Living These Days

Author: Mary Patricia Trainor

  • Public Square

    Who is going next?

    For many who travel in church circles, it was Maryann Budde who went first.

    The Episcopal Bishop of Washington, the Right Reverend Budde took her place in the pulpit of the National Cathedral.

    It was January 21, one day after Donald Trump’s inauguration as President of the United States. Again.

    The Cathedral scheduled an interfaith Service of Prayer for the Nation. Bishop Budde would preach.

    According to online promotion, the service was to “gather with our interfaith and ecumenical partners to offer prayers of thanksgiving for our democracy and to seek God’s guidance in the years ahead.”

    Moving into the climax of the sermon, Bishop Budde directed her remarks to President Trump.

    In a calm, collected, clear, and kind voice, the bishop asked him to show mercy on those in targeted groups now living in fear because of his threats.

    Trump later dismissed the sermon as “not very good.” 

    He said more, of course, but suffice it to say, his reaction was negative. No real surprise. He also requested that the bishop apologize for what she said to him. Here is how she addressed the request for apology during an interview with PBS radio:

    “I don’t feel there is a need to apologize for a request for mercy. And I don’t feel that there is a need to apologize to speak to the unity of this country that includes people that were not at all referenced in the unity that he spoke of the day before in his inaugural address. So, no, I don’t feel the need to apologize. I regret that I never – you know, I regret that it is – I don’t know. What do I regret? I regret that it was something that has caused the kind of response that it has, in the sense that it actually confirmed the very thing that I was speaking of earlier, which is our tendency to jump to outrage and not speak to one another with respect. But, no, I won’t apologize.”

    Watch the full sermon here.

    What I believe demands attention is the courage it took to stand in the pulpit, look the president in the eye , and ask for change. It was brave. And it’s important to us all to be courageous at the right moments in life. Any one of us may be called upon to be brave in the future. When it’s my turn I pray that I can be as poised and clear, yet gentle, as was Bishop Budde.

    Perhaps Bishop Budde’s views on the nature of bravery could inspire us.

    For that, I commend her book, How We Learn To Be Brave. You can purchase the audio version on Audible, or order the book from your favorite source. I do understand it is in high demand, and many bookstores have it on back order. 

    I also include a Reel from Facebook demonstrating the importance of standing up to injustice. Click here to watch on Facebook.

  • Public Square

    A Complete Unknown


    When Bob Dylan took the stage at the 1963 Newport Jazz Festival, who knew he would become the icon of a movement.

    The five-foot-seven, slender young man with the tousled hair was not a physically imposing figure—but his words and delivery were imposing enough.

    At 22, this “complete unknown” walked to a microphone—and started a revolution.


    To be sure, musical prophets were not new. Woody Guthrie—who inspired Dylan—won over the American people with songs of their plight: Guthrie’s songs about the desperate stories of people scrabbling day by day to survive during The Great Depression and the 1930s environmental disaster, the Dustbowl.

    Even in the 1960s, Dylan was not the only voice raised against perceived inequities.

    Prolific, prophetic, persuasive, yes he was. But not alone. In fact, one of the others—among her many other life-changing contributions—is credited with giving Dylan a place on the stage. Joan Baez, also 22 at the time, was already known—and respected—not just for that large, clear soprano voice, but also for her commentary.

    Personally, I cannot rank one of them ahead of the other.
    People listened to them both. Not everyone, of course. But heir talents and message and integrity struck a chord in America at just the right time.

    Twenty-two. And people of all ages and situations listened to them. Vilified by some, admired by many. Whether you were a fan or a detractor, you knew the names. And you knew the message

    All at twenty-two.

    UNBRIDLED COURAGE–Kalyna Fedorowycz is a sixteen-year-old equestrian who has been helping to transport horses away from the Southern California wildfires. But when a horse recently was too scared to get aboard the transport trailer, she took a more hands-on approach and actually rode the animal out of the canyon herself. Once again, youth shows us the way.

  • Verse

    A Child’s Wisdom


    They call the small child unwise
    Someone we must civilize,
    Kids mean what they say
    To parents’ dismay
    Instead of the deceit they prize.

    They call the energized child
    Someone unfocused and wild
    Youth’s unrestrained joy
    They’d rather employ
    In pursuits undisruptive mild

    They call their dithering youth
    Lazy, unfocused, uncouth
    Poor child was observing
    Attention unswerving
    The beauty found in nature’s truth

    Sometimes the foolish are wise,
    Sometimes they ought to advise,
    Prim, proper crowds
    Whose routine shrouds,
    The wonders of life they should prize.

    Temperatis Fortis 2024

  • Sacred Text

    Matthew 18:1-6: Agnes, Martyr at Rome 304

    Despite her noble Roman lineage, Agnes made a vow of chastity before Christ, a vow that led to her death.

    She was but a mere child, twelve or thirteen, but an old soul. when she died for her Lord

    Agnes chose Jesus over the son of a high-ranking Roman prefect. Her being a Christian prompted the death penalty.

    In Saint Matthew’s Gospel for today, his disciples want to know who will be the greatest in the afterlife. 

    An annoyed Jesus calls over a nearby child and told his disciples that whoever becomes humble as a child is humble, that person will be the greatest in heaven.

    It calls to mind these Bob Dylan lyrics:

    The line it is drawn
    The curse it is cast
    The slow one now
    Will later be fast
    As the present now
    Will later be past
    The order is rapidly fadin’
    And the first one now will later be last
    For the times they are a-changin’

    The young, the innocent. Spirit-filled integrity propels them toward justice and truth.

    It is they to whom we look for hope.

  • Verse

     I return, dear reader, to the image of the eagle, and God’s message of hope and renewal to embolden me lest I get stuck.


    The Eagle


    He clasps the crag with
    crooked hands;
    Close to the sun in lonely
    lands,
    Ring’d with the azure world,
    he stands.

    The wrinkled sea beneath
    him crawls;
    He watches from his
    mountain walls,
    And like a thunderbolt he
    falls.

    Alfred Lord Tennyson
    1851

  • Public Square

    Los Angeles: An American Diaspora

     We’ve watched live coverage of peoples forced from their homelands. Political coups. Old debts begging a payoff. We’ve seen people running for their lives, forced out of what once was a home, other places of welcome. We’ve watched this from a distance, nestled in safe homes, tsk-tsking, even as we dress for work or school or shopping with friends. It usually happens quickly. And it’s always somewhere else. Until it isn’t.

    Disruption.
    Dislocation.
    Disconnection.
    Diaspora.

    Some 200,000 people in greater Los Angeles and vicinity were rendered homeless in a matter of hours last week, thrust from their homes and their patterns, while looking for shelter, finding friends, hearing the latest news. The outcome was not the one they wanted.

    Twenty-four* people lost their lives. Sixteen* are still missing. Others lost not just homes but also identities, histories, legacies, estates, fortunes for the next generations.

    Even if, and that’s a very big if, insurance can adequately cover the cost of rebuilding or relocating, consider the massive bureaucracy required to process it all, and the weeks, months, years it will take. Not to mention sufficient work force to rebuild and an adequate supply chain to meet the needs in a timely way.

    If we take what Isaiah writes seriously, and not simply get lost in the mire of devastation, what do hope and encouragement look like to people who have lost “everything?” It’s not a question for simply ancient Israel or 2025 Los Angeles. It plays in ordinary days, too, because every day, somewhere, someone has lost everything. And you and I may be the only people near who can help them find hope again.

    *Number may update. See related photo of Saint Mark’s, Altadena, in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

  • Sacred Text

    Isaiah 40:25-31

    The Book of the Prophet Isaiah offers hope and comfort to the people of Israel living in captivity in Babylon.

    Here’s a part of today’s text: Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted, but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;   they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary;   they shall walk and not faint.

    The Temple in Jerusalem was the center of worship and community. Its destruction was a blow difficult to fully comprehend given what we see in current worshiping patterns in U.S. America. The first and largest group was exiled in 597BCE. That is estimated to be 10,000, joined by others in 592 and 586 BCE. The total expelled is estimated at 25,000, leaving behind a remnant of about 5,000, primarily the poor and unskilled laborers.

  • Verse

    Penny

    My family always had cats.
    I loved them deeply,
    played with them,
    slept with them.
    One old Mama cat even loved to sleep under the covers.
    Thus, one night I dutifully held up my blanket so Penny could burrow to the bottom.
    My mother came to wake us in the morning and asked what was with all the crying under my bedding.
    She threw back all layers to reveal a purring Mama cat kneading the sheets,
    nursing five hungry kittens.
    Bliss.
    I was seriously cautioned against ever letting Penny under the covers again.
    I nodded compliance.
    Wink, wink. Crossed fingers.
    Right, Mom.

  • Public Square

    Public Square

    Healthcare & An Angry Culture

    When Brian Thompson headed toward his investors’ meeting, getting killed was likely not on his “things to worry about” list.

    Many leaders make a practice of arriving early for a significant meeting, walking the space, making certain the setup is right, the A/V works, there are enough chairs, and so on. Some call this practice “owning the room.” Investors need to believe they are in good hands. The hands they were meant to be in that morning were the hands of Brian Thompson.

    Another thing on his worry list may have been the looming insider-trader claims …and concern that he may need to address hostile comments or questions–whether in official business or at coffee breaks.

    As it turns out, none of those worries was of any concern. The UnitedHealthcare CEO was killed by a lone gunman in a seemingly well-planned and well-executed mission. Brian Thompson was dead, leaving behind a family who mourn his loss. May we pray that the same company that did not provide Mr. Thompson with a security detail, at least has made generous provision for his survivors.

    ***

    News of the December 4, 2024, killing was shocking enough, but not altogether without precedent. We in the United States know that hatred, dispute, revenge, jealousy, and all manner of human conditions can seek justice through the barrel of a gun, and other means of permanent resolution. Sorrowful as that is, it is not new to us. 

    What shocked me more than the shooting itself was the quantity and nature of feedback on social media, continuing until now. Not remarks against the wanton killing on the streets of New York that occurred in early December, but on behalf of people who have been gouged by insurance companies, denied life-saving care, or those whose lives are given lower priority versus someone whose finances allow for more choice.

    In many cases, Mr. Thompson’s death was not even politely acknowledged before the poster’s vitriol was unleashed.

    ***

    Within days of the shooting, a lone suspect was arrested. Luigi Mangione, handsome, smart, highly educated, likable, and from a family of means. He did not know Mr. Thompson. Mr. Mangione has pleaded not guilty, so let’s remember to use the word “alleged killer” when speaking of him.

    As of this writing, we do not know the official “why” of Mr. Thompson’s death, but the suspect’s writings suggest blame belongs—at least in part—on the critical condition of health care in this country—presumably the greatest nation on earth. We need to address any weaknesses, any corruption we may find, and set aright the slough of injustices for all people and all families.

    In subsequent news coverage of American health insurance, we have heard from former UHC staff that they are given a specific one-day training on how to keep moving callers around on the phone. Delay.

    We’ve also read of a thirty percent claim denial expectation by United HealthCare. So “expectation” makes me believe that budgets are developed around that expectation. 

    Meaning denials need to happen at a certain rate/level for managers to meet budgets.

    https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/most-americans-blame-insurance-profits-and-coverage-denials-alongside-killer-in-unitedhealthcare-ceo-death-poll-finds

    According to a PBS article, a recent poll concludes that a majority of Americans believe that extreme frustration with health insurer practices can be blamed, at least in part, for the fury that erupted on December 4.

    Something’s got to give. The essential human need for equitable health care warrants further scrutiny, and insistence by whoever governs this area of law. Radical reform is a moral imperative.

  • Sacred Text

    It’s always grace

    A new question arises for me while reading the Gospel of Saint John, the first few verses of Chapter 2.

    There we encounter the Cana Wedding, where Jesus turns water into wine. 

    A lot is going on in these eleven verses, each worthy of being the sole focus.

    But what catches my ear this time is this: 

    “…and his disciples believed in him….”

    Remember, these are somewhat new relationships. Chapter 1 concludes with Jesus calling the twelve men who will form his core ministry team. There was an instant, almost magnetic, connection between him and the men. Why else would they drop nets and walk away from all they have known?

    Now, only eleven verses into Chapter 2—after the distribution of the water-turned-into-wine that rescues the reception from being a very bad party—what has me wondering are these words:

    His disciples believed in him.

    Did they not before? Based on what did they earlier go all-in with Jesus?

    The answer is better than good news, it’s the greatest news ever: In whatever way we first meet Jesus, it’s only the beginning.

    Who knows why they were first intrigued by Jesus? But relationship is not an all-at-once experience, there is more if we just stick with it.

    Similar to our own highest-quality human relationships, it deepens, expands, and reveals.

    That’s how I explain what happens. That, sometime after they joined Jesus’ team, the disciples realized they believed in him. There is ongoing revelation. And how does it happen, how are we made aware?

    Someone in seminary told me that if I ever got stumped by a question, just attribute everything to God’s grace.

    It was supposed to be an insider joke. A throwaway line.

    But it turns out to be the only right answer so often.

    Grace: God’s unwarranted, unearned, freely given affection and support.

    Consider Amazing Grace, one of the most popular of Christian hymns. It was written in 1772 by John Newton, an erstwhile slave trader turned Anglican priest. Here are the words of Verse 2:

    ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.

    Grace upon grace.

    Amen.