At the service at the Washington National Cathedral yesterday, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Rt Rev Mariann Budde preached a sermon on the subject of unity.
A moderate, thoughtful sermon has created a firestorm of anger and recrimination. Clearly, it was not the kind of unity that Trump and his supporters were looking for.
Donald Trump admitted he did not like the service and said:
“I didn’t think it was a good service…they can do much better.’
Republican Congressman Mike Collins went a bit further:
‘The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list.’
The foundation of unity
The best way to engage in the debate the sermon has created is to actually read or listen to the thoughtful words she said about the nature of unity. Unity has to be built upon something:
“And we are right to pray for God’s help as we seek unity. For we need God’s help. But only if we ourselves are willing to tend to the foundations upon which unity depends.”
And nothing could be more important that the discussion about what to base unity on. All leaders desire unity. Putin and other dictators want unity which is why they suppress free speech, deny democratic process and lock up those who disagree with them. For them, unity is based simply on force, power and coercion. Truth does not matter.
Teaching and example of Jesus
But the very reason the USA has a National Cathedral is because the teachings and example of Jesus Christ are truthful and are relevant to how countries are run and governed. The bishop yesterday spoke up in a clear way to challenge the new administration with a Christian perspective. Her courage is in stark contrast to the bishops in Russia who simply endorse Putin.
As the Budde said
“Like Jesus’s analogy of building a house of faith upon the rock of his teachings as opposed to building a house on sand. The foundations we need for unity must be sturdy enough to withstand the many storms that threaten it. So what are they these foundations of unity?”
And she went on to outline these three elements of a strong foundation for unity:
1.Human dignity
“The first foundation for unity is honouring the inherent dignity of every human being, which is all all the faiths represented here affirm, the birthright of all people as children of our one God. In public discourse honouring each other’s dignity means refusing to mock, or discount or demonise those with whom we differ.”
2. Honesty
“Second foundation for unity is honesty, in both private conversation and public discourse. If we’re not willing to be honest there’s no use in praying for unity, because our actions work against the prayers themselves. We might for a time experience a false sense of unity among some. But not the sturdier broader unity that we need to address the challenges that we face.”
3. Humility
“And the third and last foundation I’ll mention today is humility – which we all need, because we are all fallible human beings. We make mistakes . We say and do things that we later regret. We have our blind spots and our biases. And perhaps we are most dangerous to ourselves and others when we are persuaded without a doubt that we are absolutely right and someone else is absolutely wrong.”
The fundamental question
People in power never object when religious leaders speak out on political issues to agree with them. Yesterday the Bishop spoke in a sensible and moderate way and drawing on core Christian ideas. She spoke truth.
The problem for America and the world is the fact she is speaking into a culture where the Christian faith has been used, abused and polarised by those grasping for power. Christian language – mercy, humility even Jesus himself – have become commodified and weaponised in the culture wars.
What do we build on?
Now more than ever we need to ask the deep questions about what foundations is our society built? Do we believe in the inherent dignity of every human? Are we able to be honest and to debate and disagree in good faith? Are we willing to be humble and accept our own fallibility?
If we reject these foundational truths then we are indeed building on sand.
Let’s pray for Mariann Budde as she will face much pressure, threats and abuse in the coming days. Let’s pray the words she used to end her talk:
“May God grant us the strength and courage to honour the dignity of every human being. To speak the truth to one another in love. And walk humbly with each other and our God , for the good of all people, the good of all people in this nation and the world. Amen.”
I would recommend people take 15 mins to watch the full sermon:
Discover more from Grace + Truth
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Grace + Truth 
Powerful heartfelt sermon. Shows the Protestant Bible based Christian legacy of the USA that in the National Cathedral Trump and Co had to sit and listen without interrupting or heckling. (Can you imagine Putin having to publicly listen to something like this from an Russian Orthodox leader?) Raised above the President in the pulpit Bishop Mariann held the power in this encounter. She used it effectively and there was much in it to provoke humble reflection. But a part of her thoughtful and impassioned sermon was flawed as were the some of the policies she was speaking against. Welcoming the stranger, sheltering the vulnerable, upholding justice while also showing compassion and mercy are God-given scriptural imperatives. Defining children as LGBT is not. I am sad that the first application of her call to unity was the promotion of a false ideology that has forced out so many people from the Episcopal Church of America and driven many to vote for people more politically extreme than they are themselves.
LikeLike
Was it the ‘promotion of a false ideology’ to say that young people who identify as LGBT are fearful and that we should be merciful towards them? Seems factual and sensible to me. Whatever your views on sexuality, surely you agree with the call to be merciful?
LikeLike
If you listen carefully she did not say ‘those children who identify as LGBT’ but children who are LGBT. It is a crucial difference. For example, if a child is a male living in a female body or is a female living in a male body then puberty blockers, cross sex hormones and surgery are all appropriate and epxeressions of genuine care. If, on the other hand, a child identifies as the opposite of their sex (contrary to the truth), then love means compassion, counselling and therapeutic care not ideologically driven and non-reversible chemical poisoning or mutiliation. The Episcopal Church leadership and their Democrat allies are totally sold on sexual revisionism and abortion and that is one reason why the liberals in the USA lost the election. If they’d have concentrated on really helping ordinary Americans and the poor they would have won.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Jon – insightful as ever, and expressed well much of what I’ve been thinking about the past couple of days. At these times, this is a powerful reflection from the Bishop on how we can approach appeals to unity.
LikeLike
thanks Jon
LikeLike
Whether young people (or children) are, (or identify as), LGBT I think the point the Bishop was making is that they and other minorities are fearful and should be treated with mercy and compassion.
LikeLike
She was calling for mercy for illegal immigrants which I agree is a Christian value. But for those identifying as ‘trans’ she’s not really asking for mercy but legal validation that they are a different gender to their biological sex and so men and boys can become women and girls and everyone has to accept that whatever the consequences for women’s safety, fairness and people’s ultimate good. You may think I’m being picky but words matter. Mercy for trans identifying people would be compassion and help for them to come to terms with reality rather than inflict them with damaging ideological treatment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Martin
She really was asking for mercy and I think she also mentioned compassion. Nowhere in her homily did she mention
“legal validation that they are a different gender to their biological sex and so men and boys can become women and girls and everyone has to accept that whatever the consequences for women’s safety, fairness and people’s ultimate good”.
And I agree, words do matter.
Pam ________________________________
LikeLike
Imagine Biden had won and then had to attend a conservative Southern Baptist church where the preacher exhorted Biden to think about the terrible plight of the people who want to de- transition or the terrified parents who fear their confused children are prey to harmful ideologies promoted by the state. Imagine if the call to unity had been framed with a call to return to traditional family values, patriotism, avoidance of involvement in wars, and concentrating on reducing inflation and unemployment for ordinary Americans. Imagine if the preacher had said that the babies aborted would have grown up to be Democrats as well as Republicans or Independents and Biden should have mercy on these vulnerable innocents. Liberals would have reacted with the same outrage as Trump and co. They would have accused him of a right wing political agenda even if had quoted chapter and verse of the Bible to back everything up.
The truth is that the bishop’s sermon was and is being presented as just a nice, lovely and brave call for kindness and mercy by a vulnerable woman to someone who is a modern day Hitler. But I believe a better sermon would have been just as provocative, but to liberals as well as conservatives. As it is, the country is more divided into intransigent camps than ever because conservatives know she was playing to a liberal gallery or people who just view the man they voted for with disgust.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Martin – I like this quote and I agree with it: “I believe a better sermon would have been just as provocative, but to liberals as well as conservatives.” This is where I want my blog to be – but its a tough place to live!
LikeLike
Interesting post…more interesting comments. I rather find more truth spoken to power in Martin Kuhrt’s comments than the sermon itself, which I actually found deeply disrespectful and divisive. Rev Mariann Budde used her sermon as an opportunity to make a political speech in opposition to a newly elected (by a decent majority) president. That act was neither kind, nor compassionate, nor fair. The underlying message seems to be, have compassion for everyone except those to the right of Joe Biden, i.e. excluding those who question the Democratic orthodoxy. Rev Budde had a wonderful opportunity to speak truth, but instead of following Jesus’s example of using parable and story, waking people up, she directly, and literally attacked the policies of the new President, shutting people down.
I want to be clear, I am not a Trump supporter—I’m not a Harris supporter either. I am on the side of compassion and respect for all people, not just those on your political side of the fence. It’s a shame someone in such a position of power, with such an opportunity, with the world listening was unable to rise to the opportunity to speak to all people, choosing instead to just address the Biden/Harris fandom, while alienating all others.
LikeLike
Hi Tobias
Sorry for the slow response. Your comment really got me thinking, especially as someone who has largely agreed with stuff I have written for 10 years plus!
I really appreciate the push-back because I do not want my blog to be an echo-chamber.
I still don’t think that the Bishop did play to the Biden/Harris fandom and I think she spoke words of moderate caution which in the context she was speaking into was incendiary.
I think Martin’s pushback is also helpful and it echoes what other friends have messaged me about too.
But in listening to the general feedback to her words, I am still of the group who think she spoke wise words which were 1000% better than the words of other religious leaders, such as Franklin Graham, who pronounced at the inauguration such certainty that Trump was apppointed by God. I see this as far, far more dangerous.
thanks again for your reading and commenting,
Jon
LikeLiked by 1 person