Let me tell you a story of ancient history. Once upon a time, we watched television shows that were not on demand, but rather were set at a specific time of the evening. And if we missed them, unless we had some ancient technology called a VCR recorder, they were gone forever (or until they were aired again). It was a wild time. During this epoch, there was a show called “Full House” which among other things, featured a character named “Uncle Jesse” who said the catchphrase “have mercy,” in an Elvis-impersonator-like voice over and over and over….and over again. 
And maybe you feel a little like Uncle Jesse on Sunday mornings when we say the Kyrie (which is Greek for “Lord” and is the short hand for its full name “Kyrie Eleison” which means Lord, have mercy and is also the title of a Mr. Mister song from the 1980’s). This short little prayer is sometimes sung, but most of the time we say it responsively. “In peace, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For the peace of the whole world, for the well being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. Help, save, comfort and defend us gracious Lord. Amen.” That’s quite a few “have mercy’s” in a compressed amount of time. Uncle Jesse would be right at home.
But when I was getting used to the liturgy, I remember struggling with this prayer. First of all, the pastor got to say all the good lines and I just got to repeat “Lord, have mercy” (note: great reason to be a pastor: you do get more and better lines to say on Sunday, you also get to see the front of everyone’s face instead of the back of their heads). But recently I’ve really been noticing this prayer, and how it is such a great prayer. It hits everything – from our salvation and church to all people and peace for the whole world. It is even a prayer that everyone would become a Christian (“for the unity of all” meaning the unity of “the whole world” and the “Church of God”).
Another thing that Uncle Jesse used to say a lot was “a hunk o hunk o burnin’ love,” quoting a certain “the King”. But that is how our King, our Lord, responds to our prayer to have mercy, with His hunk of burnin’ love shown to us in the Cross, the Empty Tomb, and the flames of Pentecost. So if you are struggling with the Kyrie and its repetitiveness this Sunday, every time you say “Lord, have mercy,” just imagine God saying back to you “I got a hunk o hunk o burnin’ love for you.” That’s a lot of burnin’ love, but He’ll never run out of it, no matter how much we pray for Him to have mercy on us.