LGBTQ Advocate Bishop Mariann Budde To Deliver Christmas Message On BBC

Featured Image: courtesy of Washington National Cathedral

The BBC has invited Bishop Mariann Budde to deliver a Christmas meditation on BBC Radio 4 on Boxing Day morning, December 26, at 12:15 am (UK time)/Christmas evening, December 25, at 7:15 pm (EST). The 14-minute broadcast will be a reflection on the meaning of Christmas, and “on the past year, her trust in God and her hope for all in times of challenge and division.”

Many of us got our first introduction to Bishop Mariann Budde after she delivered a fearless sermon of resistance at the prayer service for the inauguration of Donald J. Trump. With Trump, J.D. Vance, and their families in front row attendance, the Bishop of Washington used her pulpit at the National Cathedral to speak directly to the newly installed president:

“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives,” Rev. Budde said. “And the people — the people who pick our crops, and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat-packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals—they may not be citizens, or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors.”

Trump later called the Bishop a “radical left hard line Trump hater” and said she was “not compelling or smart.” But her voice of compassion for the marginalized left its mark, and she offered no apology. Her message reverberated across the globe.

As the bishop and spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C., and the Washington National Cathedral, Rev. Budde has been a staunch and consistent supporter of the LGBTQ community, with a long history of speaking truth to power, and kindness to cruelty—both in word and deed.

Rev. Budde co-presided over the internment service for the ashes of Matthew Shepard, the 21-year-old gay man who was savagely beaten in an anti-gay rampage in 1998. The image of this beautiful young soul, left to die, tied to a fence in Wyoming haunts our community to this day. Shepard’s ashes found a final resting spot at the Washington National Cathedral in 2018, thanks to Rev. Budde’s kind invitation to his parents; they had held onto his remains for 20 years, fearful that a potential grave would be vandalized.

A living example of her call for people to honor each other’s dignity, she has also said: “It’s incumbent upon us to speak the truth, even when, especially when, it costs us.” Author of the book, How We Learn to Be Brave – Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, the Bishop suggests that being brave is not a singular occurrence, but a journey to be undertaken every day.

“At the start of the year, at the US President’s inauguration, Bishop Budde preached a sermon that made an impact around the world,” BBC noted in its publicity for its holiday programming. In advance of the broadcast, Bishop Budde wrote an article for British listings magazine, Radio Times, titled “Seeing as God Sees,” in which she writes: “The disparity between the promise of Christmas and the pain of this world is heartbreaking. But if you’re like me, believer or not, you’re grateful to have this yearly occasion as a respite from hate.”

“So hold your broken heart before God this Christmas. Hold before God whatever belief you have, or don’t have, or long for. Hold whatever glimpses of joy, love, forgiveness and generosity you have known. For they too are God’s signs for you that the promise is real.”

The Bishop’s Christmas message can be viewed online during and after the BBC broadcast.