The nature of mercy

There's a searing honesty about this which not all find comfortable. I remember having discussions about this when I was among earnest young Christians at University: did confessing not only our sins but ourselves as sinners really express the confidence and joy of the Christian gospel? Wasn't this an awful thing to ask visitors to do when they came to church, perhaps for the first time? Wasn't this the problem that so many found with church, that it made them feel judged, not accepted?

In fact, I needed to look more closely at the way in which God himself is addressed in the Book of Common Prayer. He is not flattered like some potentate; there is nothing obsequious in the way he is addressed. Rather, Cranmer has us remember, even us we approach the heavenly throne, that is it is the throne of mercy. The God of the Bible is Almighty – his sovereignty is beyond our scope. It is reflected in the works he has made, the stars of heaven and the depths of the oceans, and the way nations rise and fall according to his plan. He is unstinting in his concern for holiness, purity and righteous – a God who does not compromise.

But he is also the God whose love for his creatures and concern for his name results in mercy. When God passes before Moses in the time of the Exodus, he as it were shouts his own name:

The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin…

These are the words that the prophet Jonah will recall as he sits in disgust watching Nineveh fail to be destroyed.

This is the God we are called to address in the Book of Common Prayer – the Almighty God, the Father of Jesus Christ

Who desireth not the death of a sinner but rather that he may turn from his wickedness and live

Unlike an Indonesian president, he has no constituency to please; he is not capable of being bullied by Prime Ministers, nor is he open to bribes. We have no other option but to come to him as we truly are.

But we are invited to do so not in fear and trembling, but knowing that he is a merciful God. The confidence of the confession, and the certainty of the absolution lies with the character of the one who is addressed. We approach the throne of heaven in the knowledge that it is a throne of grace.

And where comes that knowledge?

He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent and believe his Holy Gospel.

These words echo Jesus' own message at the beginning of Mark's gospel; and they remind us, that God does not compromise or distort his righteous character, but that the divine mercy takes Jesus Christ to the cross, where he made (as the old book says)