Sheltering at Home While Others Take to the Streets. June 3, 2020

You saw it. You saw Donald Trump’s photo op standing in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, holding up a Bible.

And I’m glad you saw it because that photo op showed you something about my church — the Episcopal Church — that I’d like you to know.

Donald Trump’s crass photo op was made possible — just moments earlier — by the gassing and shoving and bullying of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators who were getting in the way of the execution of that bizarre photo op.

A Church in Action

I’m glad you saw it. And here’s why. You saw my church in action. That’s right. You think you saw a boarded up church. No one home. A nothing burger.

But, in fact, you saw my church at its best: There was Donald Trump, holding the Bible high in the air for the cameras in front of an Episcopal church. And the Episcopal Church — its people — were no where in sight.

The rector of that church, its deacons, its congregation — not a one was

there to welcome Donald Trump. Not a one was there to bless the man’s reckless plan to use military force against American citizens.

Donald Trump stood there in front of my sister church — alone.

He was holding up a Bible. But like the emperor, he was wearing no clothes.

The Local Episcopal Bishop Was Not Alerted to Donald Trump’s Photo Op

Local Episcopalians — who say they knew nothing of the plans for the St. John’s photo op — were quick to react to the desecration of their church.

The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., Mariann Edgar Budde, said this in a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper:

“Let me be clear: The president just used a Bible, the most sacred text of the Judeo-Christian tradition, and one of the churches of my diocese — without

“The president used our church without permission”

permission — as a backdrop for a message antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that our churches stand for.

“And to do so — he sanctioned the use of tear gas by police officers in riot gear to clear the church yard.

“I am outraged.

“The president did not pray when he came to St. John’s. (He did not) acknowledge the agony of our country right now, and in particular, that of the people of color in our nation who wonder if anyone in public power will ever

acknowledge their sacred worth, and who are rightfully demanding an end to 400 years of systemic racism and white supremacy in our country.

“And I just want the world to know that we, in the Diocese of Washington, following Jesus and his way of love – we distance ourselves from the incendiary language of this president. We follow someone who lived a life of non-violence

“We distance ourselves from this incendiary language”

and sacrificial love. We align ourselves with those seeking justice for the death of George Floyd and countless others through the sacred act of peaceful protest.

“And I just can’t believe what my eyes have seen tonight.”

Amen.

Standing Up for Our Low Profile Mainline Churches

So often when the media call upon clergy to comment on a current event, the usual suspects are summoned: One Evangelical Protestant, one Catholic, one Jew. And these days, maybe one Muslim. The interviewer figures she’s got her bases covered. One of each.

But missing, so often, are the politically and theologically progressive voices of Christianity, the mainline churches: The Episcopalians. The ELCA

Politically and theologically progressive Christians

Lutherans,  the Disciples of Christ, the Presbyterians, the Quakers, the American Baptists. Members of the United Church of Christ. Members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. And more.

We’re here. And it’s nice, for once, to hear one of our own speak so eloquently and passionately, not just from the pulpit — we’re used to that — but on prime time TV.

More on the state of Christianity at “You Don’t Have to Believe to Be a Christian.”  Skeptics might enjoy “Why Meditate When I Could Be Sweeping the Garage.”