Do Not Hold Back!

January 27, 2025

Happy Monday, my friends! Amidst a rough and dark week, the country and indeed the world bore witness to a prophetic voice speaking truth to power and pleading mercy to empire. On Tuesday, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, DC, preached at the National Cathedral in the presence of President Trump and members of his administration. She ended her sermon by addressing the president directly and begging him to have mercy on the Transgender and immigrant communities. She was swiftly criticized as being “political” and not “encouraging unity.” President Trump demanded that she apologize.

The call of people, not just preachers, to speak prophetically is long in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The prophet Isaiah says:

Shout out; do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they want God on their side. ‘Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’ Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day and oppress all your workers. You fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?”

(Isaiah 58:1-5). This call—to testify to the truth and to God who always stands on the side of the oppressed rather than the side of the oppressor—has been reaffirmed by preachers, prophets, and people of many backgrounds for over 2,000 years. Bishop William Barber has said that “Preachers cannot stay out of politics. We can either be chaplains of empire or prophets of God.” And the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that “Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher? Somehow, the preacher must have a kind of fire shut up in his bones. And whenever injustice is around, he tells it.”

We often forget that we are co-creators and co-builders of the Kin-Dom of God. That means that we must speak up, we must act out, and we must make good trouble.

How can you speak out for and with marginalized communities? How can or do your actions promote hope for marginalized people?

Rather than a prayer today, I commend to you the closing words of Bishop Budde’s sermon: “Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you. 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 transgender children in both Republican and Democrat families who fear for their lives.

And the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in our poultry farms and meat-packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shift in hospitals—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. They are faithful members of our churches, mosques, and synagogues, gurdwara, and temples.

Have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. 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 once strangers in this land.

May God grant us all the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, speak the truth in love, and walk humbly with one another and our God, for the good of all the people of this nation and the world.” (You can find the rest of her sermon at https://edow.org/2025/01/22/a-service-of-prayer-for-the-nation-homily/).

Blessings on your weeks, my friends! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Faithfully,

Ben

Every Day, I Thank God for You, My Queer Son

January 26, 2025

Natalie Hastings

Researcher, Ohioans Against Extremism

Allied Christian

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy. (Philippians 1:3-4)

My first-born child came to life on a Tuesday evening, around 6:30 p.m. Laboring for hours without any food, I visualized the tiny Pampers diaper was a cardboard box of McDonald’s French fries I would eat after he was born. 

Within a half hour, everyone but him was enjoying LaRosa’s pizza in the hospital room. 

We named the baby Colin James. Colin for my favorite actor (Colin Firth) and James for my maternal grandfather. A name that sounded masculine but not overly so and with good initials should he need them, “C.J.”

He was such a beautiful baby, with eyelashes that older women who met him would say were “wasted on a boy.”  

My beautiful son. And with him, a change in my identity – a mother. 

In Colin’s early years, I tried out different styles of motherly domesticity: one who stayed home full-time, one who worked part-time, one who tried to cook, and one who tried to care about tradwife things. None of these were me. 

Colin was a particularly picky eater. For about a year, he wanted only cold SpaghettiOs for lunch. He didn’t care about my cooking or “keeping house.” 

Instead, we dove deep into everything that interested Colin. Trains: model trains, videos of live trains crossing train tracks, Thomas trains–all the trains. We nerded out on construction vehicles. He memorized the Caterpillar catalog and once made me email their customer service to correct a listing: “It’s not semi-articulated, Mom.”

The wonder of it all.

We fell in love with birds. Bird calls, bird counts, bird walks. Stuffed birds with authentic bird sounds inside. We explored the drawers of bird skins in the museum archives. We drowned in the wonder.

His father and I always knew that Colin would be exceptional; I waited impatiently to learn all of the ways he would amaze and surprise us.

Is It A Sin?

One day, as I drove Colin home from school, he asked me what the Bible said about homosexuality. Was it a sin? 

I reassured him that it wasn’t, and I asked why he wanted to know. 

A friend was gay, he said. 

That day, everything changed for me. We quit attending our church. 

While that church didn’t discuss homosexuality as a sin, it also didn’t celebrate being LGBTQIA+ as an equally valid expression of God’s image and of God’s love for us all.

Beautiful, Beautiful Boy

When Colin was ready to tell us that he was bisexual, my husband and I already knew. We were grateful that we had migrated to a church where LGBTQIA+ identity is loved and celebrated even in liturgy. He is loved, just as God made him.

A year later, Colin asked for permission to become “C.J.,” because he wanted a more gender-neutral name. 

This hit differently. I had spent hours deep diving name trends on websites and using the social security database to discover which names were rising and falling in popularity in search of a name that wasn’t trendy but also wasn’t falling out of style. Hours of discussion with my husband on each name and even how to spell it. 

We chose it before he was born. 

I’ve always been fascinated by the parents who wait to “meet” their children before they choose a name. My parents named me Natalie because I was born with jet-black hair. A few months later, my black hair fell out and grew back blond. 

When does a parent really meet their child? How could we ever know enough about them to know what name “fits?”

But in 8th grade, when we gave the school permission to change student records to “CJ,” – that was the day we met our son. 

It is a gift to know who God made you to be and an even greater gift to understand that God loves you for exactly all of the reasons you are you. 

In my prayers, I thank God for my CJ. I rest knowing God celebrates CJ just as he is. 

I don’t merely accept my son’s bisexual identity. I thank God for it because he’s exactly who God designed him to be. 

Every day, I thank God.

Reflection

Have you ever questioned your value because of any part of your identity? How did you respond?  

How can you help others who might be struggling? What information do you need before you could?

Action

Think of someone whose mere presence on this earth has made your life better and reach out to them today. Nothing fancy. Tell them you are grateful for their existence.

Supporting Bishop Mariann Budde

Since calling President Trump, Vice President Vance, and members of the administration to practice mercy for the LGBTQIA+ community, immigrants, and refugees (the video is below), Bishop Mariann Budde has received significant hate mail and death threats.

We'd like her to receive kind and congratulatory messages from people who support and admire what she did and said. Consider sending her a card or email or leave her a supportive voicemail.

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Mariann Budde

Episcopal Church House

Mt. St. Alban

Washington, DC 20016

202-537-6555

mebudde@edow.org

NOTE: The contact information above is publicly available information from the webpage of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. It should be used to provide SUPPORTIVE, NONCRITICAL messages to the Diocese and Bishop Budde.