Trump hears Christmas homily about ‘the power of words’

When President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended Christmas Eve services at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Fla., they heard a homily about the “power of words” and an individual’s obligation to use his or hers to “bring light to our lives and to the world.”

Bethesda-by-the-Sea’s rector, the Rev. James Harlan, began his homily Sunday night with an appraisal of the power of God’s words, as well as our own. “We know the power of speech, of words,” he said. According to the White House pool report, Trump was seated in the third row.

Harlan quoted Nelson Mandela, who said: “It is never my custom to use words lightly. If 27 years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die.”

“Words matter,” Harlan continued. “Proverbs 18, for example says death and life are in the power of the tongue. Words can build up or tear down. Words can speak truth or obfuscate truth. Words convey information, emotion, motivation.” Harlan spoke about the healing power of God’s words, which, according to biblical teaching, were used to create the universe. And Harlan said that, “your words and mine can have as much destructive and divisive potential as creative and healing potential.”

Harlan ended his homily on a note of instruction for the worshipers, saying, “Let that light shine in our words and our actions in our love for every human being.”

During his presidency, Trump has aligned himself politically with white evangelical Christians; he has an influential informal committee of evangelical advisers who have encouraged decisions such as the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The Episcopal Church is generally considered to be a more progressive institution. The Trumps were married at Bethesda-by-the-Sea in 2005, and he attended the church’s Christmas Eve services in 2016 after his election.

The Trumps are spending Christmas at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s resort in Palm Beach.