In a letter written in 1942, Bayard Rustin, a Quaker, and the man who organized Dr. King’s March On Washington in 1963, wrote that “the primary social function of a religious society is to speak the truth to power.” This appears to have been the first time that idea was written down in the form of which we have become familiar.
It means that those of the cloth, especially, ministers, priests, nuns, rabbis, pastors, and imams, are under an obligation to speak forthrightly to those in power about their obligations, transgressions and moral failings.
This doesn’t happen very often. In the Old Testament a number of prophets confronted Kings. Dr. King did so with LBJ over Vietnam (and with any number of Southern Governors, sheriffs and police chiefs). Dietrich Bonhoffer took on the Nazis about their genocide of the Jews and their programs of euthanasia. He paid for it with his life, as did Dr. King. Pope John Paul stood steadfast with the Poles (especially) against the Soviet Union.
Most clergy make accommodations with power, sometimes out of expediency or fear, sometimes out of full-throated support.
Some look into the faces of the powerful and say their piece without fear.
When Bishop Budde stood in the pulpit of the National Cathedral she spoke directly to Trump as the new President. She did not rebuke him. She demanded nothing. She was not churlish but polite and mild in her tone. She asked him to be kind. She looked into his eyes.
She said, “Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,”
“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 – they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.
And that you help those who are fleeing war zones 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.”
Watch this clip carefully. Watch it all the way through: https://youtube.com/shorts/38W5leyLSww?si=2Ub0qss_qhKl06o1
What did you see? What did you see in their eyes?
Trump, who said that morning he had been chosen by God, responded with scorn and insults. His press secretary demanded an apology. A Republican Congressman said she should be deported. She has received death threats from MAGA supporters of Trump.
She said that she will not apologize.
Before the sermon she said, “I had a feeling that there were people watching what was happening and wondering, Was anyone going to say anything? Was anyone going to say anything about the turn the country’s taking?”
Fear is contagious. If you’ve ever been in a crowd under threat, you know how quickly it can infect others.
Courage is also contagious. If this tiny woman can look at the most powerful person on the planet and speak so clearly and without fear to a man who loves to hate and who has bragged that he will pursue the destruction of his enemies, then you and I must take heart.
Bishop Budde is the first grace note of this first week. Listen to that note cleave the air.
