Mercy vs. Power, Empathy vs. Cruelty: What Does a Faithful Response to Trump’s Return to Power Look Like?
Our first Convocation Unscripted Episode of Trump's presidency--now weekly for first 100 days of Trump's administration.
Thanks to the nearly 500 of you who joined us for our first 2025 Convocation Unscripted+LIVE conversation of the second Trump presidency. To keep up with what will be a challenging stream of news, and to help us all collectively sort out the signal from the noise, we’ll be conducted these conversations weekly for the first 100 days of Trump’s administration.
Here’s the rhythm: We’ll hold The Convocation Unscripted+LIVE on the first Thursdays of each month at 5:00 p.m. ET; on the other weeks, the Convocation team will record the show on Thursdays. And each week, we’ll post the show on Friday here via this newsletter, on our YouTube channel, and on our podcast. If you or a friend would like to join us for one of our upcoming live conversations, please be sure to subscribe to this newsletter, where we’ll send out the registration link the Tuesday before the show. Here’s the schedule for the upcoming TCU+LIVE shows—we hope you’ll join us:
February 6, 5:00 p.m. ET
March 6, 5:00 p.m. ET
April 3, 5:00 p.m. ET
May 1, 5:00 p.m. ET
See below for the recording of last night’s conversation. If you have friends who would like to join us, please invite them to subscribe (it’s free!).
Mercy vs. Power, Empathy vs. Cruelty: What Does a Faithful Response to Trump’s Return to Power Look Like?
This week’s edition of The Convocation Unscripted was our first show after the inauguration of Donald Trump as president. There was so much to talk about and so many incoming questions from the nearly 500 listeners who joined us live, that we extended the show a bit. We covered a lot of ground, opening with how we are all coping emotionally with the deluge of executive orders and authoritarian rhetoric. We also talked about the symbols and rhetoric of white Christian nationalism at the inauguration, Bishop Mariann Budde’s courageous sermon and appeal to mercy at the Washington National Cathedral, the blanket pardon of the violent January 6th insurrectionists, Elon Musk’s Nazi salute (yes, it was a Nazi salute), Trump’s torrent of big and little lies, and the need for all of us to contribute resources to organizations, clergy, and leaders who are taking courageous stands, not just at the national level but at the local level.
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Thanks to everyone for this encouragement and these insightful comments. We're all so happy to be in the struggle with you.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart, you all. What a difficult, truth-telling, authentic and vulnerable conversation you four shared. You continue to bless me as you share, teach, exhort, and challenge us to live and fight (in a loving way) for the democracy of our nation and the Kingdom of God. There is no higher charge than to live and love like Jesus. Thanks for always putting the truth of the Gospel above all of the politics and history in such away that you invite action, humility, and loving-kindness. Very grateful for your courageous and sacrificial voices.