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Bishop Trimble Discusses the Christian Response to Political Violence and Nationalism
Episode 11219th July 2024 • Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble • Bishop Julius C. Trimble
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Bishop Julius C. Trimble is the Resident Bishop of the Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church.

Bishop Trimble has the personal mission to encourage all people with the love of Jesus Christ to rise to their highest potential. It is his commitment to his personal mission that led Bishop Trimble to create the “To Be Encouraged” Podcast along with co-host Rev.Dr. Brad Miller.

Bishop Trimble says, “I am compelled by Jesus to share with you an encouraging word or two about Jesus, theology, the Bible, the pandemic, the environment, racism, voting rights, human sexuality, and the state of the United Methodist Church.”

To Be Encouraged with Bishop Julius C. Trimble is to be published weekly and is available at www.tobeencouraged.com and all the podcast directories.

https://www.inumc.org/bishop/office-of-the-bishop/

Welcome to the To Be Encouraged podcast, featuring Bishop Julius C. Trimble. In this episode, we delve into the urgent need for the Church to address the escalating political violence and the misuse of the gospel in political discourse. Bishop Trimble emphasizes the church's role in promoting civility, mutual respect, and the dignity of all people. This enriching conversation offers a roadmap for how local pastors and church communities can be prophetic voices advocating peace, justice, and love.

#### Three Key Takeaways:

1. **Rejection of Violence as a Solution:**

  - Bishop Julius C. Trimble denounces the use of violence to resolve political differences, emphasizing it as an ongoing issue in the United States and beyond.

  - The Church must consistently speak out against violence and offer a message of love and prayer for enemies, aligning with Jesus' teachings.

  - Political leaders who advocate or imply violence provide dangerous license to unstable individuals, underscoring the need for the Church to promote a culture of life and mutual respect.

2. **Role of the Church in Political Engagement:**

  - The Church's political involvement should be rooted in the gospel imperative to love our neighbors and promote the common good.

  - Pastors are encouraged to utilize scripture and the United Methodist Social Principles as foundational guidelines for political action.

  - The Church should focus on creating a "Beloved Community" that values all people equally, irrespective of political or social differences.

3. **Empowerment Through Political and Social Action:**

  - Bishop Trimble advises listeners to continue praying, registering, and voting as practical steps to effect change.

  - The Church must not only pray for the courage to accept change but also actively work to change what cannot be accepted.

  - Encouraging words and hopeful actions are essential as the Church faces societal challenges. The focus should be on creating a better world for future generations by advocating for basic rights such as housing, nutrition, and living wages.

#### Prayer for Encouragement:

Bishop Trimble ends the episode with a heartfelt prayer asking for God's guidance to help us become more hospitable, humble, and prophetic followers of Jesus Christ. He prays for a deeper sense of community, belonging, and prophetic witness among believers.

#### Join the Conversation:

We invite you to reflect on how the teachings from this episode can be applied in your own communities. How can you be an agent of change and a beacon of love in these turbulent times?

Thank you for tuning in to the To Be Encouraged podcast. For more inspiring conversations, visit tobeencouraged.com and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platform.

Transcripts

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Hello, good people, and welcome to this episode of the To

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Be Encouraged podcast with Bishop Julius c

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Trimble. This is the podcast where we look to offer an encouraging word to

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an often Encouraged world. I'm your co host, reverend doctor Brad

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Miller. Bishop, welcome to our podcast, and let's talk a little bit of what's going

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on in the world right now. And what happens to the world is the

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church has to relate to a world that is kind of on

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fire politically. And so let's just talk about that. There's a

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lot of things going on. There was assassination attempt on a presidential

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candidate, some things of that nature. Give me your reaction a little bit of what's

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going on in the world right now. Thank you, Brad. And

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the world desperately needs a a word from the church

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relative to our rejection and denouncing

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violence as a way to solve or to to

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prosecute any political differences that we might have. Alright.

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The recent assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump

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just was a reminder of how how

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much we seem to be prone to

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seek to use violence to to

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address whatever our grievances might be. I don't know what the motive of

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the shooter was or the mental health state

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or the anger or evil that precipitated that, but

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someone did lose their life. The former president was

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wounded. I prayed for his, full recovery,

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and I and I grieve and pray for the

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family who who lost their father and,

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the others who were seriously wounded. It seems like

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history continues to repeat itself that we keep

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seeing these horrific incidents

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of violence surrounding the

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political differences that we that we manifest,

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particularly in the United States. Although it's not, this is not uniquely

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an American problem in terms of political violence. My

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prayers are always for the safety of

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people who offer themselves to public service and for

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people who might be candidates. And I do think that

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as many of the congressional and other religious leaders

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are saying that there needs to be a message

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civility, a message of mutual respect, and a and

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not this vilification of people who may be our

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opponents. And yet, Bishop, I would

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just observe with you, there's a lot of

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gray area even fudging of the gospel when it comes to the political

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landscape. There are people who seem to manipulate the gospel

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to meet their political views,

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and it includes sometimes what

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appears to be an advocacy of violence. What do we do about

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that? What do we do about people's understandings and how we C

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churches get involved with this, you know, and various things as well,

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politics mixed with religion and all kinds of things going on here. Just speak

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to a little bit about the proper role of the church

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and or prophetic voices within the church to

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speak to politics overall and particularly issues of violence.

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Well, Jesus said not to fight thy enemies, but to love thy enemies. Yeah. How

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about that one? Not to kill our enemies, but to pray for our

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enemies. So so I think that there you that

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takes a lot of twisting, and I I think theological

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and ideological gymnastics that justify violence

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and to associate it with any sense of God's calling. But that does seem to

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be happening, does it? It does seem to be happening. And apart from a

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discussion that we might have at another time about just war

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theory, this has nothing to do with a nation

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attacking another nation. This has to do with neighbors

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creating fear of other neighbors or us

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elevating the the the problem that we have with

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undocumented immigrants or illegal immigration, if you

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will, and elevating that to the point where people

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are saying folks should be killed if they come across the

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border, or folks should be killed if they disagree with

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with your political view, or there are

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some people that just ought to be subject to be killed.

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You know, people who are elected officials are running for office actually

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saying those things out of their mouths, really gives license

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to people who might be a bit unstable or hear that as

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a cry for them to champion their

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own political view or the political view of the person whom

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they think should lead them. I think the we should

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have a consistent voice of the church in the church of the

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denouncing violence of any form and

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saying, hey, we can disagree vehemently

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disagree about the direction of the country or

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the way in which public policy should be administered or

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what constitute the common good. But that

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does not require me to wish ill for you

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or threaten you or to intimidate

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you with pictures of me with a AR

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15 or or hate hate hate

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ads. So I think, that the call for

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really civility and and mutual respect and

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a sense of hospitality is the appropriate

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role for the church. Let's just take that one

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step forward. There's that appropriate role for the church. What about

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that local church pastor finding themselves kinda caught up on all this?

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They may have a church or a community that kind of is, you

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know, split both sides politically or maybe their view as a

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pastor is really opposed to majority of the people in the church or the

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community. How you how you any suggestions? Any thoughts on how

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that pastor might navigate all that and still offer a prophetic

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word about peace and justice and the things we've mentioned here. I

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think we need to go deeper in the word of God and by the Bible

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and and and and allow scriptures to

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to be our our launching pad, if you will, our foundation.

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As well as in the United Methodist Church, our social principles. So, I mean,

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we do have something to say about our involvement with politics in the

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political community. I'm reading from our updated

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social principles that were approved at the 2024

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General Conference, which was really the 2020 Postponential

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Conference. And this is what it says in the on political

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our involvement in political systems is rooted in the

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gospel imperative to love our neighbors. So for us, it

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goes back to, and I think pastors should pay attention to this,

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what does it mean to love God and our neighbors? Yeah. And we

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know the parable Jesus take the whole question, well, who is our neighbor?

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Right. So to do justice and to care for the vulnerable. As

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United Methodist, we acknowledge that love

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requires requires responsible political

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action and engagement aimed at the betterment of

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society and the promotion of the common good.

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We acknowledge that such political engagement demands

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humility and mindfulness of our own complicity

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and perpetuating injustice. It also necessitates

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compassion. People can't fight us against that. Prayer

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and a willingness to discern God's guidance. What does it

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mean for us to love our neighbors, to do justice, and to

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care for the vulnerable? We should never apologize

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for caring for the vulnerable or advocating for those who

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have experienced injustice or discrimination. So you're

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saying, if I'm understanding you correctly here, that does it doesn't say,

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love thy certain neighbor or my selected neighbor or

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the neighbor I feel good about. It says love my

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neighbor, and it doesn't say, you know, live and boastful on

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pride or arrogance or things of this nature. It's about humility and

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service. So, Brad, Brad, you What a what a what a concept.

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Brad, you're going you're going from preaching to to meddling, but you're

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doing what what what some would call holy meddling. That's There you go. You you

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you're gonna get us in what John Lewis called good trouble. There you go. Good

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trouble. Yeah. We believe in the worth of all

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people. If we start from that standpoint okay. Now if we

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start from we believe in the worth of all people, not because we feel like

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it, but because God has said that, then

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how can I preach a message that we don't have to agree, friends,

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on this, but let us raise this as a concern?

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What would be the benefit to the benefit of all

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C? And oftentimes, Bishop, would you not agree that

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those who have been

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unvalued by society or by culture, by politics,

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often have either a very small voice or no voice in how

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they are treated by society. Mhmm. And this is where the church

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can step in to give voice to the voiceless,

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to give action to those who have been trodden on Mhmm.

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And can be a a means by which justice can can be

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done. And they that's part of our role as well because we are

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here to be helpful to those who are hurting. Absolutely.

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Absolutely. What a deal. What a deal. So the

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idea here, friend, idea here, to our listeners is that

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God's still good all the time to all people, and we gotta be a part

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of this plan instead of us trying to adhere to

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something that is not of that. And what I get

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what I get troubled about though, bishop, is those who really seem to manipulate that

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and to to use that against other

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people. And that kinda sickens me, to be honest with you, when it's used

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against other people to hurt them. So what's next? What do you

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think is the next step for the church and all this? I think we need

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to continue to to pursue

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the vision of Beloved Community. Paul Chilcote, in his

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book, Active Faith, talks about the danger of

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nationalism and Christian nationalism, which I think is

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a contradiction of terms. It's an oxymoron.

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Christian nationalism. It's kinda like a jumbo shrimp. You know, I mean, the shrimp

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is the shrimp is the shrimp, you know. And it's the but

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but he writes, whenever people unite around their own

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race, their own particular ethnic group, or their own

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nation or I'd add their own echo chamber and assume

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an antagonistic posture toward others, nothing

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good ever comes of it. So whenever we just surround

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ourselves and say, this this is what I believe and I'm only hanging out with

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people that believe like me, And so nothing good

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comes out of antagonism, according to Paul Chukot. And yet we have so

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much antagonism. We have literal bloodshed that's been

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happening in our country and around the world. We've got, you know, a whole

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situation in Middle East and other places in the world where there's just lots

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of bad things going on. So

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the idea here is to continue to speak to

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this. I think it's all gonna shake out in the next year or so. I

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think we're gonna come out of a better place Mhmm. Or do you think we

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got a a period of chaos yet to go? I

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think the churches has a responsibility to continue

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to echo the call of the

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value and worth of all people. Somehow, we

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have made it okay to say some people are more

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valuable than others. Some freedoms, should

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be allotted to some but not to others. Take, for example,

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the the problem of hunger, the problem of homelessness

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to the unhoused. We must be able to say

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having shelter should be a basic right.

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Having basic nutrition nutritional

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food should be a basic right in a country that

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has as much as So much. So much. Yeah. So

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we we somehow we have figured out, well, a certain percentage of people

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really don't need to have a living wage. You know? There C to

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be some way that the church can work in in concert with

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government and politics for more of that to happen, and yet we know

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that oftentimes doesn't work out to be. But

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we shouldn't stop, should we? No. We shouldn't stop. Never we should never

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tire doing good. So give us kind of a word to kind of give us

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kinda marching orders as it were for the church moving forward to

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not stop even when we are Encouraged. Because I just have to say

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to you, as we sit here today, Bishop, I'm a little bit discouraged about our

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political landscape and about, you know, the way things are going in in that

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regard. So what would could be an encouraging word to people who are discouraged a

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little bit like me about this, about to keep pressing on, to keep

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going, no matter what, that God's still good all the time and all the time

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God is good, whatever it would be, would be kind of an encouraging word to

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those who are a little bit frustrated with the political scene right now. Well, I

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think we should we should continue to pray. We should register and

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vote. Yes. Register and vote. And we should speak out

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on the things that we think are are are are are are

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are beneficial to the common good and to

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beloved community. We should not just pray that sentence. I C

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this in my sermon, a jurisdiction. We should not just pray that

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sentence that the lame man probably pray pray from the

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from the serenity prayer. Yes. Lord, help me accept the things I

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cannot change. Maybe we should pray more what Angela

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Davis and others have said. I think what God Peter really probably said,

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let me change the things that I cannot

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accept. Yeah. So let's not just, you know, say, oh, wow.

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This is this is and I get discouraged too, you know. Right. But I remind

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reminded that polls That's more of a prophetic word rather than just a word of

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acceptance there. There you go. Yeah. There you go. And I'm reminded that

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polls don't elect presidents. Oh. People do. Oh, there we go. So

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so we should we should vote, and we should

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vote. For me, my voting is predicated on what kind of

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will that would my vote contribute to a better world for my granddaughter?

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Yes. And that may seem a bit selfish. Oh, no. I get it. But if

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I'm voting, I'm not voting just for me. I'm, you know, I'm on the second

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I'm in the 4th quarter of life. Sure. So

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I want to, if I best I can, to contribute to a

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world and a society and a country and a community

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that is welcoming to my granddaughter and to all of her

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generation as well. That's worthy of praying about. So with your granddaughter and

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mine and my granddaughter's and mine and other people's lives and

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mine and and the and the those pastors and churches are kinda midst

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of turmoil. Can you pray us through this one? Can you offer us a prayer

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of hope and opportunity in the midst of some of this

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challenge that we have. Let us pray. Dear beloved friends,

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God is love. God is love.

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As Pope Francis says, God has a name and God's name is love.

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So, Lord, we give you thanks and praise for for the

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ability to speak to people all across the globe through a

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podcast. And, Lord, we want the person who's listening

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right now to know that you love you love

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us, you care for us, and you want us to care for one another.

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We thank you, oh god, for the rain and for the sunshine.

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We thank you, oh god, for creation and for our

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commitment, oh god, to be better stewards of creation.

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We ask that you bless us, oh god, not that we might be silent in

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the face of oppression, but we might speak

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up and we might vote and that we might

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give voice to those things that break your

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heart. Lord, we ask that you would help us to

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become more hospitable, more humble,

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more useful, and more cognizant of the

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fact that people need community. They need

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a sense of belonging. They need doorways to friendship

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and portals of prophetic witness. Help us,

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oh god, not when we are able to go to church,

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but help us to be the church so that wherever we

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are, people might look at us and say, oh, I know

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they are Christian by their love, by their love.

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In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

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Amen. Amen. Amen. And we thank you for listening to the To Be

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Encouraged podcast with Bishop Julius c Trimble. I'm

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your co host, reverend doctor Brad Miller. We thank you for listening to the podcast

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where we look to offer an encouraging word to an often

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Encouraged world.

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