It’s all anyone in religious circles has been talking about: Did you hear the sermon that the Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington DC, gave on Tuesday at the Inaugural Prayer Service at the National Cathedral? Did you hear what she said, directly to President Donald Trump, who was sitting right in front of her?
The little video where she asks President Trump to “ have mercy on the people in our country who are scared now” is all over the internet. In response I’ve heard her described as courageous, faithful and “badass.”
Truly it was an amazing moment in the history of preaching, and I couldn’t be more proud to be an Episcopalian or inspired as a priest by Bishop Budde’s remarks. I’m also reminded that she was doing her job, exactly what she was called to do as a priest, a bishop, a preacher, and a leader of a diocese that is the hotbed of our American political life. Her job is to preach the Gospel, to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. And when she took to the pulpit that’s what she did. I’m reminded of the words of the master to the servant in the parable of the talents (Matthew 15:23) “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.”
What she was in charge of on Tuesday was giving the sermon at an interfaith service that included prayers from indigenous, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions. The theme was unity, and the setting for that theme was fittingly diverse. The entire liturgy, its prayers, songs, Scriptures and preaching, was a challenge to the spirit of hate, grievance and divisiveness that characterizes political and civil discourse right now. It was a perfect example of how our faith traditions can speak with one voice in convicting response.
I found the entire transcript of Bishop Budde’s sermon here on someone’s personal blog site. And while the last minute is the most riveting and most repeated, it’s worth reading the entire sermon, because throughout it she spoke a gentle truth to a threatening power. Here are some highlights:
“...Unity is not partisan, rather unity is a way of being with one another that encompasses and respects our differences, that teaches us to hold multiple perspectives and life experiences as valid and worthy of respect, that enables us in our communities and in the halls of power to genuinely care for one another even when we disagree….”
“… Now I grant you that unity in 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….”
She discussed three foundations of unity, which also raised a challenge to her immediate audience. The first was to honor the inherent dignity of every human being, which she said “is as all the faiths represented here affirm, the birthright of all people as children of our one God.” The second is honesty “in both private conversation and public discourse.” The third is humility “which we all need, because we are all fallible human beings.”
Finally in her quiet, gentle voice she issued a direct appeal for mercy to the president who sat before her.
“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you and, as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and Independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals. They, they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, wadara and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands, to find compassion and welcome here.”
And those words hit their mark and unsettled their target. President Trump responded with this on Truth Social: “The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.” He asked for an apology.
The backlash that Bishop Budde received from the president reminds me of another passage from the Gospel of Matthew (5:11-12) Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely[a] on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Bishop Budde reminded us what our faith in action looks like. This is the impact that our convictions can have when they come when called. This is the effect we can have on the moral compass of a country that has taken strange and dangerous swings away from true.
As people of faith we all have a particular pulpit we have been handed, audiences in our sphere of influence, work to do. In our prayer, we don’t have to beg God to do the right thing here. God is begging us to do the right thing, and equipping us, empowering us, and sending us into the field with no armor at all.
What is your pulpit? What are the things that the master has given you to do, good and faithful servant, in this period that will demand courageous and effective responses from us?
Bishop Budde’s sermon was not the last word on the work she has cut out for her in Washington. But it was a Word that will keep doing its work long after she moves on to the next thing that God is calling her to do in the “many things” that faithfulness requires of her.
She reminds us to be ready to do what is hand, certain of the presence and promptings of God in these uncertain times, reliant on the grace that will be there when we need it. I’m going to keep reaching for this example as I walk through these next four years. I hope you do as well.
Thank you, Rev. Barb, for your thoughtful response to Bishop Budde's powerful sermon. I commit to listening with you for what God is calling me to do during this time and always.