An open letter to Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde

What many of us would like you to know

Dear Bishop Mariann Budde,

Commending the “courage” you displayed this week doesn’t feel adequate. Calling you “brave” doesn’t do it justice, either.*

* (Reader - If you haven’t seen it, watch it here.)

What you said, when you said it, and who you said it to sparked hope in me for the first time in a long, long time. To give a message of mercy and love, while directly speaking to the most powerful man in the world on national television, was downright heroic.

As if God himself chose you as a vessel for his words.

I am not a Trump supporter, if that much isn’t clear yet. For me, it is less about Republican vs. Democrat, and more about moral vs. immoral. But I have felt, on a soul level, that attacking him and his supporters with aggression and insults won’t get us anywhere.

Instead I’ve stayed quiet through the noise until I’ve felt it right to speak out. Thank you for the nudge to do so.

I want to speak out against the horrors and atrocities our great country is facing, but in a way that is productive and loving.

You see, I don’t want to tell Trump that he’s an asshole. I just want equality and justice for all.

Witnessing your sermon made it all the more clear for me: strong conviction for the love and well-being of our planet and all it’s peoples is the only angle we can take. It is the strongest form of protest.

Your sermon wasn’t hateful or angry; nor was it weak, submissive, or even passive.

You spoke your message eloquently, with unwavering strength and conviction, and it had more of an effect on the people of this country than an Op-Ed with a slew of hateful rhetoric ever could.

You see, to disagree with your sermon would be insane. Only a truly, insane person could hear your words and demand an apology.

That was the subtle brilliance of your sermon.

No one - who is connected with their highest, most spiritually-aligned self, could disagree with your words.

On a conscious level, I can see how opponents can seethe and rage about your sermon. “How dare she! On the day of his Inauguration, right to his face!” The ego is a powerful, convincing thing, and it is desperate to grab hold of any message of truth and skew it to reflect it’s own purposes.

You see, in order to not being offended by your speech - let alone agree with it - Donald Trump and his supporters would have to admit they were wrong.

But - it takes incredible vulnerability and inner strength to change one’s mind. The cognitive dissonance and discomfort that follows is so intense and feels so threatening to one’s sense of self that most people choose to believe their ego’s manipulated version of the truth, rather than experience that level of discomfort.

Instead - they double down.

This is why attacking one side with hate never prevails; a person will not change their mind when they feel they are under attack. On a biochemical level, their nervous system is immediately in fight or flight. You cannot educate someone when you insult their sense of self. From an energetics perspective, the frequency of hate and attack will never penetrate their field. It is a frequency that is weak and vulnerable, and the ego knows exactly how to twist it to feed it’s narrative.

My belief is that the message of love is the only frequency strong enough to crack the armor of those who are operating from an unconscious level.

So, while thank you doesn’t feel sufficient, it will have to do for now. You are a ray of hope in dark times. To quote spiritual leader and polictical activist Marianne Williamson -

“In all of our lives, love will guide us. We are living in an extraordinary moment and we are called to extraordinary heights.

Pray and meditate every morning, then save your country in the afternoon.”

With love, unwavering support and gratitude,

Alyson Hempsey