. Mercy, intrinsic to a conception of grace, is an encompassing love that comprehends human frailty in all its dimensions. These sermons seek to illuminate the ways in which our God, in mercy, acts to touch, heal, and repair our broken hearts and broken world.

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Lisa D. Kenkeremath, a Presbyterian pastor, has served churches in the Washington, DC area since 2001. An “empty-nester” with two adult sons, she lives in Falls Church, Virginia with her husband, Deepak Kenkeremath.