in his sermon on the mound, jesus of navarro rath comports us to love not only our neighbors but to loveul as our god is merciful to. forgive others as god forgives us. and jesus went out of his way to welcome those whom his society deemed as outcasts. now, i grant you that unity and this broad expansive sense is aspirational. and it's a lot to pray for. it's a big ask of our god. worthy of the best of who we are and who we can be. but there isn't much to be gained by our prayers. if we act in ways that further deepen the divisions among us. our scriptures are quite clear about this. that god is never impressed with prayers, when actions are not informed by them. nor does god spare us from the consequences of our deeds, which always in the end matter more than the words we pray. those of us gathered here in the cathedral, we are not naive about the realities of politics. when power and wealth and competing interests are at stake, when views of what america should be are in conflict, when there are strong opinions across a spectrum of possibilities and starkly different understandings of