🎙️ 32. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde (Episcopal) – We Can Be Brave

It’s not every day you get to sit down with one of your heroes. Bishop Budde has shaped my spiritual life - and my willingness to be brave - in these uncertain times. I hope this episode, my Christmas gift to you, fills you up with the same.
 - Alexis Rice

What does Christian courage look like when fear dominates public life - and love still calls us to show up with dignity?

In this episode of The Sacred Slope, Alexis is joined by Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington, D.C., and author of the New York Times bestselling book We Can Be Brave, now adapted for young readers and out now from Penguin Young Readers.

Many first encountered Bishop Budde during the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral, when she looked directly at President Trump and made a plea for mercy. In this conversation - and through her book - she places that moment in context, showing how bravery is not a single act, but a lifelong practice shaped by faith, humility, and love.

✨ In this conversation, we explore:

• Why affirming another person’s humanity is moral work
• Mercy, forgiveness, and accountability - without bypassing harm
• How bravery is practiced over a lifetime

✨ An excerpt from Bishop Budde’s sermon at the National Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral:

“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you.
 And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. 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. And the people - the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking 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. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras, and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love, and to walk humbly with each other and our God - for the good of all people. The good of all people in this nation and the world.

Amen.”

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About The Sacred Slope
Where the slippery slope becomes sacred ground.
For the spiritually tender—raised in or rooted in Christianity.
Come explore our global, diverse, inclusive Christian faith, deconstruction, and spiritual identity in a rapidly changing world. Through conversations with clergy, scholars, and cultural voices, the show creates space for people navigating faith after certainty, church harm, or political co-option of religion.

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