bishop calls on king to be merciful

Bishop takes King

Tuesday 28 January 2025 1:07 pm

An observation. The most negative Christian critiques of Bp Budde's sermon are coming from pastors with at least two characteristics. The first is doctrinal purism. By that standard Bp Budde, so we're told, shouldn't be heeded nor her message trusted or commended, because  her doctrine is not orthodox.


The second characteristic in common, as I observe it, is a cultural one. Or for literary effect I might call it cultural purism. I mean pastors who minister in Christian denominations with a long history of being at arms length from civic life. That's not a criticism of any kind. History has simply made it so.


I mean that their church buildings, and therefore their liturgical and pulpit ministries, generally aren't at the head of the list when civic authorities are planning state occasions that involve a religious service. There's a whole branch of western cultural history that accounts for that general reality. British imperial history, just for one. (A mixed blessing, need one say?)


It all adds up to a very different ministry context and a very different set of criteria for planning and delivery. Not one that lends itself to doctrinal purism. The preacher isn't addressing a Christian congregation who've come to hear a restating of the gospel, a biblical exposition, or an exhortation to Christian living. Rather they have an eclectic audience with a range of vague expectations or none. Preachers who try a gospel invitation on their captive audience don't get another gig.


I suspect my theological framework would place me at odds with Bp Budde on several levels. But I don't care. It was a state occasion, that day at the National Cathedral in Washington. And the world saw and heard something truly rare: a Christian leader gently but plainly advocating to the most powerful man in the world on behalf of some of the world's most powerless. That's the word and the work of a prophet. And a bishop too.