What Would Love Do?: an Interview with Bishop Budde

If you want to listen to a nuanced and nourishing conversation about race, politics, and religion, I highly recommend this episode of Diane Rehm's podcast.  Diane Rehm, a practicing Episcopalian, has a wide reaching discussion with the Right Reverend Mariann Budde, who is the bishop of Washington, D.C.

She came into the consciousness of many of us when she took a stand against Donald Trump's publicity stunt at the Espiscopal church in Lafayette Square, where peaceful protestors were violently cleared out so that Trump could stand with a Bible in his hand.  I'm still not sure of the purpose of that Monday evening.

If you don't want the full conversation, the last 5.5 minutes are well worth your time.  I went back to look for a transcript, but finding none, I listened over and over so that I could capture some of her words:

She talks about resisting evil, as she calls it, The Evil One, who wants to keep us frozen in the knowledge that the problems are too big for one individual.  "I can't do everything.  That's not an excuse to do nothing."

She talks about following the model of Jesus who needed to feed thousands, which seemed impossible.  Jesus says, "What do you have?  You have some fish, you have some bread?  I can work with that."

She talks about the work of changing society for the better sometimes feels overwhelming, but we do the tasks that are ours to do.  "Will I show up for the moment?  And draw strength from the sources that are given to me, the wells of strength both spiritually and in community?"

It's important to show up, in whatever way we can, knowing that we can't all show up in the same way.  And we can't show up everywhere--we have to ask ourselves where we are being called to be.

Her last words made me weep at the hope it conveys, the comfort that we can indeed be good enough for our time.  She references Bishop Michael Curry who recommends that we  "ask ourselves, in this situation, What would love do?  What would the sacrificial love of God, that we as Christians see in Jesus, what would that love look like?  And then, go and do that.  Because if we ask that question, and we try to be faithful to it, we will, even if we stumble and fall, we'll be falling in the right direction, and the Spirit can pick us up and take our offering and help that offering strengthen what is good."

I love the idea that our mistakes aren't going to poison the well, that the Spirit can use our mistakes as well as our triumphs.  I say that all the time, but some part of my brain clearly doesn't believe it, if I weep when I hear a bishop affirm it.