Millions of Christians in churches around the world heard the same passage from the Gospel of Luke on Sunday. In it, Jesus declares his intentions to “preach good news to the poor” as he speaks to the people gathered in the synagogue in Nazareth.
At Transfiguration Episcopal Church in Dallas, the passage felt especially appropriate this week, even though it was chosen years ago as part of a three-year cycle of Bible readings.
“It’s Jesus 101,” said Michelle Williams, 55, a parishioner at the church.
It was the first Sunday, as a fellow bishop, Bishop Mariann E. Budde, delivered a sermon that many observers heard echoed passages like that of Luke. The day after President Trump’s inauguration, she faced the president and faced the president and in a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington and made a direct reason: “Have mercy.”
After the service, Mr. Trump called Bishop Budde a “radical left-wing hardliner Trump hates” in a social media post. Her enemies immediately hailed her as an icon of resistance. But for many progressive Christians and their leaders, the confrontation was more than a moment of political catharsis. It was more than Mr. Trump. It was an eloquent expression of basic Christian theology, expressed in an extraordinarily public forum.
Sara Ivey, 71, another parishioner at the Church of the Transfiguration, said the sermon reminded her of Psalm 103, which describes God as “merciful and kind, slow of heart and abounding in steadfast love.” The sermon, which she watched live, made her “very proud to be an Episcopalian,” she said.
Bishop Budde’s preaching brought in many mainline Protestant churches, whose numbers and influence had plummeted from their high point in the middle of the last century. Some mainstream Christians have sensed a troubling whiff of irrelevance that has accelerated in the Trump era as Mr. Trump has raised a tide of conservative political Christianity whose leaders, in some cases, don’t even consider Bishop Budde a Christian.
So it was surprising to many progressive Christians and their leaders to see Bishop Budde’s sermon overpower prayer delivered at the inauguration by clergy more sympathetic to Mr. Trump — and to see it rely primarily on theological principles rather than theological principles themselves. principles, rather than the theological principles themselves, rather than the theological principles themselves advocating specific policies.
“The request for Mercy, the recognition of the stranger in our midst, is at the heart of the faith,” Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, the Episcopal Church’s top spiritual leader, said in an interview. “It’s radical, given the order of the world around us – it’s counter-cultural – but it’s not tied to political ideology.”
Across the country, mainline churchgoers proudly shared clips of Bishop Budde’s sermons online and planned to read his books with their book clubs. Priests and pastors discussed sermons in church and in intimate conversations with their members.
Clergy members addressed it directly in their sermons. At the Church of the Transfiguration, the associate rector, Rev. Ted Clarkson, acknowledged to the congregation that aspects of the bishop’s sermon could be “difficult to hear”. But “Mercy is the truth,” he said, “and I expect the bishop preached the truth” (Bishop Budde preached at the church in Maryland on Sunday.)
In fact, not all mainstream churchmen appreciated her message. Some in the Church of the Transfiguration feared that according to Rev. R. Casey Shobe unduly politicized the pulpit or associated the denomination with one political party.
White mainline Christians in the United States are politically diverse, unlike white evangelicals who are overwhelmingly Republican. They still exist More Republicans than Democrats on the main benchesaccording to an analysis of the 2022 Cooperative Election Study by Ryan Burge, a political scientist. (Episcopalians are somewhat of an exception; 58 percent of them are Democrats.) Still, the main tradition tends to be theologically liberal, favoring Bishop Budde’s message of mercy over an emphasis on judgment or authority.
Pastor Jonathan Barker of Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wis., said he felt a thrill when he saw sermon clips spread across his social media channels, appearing from fellow Lutherans, parishioners and people he would argue would support.
His congregation is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and was active in mobilizing support for Jacob Blake, a black man shot and killed by a white police officer in Kenosha in 2020. About 50 years ago, at its peak, Grace Congregation had about 1,500 people. He is about 40 now.
“We are willing to do things that other people would consider hopeless,” he said. “Our Christian tradition is marked by hope.” It’s like a time when we need hope. “
Others, who had long since stopped attending services, wondered if there might be a place for them.
“It gave me hope — maybe I’ll be able to go to church again,” said Amy Tankard, 59, who lives in rural eastern Virginia.
Mrs. Tankard was once part of a church in the Presbyterian Church (USA), with a pastor. But the church has fragmented during the coronavirus pandemic, she said, and the pastor has been ousted over a dispute over whether the church should remain closed due to health concerns.
Mrs. Tankard told her husband that she would not return to the church until the church stopped being involved in conservative politics.
“It seems to me that if you’re not with the current government, you’re not with the church,” she said. “And I miss it. I think that’s why her sermon meant so much. “
It was too soon to know whether one sensational moment in one pulpit was enough to drive people like Mrs. Tankard back to church. Mainline Protestants now make up about 14 percent of American adults, according to the Pew Research Center. Evangelical Protestants represent about 25 percent and Catholics 20 percent.
Mr. Trump left the main line. He announced in 2020 that he no longer identified with the Presbyterian designation that had affirmed him as a child, but rather as a non-denominational Christian, a tradition closely associated with evangelicalism.
Bishop Budde’s message seemed to resonate with the usual Sunday sermon audience.
Her latest book, “Learning to Be Brave,” was listed as temporarily in stock on Amazon Friday afternoon. At that time, book no. 4 on the Web’s bestseller list, 11 places above VP JD Vance’s memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”
The publisher of Bishop Budde’s book, Avery, an imprint of the Penguins, struggled to reprint “a significant number of books,” said Tracy Behar, president and publisher of Avery. She declined to share specifics.
At the Church of the Transfiguration, Father Shobe pointed out that the sermon was more than just a short headline-grabbing passage. In his remarks, he said Bishop Budde explored the concept of unity in difficult times.
The past few months have been difficult for many in the largely progressive Dallas congregation, he said. But they were determined not to spend the next four years fixating on Mr Trump’s every move.
“We’re going to be much more focused on the larger work of God’s kingdom, which is beautiful and good and true,” he said. “If we can focus on what is beautiful and good and true, we will get through these four years and find our purpose.”
