Some Liberal Christians Find Comfort in Bishop Mariann Budde’s Appeal to Trump

Millions of Christians in churches around the world heard the same words on Sunday in the Gospel of Luke. In it, Jesus announces his intentions to ‘preach good news to the poor,’ as he addresses the people gathered in the synagogue in Nazareth.

At the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas, this passage felt especially appropriate this week, even though it was chosen years ago as part of a three-year cycle of Bible reading.

“It’s Jesus 101,” said Michelle Williams, 55, a member of the church.

It was the first Sunday since another bishop, Mariann E. Budde, delivered a sermon that many viewers heard as an echo of passages like that of Luke. Speaking at a prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington the day after President Trump’s inauguration, he faced the president and made a direct request: “Be kind.”

After the service, Mr. Trump called Bishop Budde a “Radical Left hard line Trump hater” on social media. His enemies immediately presented him as a symbol of resistance. But for many progressive Christians and their leaders, the conflict was little more than a moment of political anger. It was more than Mr. Trump. It was a clear statement of basic Christian theology, presented in an unusual public forum.

Sara Ivey, aged 71, who is a member of the Reformation Sunday, said that this sermon reminded her of Psalm 103, which describes God as ‘merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. The sermon, which he watched live, made him “very proud to be an Episcopalian,” he said.

Bishop Budde’s sermon gave impetus to many of the great Protestant churches, whose numbers and influence have declined greatly from their high point in the middle of the last century. Some prominent Christians have seen a negative atmosphere of irreverence that has increased in the Trump era, as Mr. Trump has increased the spread of political Christianity whose leaders sometimes do not even consider Bishop Budde as a fellow Christian.

So it was surprising to many progressive Christians and their leaders to see Bishop Budde’s sermon defeating the prayers that were made in the ordination of pastors who sympathize with Mr. to advocate for certain policies.

“The plea of ​​grace, the recognition of the stranger in our midst, is central to the faith,” said Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, the episcopal church’s top clergy leader, in an interview. “It’s strong, given the order of the world around us – it’s counter-cultural – but it’s not tied to political ideology.”

Across the country, megachurches have proudly shared clips of Bishop Budde’s sermons online and are making plans to read his books with their own book clubs. Pastors and pastors discussed this sermon in church newspapers and in close conversations with their members.

Pastors talk about it directly in their sermons. At the Church of the Transfiguration, the associate pastor, Reverend Ted Clarkson, admitted 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 to preach the truth” (Bishop Budde preached on Sunday in a church in Maryland.)

Indeed, not all the main church people appreciate his message. Some in the Church of the Transfiguration are concerned that it has politicized the pulpit in an inappropriate way, or is affiliated with one political party, according to Pastor R. Casey Shobe.

Mainstream white Christians in the United States are politically diverse, unlike white evangelicals, who are heavily Republican. There are still more Republicans than Democrats in major positions, according to the 2022 Cooperative Election Study by Ryan Burge, a political scientist. (Episcopalians are an exception; 58 percent of them are Democrats.) Still, the mainstream culture tends to be theologically liberal, preferring Bishop Budde’s message of grace to an emphasis on judgment or authority.

Pastor Jonathan Barker of Grace Lutheran Church in Kenosha, Wis., said he felt very happy to see clips of the sermon spread on social media, from fellow Lutherans, parishioners and people who did not think they would support him.

His congregation is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and was active in rallying support for Jacob Blake, a black man who was shot by a white police officer in Kenosha in 2020. About 50 years ago, when it was at its peak, the Grace Church had about 1,500 people. Now it has 40.

“We are willing to do things that other people may find hopeless,” he said. “Our Christian culture is characterized by hope. This feels like a time when we need hope.”

Some have long since stopped attending services and wonder if there is 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.

Ms. Tankard once belonged to the Presbyterian Church (USA), which had a female minister. But the church fell apart during the coronavirus crisis, he said, and the pastor was fired over a dispute over whether the church should remain closed because of health problems.

Mrs. Tankard told her husband that she would not set foot back in the church until the church stopped getting too involved in politics.

“It sounds like, if you’re not in the current government, then you’re not in the church,” he said. “And I miss you. I think that’s why his sermon means so much.”

It was quick to know if one exciting moment in one pulpit was enough to lead people like Ms. Tankard to return to the church. Mainline Protestants now comprise about 14 percent of American adults, according to the Pew Research Center. Evangelical Protestants represent about 25 percent, and Catholics 20 percent.

Mr. Trump abandoned the mainline. He announced in 2020 that he is no longer associated with the Presbyterian church that confirmed him as a child, but rather he is a non-denominational Christian, a tradition closely related to evangelicalism.

Bishop Budde’s message seemed to resonate with more than the average audience for Sunday sermons.

His latest book, “How We Learn to Be Courage,” was listed as temporarily out of stock on Amazon Friday afternoon. At the time, the book was No. 4 on the site’s best-seller list, 11 places above Vice President JD Vance’s memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Bishop Budde’s publisher, Avery, a Penguin Books brand, has been trying to reprint “a large number of books,” said Tracy Behar, Avery’s president and publisher. He declined to share details.

At Shembe’s church, Father Shobe revealed that this sermon was more than a short episode that hit the headlines. In his words, he said, Bishop Budde deeply examined the idea of ​​unity in difficult times.

The past few months have been difficult for many people in the mostly progressive Dallas church, he said. But they were determined not to spend the next four years correcting everything that Mr.

“We will focus more on the broad work of the kingdom of God, which is good and beautiful and true,” he said. “If we can focus on what is good and good and true, we will ride these four years and find our purpose.”