A Message from the Dean
Today, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as President of the United States.
The Sunday after the election, I said in a sermon that the role of the Church is not to take sides in political contests. At the same time, the Church must never shrink from its obligation to proclaim the good news revealed in Christ. Part of that good news is that human beings — all of us without exception — are beloved of God. John 3:16 is so often quoted that it has become a cliche. “God so loved the world,” it begins, and even people who are not especially pious know the rest.
Yet, the United States Constitution until the Civil War counted a Black person as only 3/5 of a white person. The law changed, but the prevailing cultural attitude did not. It was a sinful attitude that led to unspeakably sinful behavior. Christians should have risen up in protest long before they did.
Dr. King was an ordained minister of the Gospel, and he did rise up. The movement he led was nothing more or less than what our retired Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, called “the Jesus movement.”
The President-Elect has promised that on his first day in office, he will set in motion the largest deportation in history. While people of good will can rightly argue about immigration reform, no person of good will can countenance the treatment of any person as less than a whole person loved by God.
So, on Monday, we at the Cathedral will renew our pledge to pray for the President, as the Book of Common Prayer over and over urges. At the same time, because we know that God so loves us, we will pledge to fight for the rest of the world God loves every bit as much. No person regardless of race or nationality or sexual orientation or gender identity or immigration status is less than a whole person, and every one of them deserves to be treated with the respect and kindness that is the birthright of all the children of God.