This afternoon my friend and colleague, the Rev. Patrick O'Connor, and I met with Donald J. Trump in his office in Trump Tower. I want you to know how this meeting came about and what we said to the President-elect.

There is some backstory here that is helpful for you to know. The churches where Patrick and I serve both have connections with the Trump family. Patrick is the senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens, the church where the President-elect's mother, Mary, an immigrant from Scotland, was a member, and where her son was baptized and confirmed. When he takes the oath of office on Friday, the incoming President will rest his hand on the Lincoln Bible and on the Bible his mother gave him when he graduated from the First Jamaica Sunday Church Primary School in 1955.

My grandparents were also im migrants from Scotland and members of First Presbyterian Jamaica, Queens. My father and my uncles were baptized in the same font as the President-elect. Today I serve the Presbyterian Church that stands nearer to Trump Tower than any church in the city, whose steeple the Trump family can see from their windows.

Given these unique connections, Patrick and I knew we had an opportunity that few other pastors have -- a chance to speak face to face with the man who is about to assume the leadership of this country. We believe we had a responsibility, as Christians, to offer prayer and honest counsel to the President-elect.

Our meeting lasted 20 minutes. We made the most of it.

We know that evangelical Christians and proponents of the prosperity gospel have had Mr. Trump's ear. So I reminded him that millions of Americans belong to what I described as "purple churches," congregations like FAPC that are politically, economically and ethnically diverse. We vote in different ways, and yet, by the grace of God, we worship as one people. We believe that our unity depends not on lock-step agreement, but on the Christ who claims us and calls us to care for the poor, the sick and the imprisoned. (Matthew 25:31-36)

These moderate and progressive churches are on the front lines as our nation addresses many of its most pressing issues: racism, homelessness, immigration, health care, economic opportunity and opiate addiction. Our thoughts about and responses to these issues are rooted in our faith. Today, Patrick and I offered to speak with the President-elect at any time about the path we believe Jesus calls us to walk as citizens, and the unique perspectives of our "purple" churches.

We spent most of our brief time with Mr. Trump in prayer. We asked for God's help in healing deep societal rifts and in stepping forward to create a nation that serves all of its people, particularly those who are most vulnerable and in need. As Scripture reminds us over and over, "Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute." (Psalm 82:3)

The prayer we offered on his behalf, and on behalf of our nation, follows. 

Grace and peace to you this day,