The Rev Dr. Rick Schlosser
Dear Justice Seekers,
Tuesday, January 21, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde of the National Cathedral in Washington DC led the Inaugural Service for incoming president, Donald Trump. Citing scripture, she calmly challenged Trump to have compassion for immigrants, regardless of status, and LGBTQ people everywhere. Calling on our best angels, she uplifted the worth of human beings no matter who they are.
Her statements in her sermon were expressions of centuries of faith principles to which we dedicate ourselves. “God bless the world. No exceptions.” This wasn’t, for us, anything extraordinary. It’s who we are. It’s what we believe. It’s all the body of faith upon which we act.
Well, that was not received well by the incoming president. He tweeted that what Bishop Budde said was “nasty in tone”. He demanded an apology from her and from the National Cathedral. Imagine that. Her moral uplift was seen as offensive. Rep. Mike Collins of GA declared he wanted Bishop Budde added to the list of people to be deported. She was born in the United States, and last anyone looked, natural born citizens cannot be deported, but Collins did it anyway.
The US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a similar, though softer, statement to Trump. Will there be retaliation here, too?
We stand today on a pivotal moment in history. We have long heard all the angry words from those who believe faith is best used as a weapon aginst those they don’t like. We have heard from even Evangelical ministers that quoting Jesus in sermons has faced retaliation. Jesus is called out as “weak”. His principles seem to no longer apply. The Sermon on the Mount is dismissed as irrelevant, and references to it as “cherry picking”.
Biship Budde and the Catholic Bishops are not alone in affirming what we believe about love, inclusion, and justice. Now it is on us to carry the momentum Bishop Budde started. We will, in our local communities, be called on to engage with injustice cloaked in the pretense of law and order. We are going to be challenged as never before to affirm our faith, act on our principles, stand in the door against tyranny.
We call on you, as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr exhorted (after John Wesley), to do all you can, however you can. for as long as you can to uphold decency, humanity, and the love Jesus taught was our fundamental calling.
We will be here with you doing the same.