Bishop Marianne Edgar Budde who led the prayer service before the inauguration of the new tenure of President Donald Trump in the National Cathedral in Washington DC. Her sermon during the occasion has become viral and controversial. I'm not intending to go into the controversial parts of it. However I think that the whole world can take some valuable messages from it. I will somewhat be quoting her own words. The theme she chose was "unity" - one of the theme that runs through the high-priestly prayer of Jesus. (The long prayer that Jesus makes during his last supper with his disciples, according to the Gospel of John, is known as the high priestly prayer).

We have to pray for unity. Not for agreement but for unity, fostering community. It's a way of being with one another, what differences, respect, genuinely caring for one another, even when we disagree. In this broad sense unity is very much aspirational and there's a lot to pray for it to God. But there isn't much to be gained by our prayer if we act in ways that will further deepen the divisions among us. Our scriptures are very clear about this that God is never pleased by prayers when actions are not informed by them. Nor does God spares from the consequences of our deeds which always in the end matter more than other words in prayer.

I believe there are at least three foundations for unity. First, honoring the inherent dignity of each person as birthright. In public discourse it means refusing to mock or demonize people with whom we differ. Respectfully debate our differences; when possible seek for common ground. When that is not possible dignity demands that will remain true to our convictions without contempt for those who hold convictions of their own.

The second foundation stone for unity must be honesty. Honesty in private conversations and public discourses. There is no meaning in praying for unity if we don't have honesty, because then our actions would work against our prayer. We don't always know where the truth lies. But when we do know, we should stand by it even when it costs.

And third foundation for unity is humility. We all need humility because we are all fallible human beings. We make mistakes, have blind spots and our biases and perhaps we are most dangerous to ourselves and to others when we are persuaded by the faith that we are absolutely right and someone else is absolutely wrong. Then we are only a few steps away from making judgement of good people versus bad people, and the truth is that we are all people - capable of both good and bad. The dividing line between good and bad does not go through countries political parties ideologies but through every human heart. The moment we realize this we become humble. We are more like each other than we realize we are. Without unity we are building our Nation's house on sand.

I think we need to discuss this only about a nation but also as a church or as a society.