On Friday, Jan. 24, Father Bill spoke in a segment on the podcast The Great Voice, where he discussed with the hosts Guy Gordon, Lloyd Jackson, and Jamie Edmonds, about the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon in front of President Donald Trump, the Episcopal church’s role in politics, and much more. Below is a written transcript of said podcast; you can listen directly to it by clicking this link.
Guy Gordon: A fair amount of controversy stemming from a sermon that was given at the National Cathedral by the Right Reverend Mary Ann Edgar Budde, the bishop for the Diocese of Washington. It was a 15 minute sermon…for 12 and a half minutes she talked about unity, and the pillars of unity; recognizing the dignity of every human being, the virtue of honesty, the virtue of humility, acknowledging that we are all fallible human beings and say, this is what can bring us together, and basically saying why unity matters.
Excerpt from Rev. Mary Ann Edgar Budde’s sermon: ‘I hope we care, because the culture of contempt that has become normalized in this country threatens to destroy us. We are all bombarded daily with messages from what sociologists now call the Outrage Industrial Complex.’
Guy Gordon: Well, the Outrage Industrial Complex got good and worked up when she went to a different place for 90 seconds…singling out the President of the United States, who was sitting there in a pew, and without condemning the policy or declaring her opposition to it, did plea for what she called mercy.
Excerpt from Rev. Mary Ann Edgar Budde’s sermon: ‘I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land.’
Guy Gordon: And that was after she talked about the plight of the LGBTQ community and illegal immigrants, and the role that they play in our society. So, you know, there’s been a lot of outrage- well, there’s praise on the left -saying, “well, she really stuck it to Trump!” So her comments were characterized, I think, incorrectly by those on the left, and those on the right were outraged because they felt like she was singling out and putting the president on the spot. Lisa McClain said, “why would anyone block or be opposed to President Trump’s agenda?” And called her, said that “she was playing politician, not preacher”. So, what are the ground rules? Could it have been done better? We turn to Father Bill Danaher, the rector of Christ Church Cranbrook, an Episcopalian church here in our community. And also a full disclosure, my pastor! Father Bill, good morning.
Father Bill: Good morning. So good to be with you all, friends.
Guy Gordon: So, in terms of these messages, I mean, you’re kind of entering a minefield whenever you bring up anything now, because everything’s viewed through a political prison, Bill. So, was she wrong to specifically single out Donald Trump and specific issues? Could she have done it better without maybe polarizing?
Father Bill: Well, let me make an important distinction. When I preach in my pulpit at my church, that is a regular Sunday in which I have a mixed congregation from all across the political spectrum, and I don’t single out anybody, because the purpose of my sermon is to uplift, inspire, galvanize and get us moving as a community on our mission. But, this was a special service of prayer for the nation. That’s the exact title on the bulletin. And that was something that was agreed to by everybody who attended that service. It was a multi-faith service. There was a reading from the Hebrew Bible and the Koran. It was an exercise of what sociologists call civil religion. It’s a moment in which the state claims to act on behalf of a higher authority. You see this all throughout our nation at moments of great solemnity. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, for example, or the fact that the president, when he was sworn in, put his hand over the Bible. And in those moments of national import, it is entirely appropriate for a preacher to lift up what I would call the kingdom values of inherent dignity, honesty, humility and mercy. And I think it was appropriate for the bishop in that service to speak to the president directly about mercy. She wasn’t actually advocating, as the US Catholic bishops do, for a specific policy. She wasn’t criticizing, as the US Catholic bishops do, for a specific policy. She was speaking about values, virtues, ends, things that we should have as transcendent goods. And this was entirely appropriate.
Lloyd Jackson: Father, you know, there’s this narrative that the pulpit has been politicized, but is it really new? Has that really happened? And, aren’t there examples in biblical references and politics and concerns about the powerful? I mean, the Romans saw Christ as a political threat.
Father Bill: Yes. I mean, certainly. I mean, when you look at the Bible, you see calls for mercy on the calls for justice on behalf of prophets who are advocating for their nation, for their community. You have the prophet Nathan speaking to David about his adultery directly. And you have moments in which Jesus speaks to the religious authorities constantly about the justice of the kingdom of God. So, the Bible is full of prophets who speak truth to power.
Guy Gordon: So politics has been in the pulpit for a while.
Lloyd Jackson: Yeah.
Father Bill: Well, this is the thing- I want to invite your listeners to think a little bit about American history. Herman Melville in Moby Dick has these incredible words; after the main character, Ishmael, attends a religious service before heading out to go whale hunting, he says that ‘the church is the ship of the state and the pulpit is its prow’. Melville wrote this in Moby Dick and published it in the 19th century. It has always been part of the partnership, to be frank, between the many religious communities and the magistrates of our country that there was going to be some kind of dialogue. This is why we ask our presidents to place their hands over a sacred book when they take office. So, there’s always been a very dynamic relationship between the pulpit and politics. Does that mean that it’s right to speak to specific legislation day in and day out from the pulpit? I would counsel people not to do that. Why? Because your populace are not coming to your church to hear your opinion about politics every single Sunday. What they need is uplift, they need to be aligned. They need to know that God is present in their lives, they need some comfort. They need to know that they are valued, and they need to know that they are loved. And so, from my perspective, you have to be incredibly judicious about when and how you speak to political power. I mean, I do think there’s a balance that has to happen in how you execute that responsibility.
Jamie Edmonds: Do you see a difference between what she did and what Franklin Graham did, or even Pastor Zoe did, during the inauguration? It seems like it could be similar.
Father Bill: Absolutely not. The one thing that I would say, though, is Bishop Budde is an Episcopalian, which is part of my tradition- I’m an Episcopalian. And what she did, is she did something that is completely part of how we approach politics historically. This came out really crystalline in the 20th century; it is appropriate for the church to point to the kingdom, values, ends, virtues, and the things that should keep us together and also move us forward into greater love and justice. But, the church gives room for autonomy for the different people working in business and law and in government, so that they can actually find the strategies that they put in place to pursue those ends. So that was what needed to be seen in what she was doing. She was speaking about the inherent dignity of every human being, about honesty, humility, and mercy. These were values, these are virtues, these are the ends that we need to keep in mind as we are building our society. So, I wouldn’t put her on the same plane, quite frankly, with Franklin Graham. What Franklin Graham is doing is he’s creating a whole context in which he is trying to create this sense of alarm and fear. And, he’s using scripture. He has a right to do that because that’s part of the Constitution. He has a right to speak, and politicians have a right to put him in the pulpit and to listen to him. But I would like to say that Bishop Budde is doing something completely different.
Guy Gordon: Well, it underscores, too, that when people say, “I don’t want politics in the pulpit!” they’re usually saying that after they’ve heard something from the pulpit they don’t agree with! Are you really against politics in the pulpit, or are you only against those politics that don’t align with your worldview or your politics?
Father Bill: Very, very well said.
Guy Gordon: That’s the minefield that you have to navigate every Sunday.
Father Bill: Well, let’s be clear. I think that any time you step outside your front door, you’re in a political sphere, right?
Guy Gordon: Right.
Father Bill: Politics begin when you leave your private sphere. So, my concerns are always first and foremost for my church. That is the covenantal relationship I have with them. And my goal is to find ways to mobilize my church so that it comes together and actually does the work of the kingdom of God. And I think people have to be careful about how they mobilize people, because I think oftentimes we can lapse into shame and things like that.
To listen to the full segment, please visit this link to The Great Voice. To read Bishop Budde’s full sermon from the inauguration, please visit this link to a Guardian transcript of her full sermon.
Thank you Father Bill!
It was definitely a powerful plea from a Bishop who was doing her Christian duty!🙏