Lawton’s clergy reacts to Bishop Budde’s viral sermon

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde has gone viral.

The Episcopalian priest urged President Trump to allow gay and transgender individuals, as well as immigrants, to live freely in the United States. Since then, she has received death threats.

7News anchor Tarra Bates spoke with a Lawton Episcopalian pastor to find out if the bishop’s sermon aligned with church teachings.

The plea for mercy has been met with a demand for an apology from President Trump and a call from one GOP lawmaker to add Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde to the president’s deportation list.

The question at hand is: Was she out of line in her remarks from the pulpit during an inaugural prayer service?

“Her sermon wouldn’t have been anything different from something I would have preached or a fellow colleague would have preached,” Rev. Stephanie Jenkins, pastor of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, said. “The charge or the plea for mercy at the end we always give a call to action. You can sit in the pews, but so what? What are you going to do, right?”

Jenkins said it is part of the foundation of their denomination to preach about the well-being and care of others. She added that any Episcopalian would have identified with what the bishop was speaking about because it follows the foundations of their faith and binds them together.

Another member of Lawton’s clergy, Dr. Charles Webber, agreed that Budde was correct in her expression of the Christian faith and her responsibility to help those who are hurting and fearful.

“She talks about unity, and that’s God’s calling for us to come together, to love people like Jesus wants us to do,” Webber said. “If we are going to unify, there are three foundations I believe she talked about respect, honesty, and humility. If we exercise those things, I think we can come together.”

Religious expression was front and center at the beginning of the new administration. Pastor Lorenzo Sewell from Michigan delivered the inaugural benediction, widely celebrated by GOP lawmakers. However, others were not fans, including Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King reportedly felt Sewell misused her father’s speech.

“It sounded really good it brings us into the equation,” Webber said. “But was it there for effect, or was it there to bring attention? If I question anything, I question whether it was the right time to use that in that setting.”

Dr. Webber said it’s interesting that both the prayer and the plea were along the same lines. He hopes they were both received by the new administration.

Bates then asked Jenkins if she would have taken the same stance as Budde if she had been in the bishop’s place.

“I could hope that I would have,” Jenkins said. “I think it is what we are all called to do in our own places and locations. But yes, I would have.”