Have Mercy-Right Rev. Mariann Budd
“An Episcopal Church bishop -Marianne Budd- directly addressed President Donald Trump at a worship service held at Washington National Cathedral Tuesday, where she pleaded with him to “have mercy” on LGBT individuals and illegal immigrants.
The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, delivered the sermon at the Service of Prayer for the Nation at the cathedral.
Near the end of her sermon, Budde directly addressed Trump, who was seated in the front row alongside his wife, first lady Melania Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance.
“In the Name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” Budde stated. “There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families. Some who fear for their lives.”
“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 may not be citizens, or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.”
Budde asked Trump “to have mercy” on people “in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away and that you help those who are fleeing warzones 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 all once strangers in this land,” she continued. “May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and walk humbly with each other and our God.”
Earlier in her message, Budde stressed the importance of unity, of respectfully disagreeing with one another, but also expressed concern over what she called “the culture of contempt” and feared “the loss of equality” for some who lose in political debates.
Budde had been critical of Trump in 2020, when the president held a photo-op just outside of St. John’s Episcopal Church near the White House shortly after protesters were cleared out.
“The President just used a Bible and one of the churches of my diocese as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our church stands for,” stated Budde at the time.” ~ Michael Gryboski, The Christian Post
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