Sick and Angry

Dear Friends

The picture above is a "photo op" Kathleen and I had with our Presiding Bishop in January, the day before our new bishop's consecration. It makes me proud and thankful that he is speaking for so many of us at this time with such grace and love, intelligence and compassion and courage.

This evening, there was a "photo op" at a church next to the White House and the circumstances around it---reading that speech, protesters being pushed away to make room just for him, and holding a bible as a prop for a campaign ad?---made me sick and angry. I am not sure why it has affected me so much, but I know I am not alone. The person in question is raising the temperature. If things get worse over the next days and weeks, he is partially responsible, though of course he will blame everyone else.  

Bishop Curry is one of the many voices responding to what we had to witness. His message is below. I share it in case you missed it.

Lord have mercy upon us. Help me focus on love.

John 

This evening, the President of the United States stood in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, lifted up a bible, and had pictures of himself taken. In so doing, he used a church building and the Holy Bible for partisan political purposes. This was done in a time of deep hurt and pain in our country, and his action did nothing to help us or to heal us.

The bible teaches us that “God is love.” Jesus of Nazareth taught, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The prophet Micah taught that the Lord requires us to “do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.”

The bible the President held up and the church that he stood in front of represent the values of love, of justice, of compassion, and of a way to heal our hurts.

We need our President, and all who hold office, to be moral leaders who help us to be a people and nation living these values. For the sake of George Floyd, for all who have wrongly suffered, and for the sake of us all, we need leaders to help us to be “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
 
The Most Reverend Michael B. Curry
Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church