{"id":1291,"date":"2025-01-23T10:42:33","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T15:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1291"},"modified":"2025-01-23T10:42:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T15:42:33","slug":"god-shows-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1291","title":{"rendered":"God Shows Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning The New York Times<\/em> article about Bishop Mariann E. Budde made my day. Entitled \u201cThe Bishop Who Pleaded With Trump: \u2018Was Anyone Going to Say Anything,\u2019\u201d it was the story of one decent person whose genuine convictions gave her the courage to speak to power. The extraordinary thing is that Pastor Budde represents the Episcopal Diocese of Washington; her words broke precedent with the reluctance of mainline churches to challenge secular and political wrongdoing.
\nWhat\u2019s not surprising is that it took a woman to do it.<\/p>\n

Bishop Budde\u2019s sermon was a simple plea for the president to show mercy for those most affected by his actions and threats. It was what pastors do, it was what Christians preach and it was hardly radical, leftist or out of order. Frankly, it was what those who were sitting in the front pew – the Vances and the Trumps – signified by being there, attending a Christian service in the National Cathedral. The rub, of course, is that they really are not believers.<\/p>\n

Budde\u2019s comments thrilled me because I have long thought that the Church (Christian and others) should actively play the role of the prophet, that Churches should speak the truth and dare to be critical of political and secular authorities. That is not to say that churches should be involved in politics – history has shown us the folly of that. But churches should and must speak up as the conscience of our communities.. This was the role proposed by the Social Gospel Movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; this is what Washington Gladden and Walter Rauchenbusch, both Baptists, and Father John Ryan, a Catholic priest and author of The Living Wage<\/em> (1906) preached.<\/p>\n

I have witnessed here, in our community, the reluctance and refusal of the local mainline churches to get involved or speak out even in the face of the most egregious travesties such as the Ahmaud Arbery case. It strikes me that clergy have a responsibility to help shape the views of their constituents so that they live up to the tenets of their faith.<\/p>\n

May others take note, especially Republican leaders in Congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning The New York Times article about Bishop Mariann E. Budde made my day. Entitled \u201cThe Bishop Who Pleaded With Trump: \u2018Was Anyone Going to Say Anything,\u2019\u201d it was the story of one decent person whose genuine convictions gave her the courage to speak to power. The extraordinary thing is that Pastor Budde represents…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-robert-fischer"],"yoast_head":"\nGod Shows Up - Potlatch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=1291\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"God Shows Up - Potlatch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This morning The New York Times article about Bishop Mariann E. Budde made my day. 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