July 25, 2025: Bishop Escobedo-Frank calls us to show mercy to our neighbors and dive deeper into scripture with our community.

Her video message is above, and a transcript of the video is below.

TRANSCRIPT:

I’ve been thinking about the Good Samaritan story and how church leaders of their day and pastors of their day walked on by this man who was hurt on the road. And how Jesus called us to recognize that this man who was hurt on the road needed mercy and called us to give mercy to them. To call us forward to remember that when we give mercy to others, then we are following the way of Jesus.

And right now in the world, there’s many times when we are not following the way of Jesus. And there’s many voices that are Christian voices that are saying, Jesus wouldn’t welcome this person or that person.

I want us to be very careful — not to twist our scriptures to fit our current focus on politics, but instead to look at the what Jesus calls us to do in this day. This is a real critical time for us. It’s not a time for us to back away and to be quiet. It’s a time for us to say: “No, our scriptures say this.”

So go deeper into your scriptural study with your pastors and with your friends, and do not be persuaded by those who are giving in to the powers of the world, which we call idolatry, when we worship the powers of the world or anything else besides God. 

Instead, know what God calls us to do and how God calls us to be. And follow that path and speak it out because the world needs us to use our voice and to use our bodies, and to use our acts of mercy and kindness in this day. It’s needed, please.

I’m praying that you’ll be a part of this change that lets the world know that church really does love them. And that Jesus loves them too.