Inaugural Conflict of Visions: Sewell vs. Budde
America's New Golden Age will be catalyzed by the likes of Pastor Sewell, who preaches freedom & truth; not excoriating sermons and uncertainly over what is "true"
On Monday, January 20, shortly after taking the oath of office for the second time, this time in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, President Trump humbly acknowledged the role that God has played in his life and the life of our nation.
“Over the past eight years,” he said, “I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history, and I've learned a lot along the way. The journey to reclaim our Republic has not been an easy one, that I can tell you. Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and indeed to take my life. Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin's bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”
Shortly afterwards, Pastor Lorenzo Sewell of Detroit, Michigan delivered this stunningly beautiful inaugural prayer fittingly including poignant passages from Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, whose birthday we were also celebrating on Inauguration Day.
Let us pray for our 47th president. Heavenly Father, we’re so grateful that you gave our 45th and now our 47th president a millimeter miracle. We are grateful that you are the one that have called him for such a time as this. That America would begin to dream again.
We pray that we would fulfill the true meaning of our creed, that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. We pray that you use our president, that we will live in a nation where we will not be judged by the color of our skin but by the content of our character.
Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, we are so grateful today that you will use our 47th president so we will sing with new meaning, ‘My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died. Land of the pilgrims’ pride. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.’ And because America is called to be a great nation, we believe that you will make this come true.
From the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire, let freedom ring. From the mighty mountains of New York, let freedom ring. From the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania, let freedom ring. From the snowcap Rockies of Colorado, let freedom ring. From the curvaceous hilltops of California, but God, we’re asking you not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain, Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill in Mississippi, from every state, every city, every village and every hamlet. And when we let freedom ring, we will be able to speed up that day where all of your children, Black men and white men, Protestant and Catholic, Jew and Gentile will be able to sing in the meaning of that old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last, free at last. Thank you God almighty, we are free at last.’ If you believe with the Spirit of the Lord, there is liberty. Come on, put your hands together and give your great God great glory.”
“Free at last, free at last,” indeed!
American voters spoke on November 5th. They want their country back. They want to feel safe in their own homes. They want to have a president who puts Americans first. Who respects our borders, language and culture. Who is not afraid to ‘do right’ by Americans.
Then came Tuesday morning at the Washington National Cathedral which has hosted ten official inaugural prayer services for presidents dating back to 1933. Glaringly absent from the line-up of speakers were conservative evangelicals. The snub notwithstandinng, many still attended including Robert Jeffress, pastor of Dallas’ First Baptist Church, a long-time Trump ally; Paula White-Cain, a televangelist and spiritual adviser; and Pastor Sewell.
The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, an American prelate of the Episcopal Church, who has served as Bishop of Washington since November 2011, began by extending a “warm welcome” even as she poured cold-water all over Pres. Trump, in remarks, which, though thoughtful, were also surprisingly uninformed and steeped with political emotions.
“Unity at times is sacrificial in the way that love is sacrificial,” she said, adding “Jesus went out of his way to welcome those society deems outcasts.” Yet, she said, “We are not naive about the realities of politics.”
“Is true unity among us even possible,” she asked. “And why should we care about it? Well I hope we care… Because the culture of contempt that has become normalized in this country threatens to destroy us… It’s a dangerous way to lead a country.”
The rancor dripping from her remarks delivered with a smirk on her face, undercut her role as a spiritual leader, her affirmation that “I am a person of faith,” notwithstanding. Quite clearly, she was there to deliver a political message concerning her idea of unity—not what Jesus taught, even as she tried to wrap herself in the message of Jesus, without directly quoting him.
“We are right to pray for God’s help as we seek unity,” she said but only if we tend to the foundations of unity, three of which she offered, playing off of Jesus’ parable about building a house on rock not sand.
Firstly, “Honoring the inherent dignity of every human being… the birthright of all people as children of our one God.” Which means “in public discourse… refusing to mock or discount or demonize those with whom we differ, choosing instead to respectfully debate our differences… and if common ground is not possible dignity demands that we remain true to our convictions without contempt for those who hold convictions of their own.”
Secondly, “Honesty in both private conversation and public discourse.” Then she said, “To be fair, we don’t always know where the truth lies. And there is a lot working against the truth now. But when we do know… what is true, it’s incumbent upon us to speak the truth even when, especially when it costs us.”
Thirdly, “humility.” Especially necessary “when we are persuaded without a doubt that we are absolutely right and someone else is absolutely wrong. Because then we are just a few steps from labeling us ‘the good people’ vs. ‘the bad people.’ And the truth is we are all people both capable of good and bad.”
“But, without unity we are building our nation’s house on sand.”
Then came the “final plea,” which she directed to “Mr. President” in which she undercut her message and her role. But then, her weakness in affirming what is “true” was so glaring that, really, she was there as a partisan, trying to persuade President Trump not to carry out his promises to the American people, without acknowledging the very real pain Americans have suffered the last four years under the now former Biden-Harris administration.
As my great grandmother Lillian Webster Keane, who moved with her family in 1888 to Washington, DC at age ten, where she lived until her death in 1965, said, “Consider the source.”
Quite clearly, Bishop Budde’s partisanship made it all but impossible for her to resist adding this last statement, which, if she had excised it, would have rendered hers a thoughtful message (except for the part about not knowing what is “true.” Oy vey!)
“Millions,” she said directly to the president in closing, “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… some who fear for their lives.” She singled out “Gay, Lesbian and Transgender children in Democratic, Republican and Independent families” and illegal immigrants, “the vast majority of (whom) are not criminals… I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose parents fear their parents will be taken away… Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger for we were all once strangers in this land.”
Totally inappropriate.
Or as Pres. Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Apart from her inappropriate statements, the service was a very boring and uninspiring one. She is not very good at her job!” Trump said. “She and her church owe the public an apology!”
Indeed.
Mary Claire Kendall is author of Oasis: Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends. The sequel, Oasis of Faith: The Souls Behind the Billboard—Barrymore, Cagney, Tracy, Stewart, Guinness & Lemmon, was published summer 2024. Her biography of Ernest Hemingway, titled Hemingway’s Faith, was published Christmas 2024 by Rowman & Littlefield, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. She writes a regular bi-monthly column for Aleteia on legends of Hollywood and hidden screen gems.