The Merciful Thug @GraceCathedralinSF
The Merciful Thug  @GraceCathedralinSF
Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The Rev. Rebecca Lyman
Samuel Garrett Professor of Church History Emerita, The Church Divinity School of the Pacific

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, CA
Sunday, October 26th, 2025
The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost: Proper 25

Joel 2:23-32
Psalm 65:1-8
2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18
Luke 18:9-14

How do we live faithfully in a world of violence and chaos?  Jesus and other Jewish leaders wrestled with this question under Roman occupation in Judea. In the Gospel of Luke this morning Jesus gives us another story about the broad mercy of God and the reversal of our usual expectations of piety: who prays in authentic relation to God, the righteous one or the repentant thug? In a world saturated with grace, Jesus grounds our courage in divine faithfulness and human solidarity. Prayer changes us to live in our particular vocations as salt and light.
The Merciful ThugHistory, Contingency, and Christian Vocation to the NationThe Rev. Canon Dr. Stephanie SpellersThe Life We Cannot See (Margaret Fuller)O Lazarus!: Resurrection, Immigration and the SoulHosanna Means Help UsMarch 15, 2026 | Sunday 11 a.m. Choral EucharistThe Rev. Paul Brandeis RaushenbushHow does God Remember?October 5, 2025 | Sunday 3 p.m. Organ Recital by Mina-Marie JelinekThe Right Rev. Austin Keith Rios - Easter Sunday SermonAugust 9, 2026 | Sunday 11 a.m. Choral Eucharist
Grace Cathedral San Francisco |

The Merciful Thug

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