President Trump
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The sermon — which President Trump and first lady Melania Trump
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“We know the power of speech, of words,” Bethesda-by-the-Sea’s rector, the Rev. James Harlan, said at the beginning of the sermon, according to a transcript of his sermon on The Washington Post.
He went on to quote Nelson Mandela, saying: “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.”
Harlan continued, saying: "Words matter."
“Proverbs 18, for example, says death and life are in the power of the tongue," he said.
"Words can build up or tear down. Words can speak truth or obfuscate truth. Words convey information, emotion, motivation.”
Harlan said words can give voice to and "empower the darkness."
He also warned those attending that their words can have "as much destructive and divisive potential as creative and healing potential.”
At the end of this sermon, he called for people to "let that light shine in our words and our actions in our love for every human being.”
Trump spent the Christmas holiday with his family at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Over the weekend, he tweeted he is proud to have "led the charge against the assault" on people saying Merry Christmas.
On Monday night, he tweeted that he hoped everyone was having a "great Christmas." He added: "Then tomorrow it’s back to work in order to Make America Great Again (which is happening faster than anyone anticipated)!"