WASHINGTON (RNS) — On the morning of the presidential inauguration, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde pretty much had the structure of her sermon for the next day finished. The Episcopal bishop of Washington had ruminated on it ever since she was announced in October as the preacher for the interfaith prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral that traditionally concludes the presidential inauguration festivities. Budde had decided to focus on three values she believes are important for national unity: honoring the inherent dignity of every human being, honesty and humility.
But as she watched Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday (Jan. 20) and the executive orders he signed immediately after, she realized she needed to add something else.
“I found myself thinking, there’s a fourth thing we need for unity in this country — we need mercy,” she told RNS in an interview on Wednesday. “We need mercy. We need compassion. We need empathy. And after listening to the president on Monday, I thought, I wasn’t going to just speak of it in general terms.”
The result was a sermon, delivered from the cathedral’s pulpit on Tuesday morning as President Trump and Vice President JD Vance sat quietly just a few feet away, that pleaded with the president to ha …