On Tuesday January 21 at the National Cathedral prayer service in
Washington the Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal bishop of Washington,
took the opportunity to appeal to President Trump for mercy.
After a brief opening prayer Bishop Budde began her message by quoting
part of Jesus’sermon on the mount about building a house on the rock. She then
spoke at length about three foundations of unity – honoring the dignity of
every human; honesty in private and public; and the need for humility. She
ended with an appeal to mercy for immigrants and transgender chidren. The
Trumps and Vances were seated in the front pew and she looked President Trump
right in the eye when she said:
Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you. 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 transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families who fear for their lives.
And the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in our poultry farms and meat-packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shift in hospitals – 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, mosques and synagogues, gurdwara, and temples.
Have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. Help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were once strangers in this land.
May God grant us all the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, speak the truth in love, and walk humbly with one another and our God, for the good of all the people of this nation and the world.
To put
it mildly, President Trump was not impressed by the message. He attacked Bishop
Budde in a lengthy social media post among other things called her “nasty” and
a “radical Left hard line Trump hater” and that she and her church owes the
public an apology. Trump’s followers jumped in with congressman Mike
Collins suggesting she be added to the deportation list. Bishop Budde has
received attacks including death threats from people who no doubt consider
themselves Christians but who evidently reject the teachings of Christ.
On
Friday Oklahoma Congressman Josh Brecheen on behalf of himself and 20 other Republican
congressmen submitted House Resolution 59 to the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform. The resolution condemned Bishop Budde’s sermon as “a display
of political activism” which traditionally “affirms dependence upon God and
prays for the success of our President and Vice President” but instead
inappropriately promoted “political bias instead of advocating the full counsel
of biblical teaching.”
Apparently
in the view of these 21 Republicans the “full counsel of biblical teaching”
doesn’t include mercy. But what about the lines in the Lord’s Prayer (that they
want recited daily by every student): “…forgive us our trespasses as we forgive
those who trespass against us”?
In an
interview about her sermon Budde said “I don’t hate the president, and I pray
for him. I don’t feel there’s a need to apologize for a request for mercy.”
I
wonder – if quoting the words of Jesus makes Bishop Budde a Trump hater, wouldn’t
that also make Jesus a Trump hater?
I’ve
often thought that if Christ were to return to America today, He would have nothing
to do with the Republicans. And even more significantly, the Republicans would have
nothing to do with Him. I can just hear them: “What!! Sell everything I have and
give it to the poor? What kind of woke Commie are you?”
Sources
You can read Bishop Budde's entire sermon here
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/23/mariann-edgar-budde-trump-sermon-defense
https://www.facebook.com/groups/impcourt/posts/10163426545508338/
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