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.

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

Be Encouraged podcast with Bishop Julius c

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

the world desperately needs a a word from the church

relative to our rejection and denouncing

violence as a way to solve or to to

prosecute any political differences that we might have. Alright.

The recent assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump

just was a reminder of how how

much we seem to be prone to

seek to use violence to to

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

the shooter was or the mental health state

or the anger or evil that precipitated that, but

someone did lose their life. The former president was

wounded. I prayed for his, full recovery,

and I and I grieve and pray for the

family who who lost their father and,

the others who were seriously wounded. It seems like

history continues to repeat itself that we keep

seeing these horrific incidents

of violence surrounding the

political differences that we that we manifest,

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

an American problem in terms of political violence. My

prayers are always for the safety of

people who offer themselves to public service and for

people who might be candidates. And I do think that

as many of the congressional and other religious leaders

are saying that there needs to be a message

civility, a message of mutual respect, and a and

not this vilification of people who may be our

opponents. And yet, Bishop, I would

just observe with you, there's a lot of

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

landscape. There are people who seem to manipulate the gospel

to meet their political views,

and it includes sometimes what

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

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

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

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

to a little bit about the proper role of the church

and or prophetic voices within the church to

speak to politics overall and particularly issues of violence.

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

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

enemies. So so I think that there you that

takes a lot of twisting, and I I think theological

and ideological gymnastics that justify violence

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

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

discussion that we might have at another time about just war

theory, this has nothing to do with a nation

attacking another nation. This has to do with neighbors

creating fear of other neighbors or us

elevating the the the problem that we have with

undocumented immigrants or illegal immigration, if you

will, and elevating that to the point where people

are saying folks should be killed if they come across the

border, or folks should be killed if they disagree with

with your political view, or there are

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

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

saying those things out of their mouths, really gives license

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

a cry for them to champion their

own political view or the political view of the person whom

they think should lead them. I think the we should

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

denouncing violence of any form and

saying, hey, we can disagree vehemently

disagree about the direction of the country or

the way in which public policy should be administered or

what constitute the common good. But that

does not require me to wish ill for you

or threaten you or to intimidate

you with pictures of me with a AR

15 or or hate hate hate

ads. So I think, that the call for

really civility and and mutual respect and

a sense of hospitality is the appropriate

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

that pastor might navigate all that and still offer a prophetic

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

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

and and and and allow scriptures to

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

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

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

political community. I'm reading from our updated

social principles that were approved at the 2024

General Conference, which was really the 2020 Postponential

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

our involvement in political systems is rooted in the

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

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

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

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

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

United Methodist, we acknowledge that love

requires requires responsible political

action and engagement aimed at the betterment of

society and the promotion of the common good.

We acknowledge that such political engagement demands

humility and mindfulness of our own complicity

and perpetuating injustice. It also necessitates

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

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

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

care for the vulnerable? We should never apologize

for caring for the vulnerable or advocating for those who

have experienced injustice or discrimination. So you're

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

love thy certain neighbor or my selected neighbor or

the neighbor I feel good about. It says love my

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

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

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

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

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

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

trouble. Yeah. We believe in the worth of all

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

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

it, but because God has said that, then

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

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

What would be the benefit to the benefit of all

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

those who have been

unvalued by society or by culture, by politics,

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

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

can step in to give voice to the voiceless,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

of this plan instead of us trying to adhere to

something that is not of that. And what I get

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

and to to use that against other

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

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

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

to continue to to pursue

the vision of Beloved Community. Paul Chilcote, in his

book, Active Faith, talks about the danger of

nationalism and Christian nationalism, which I think is

a contradiction of terms. It's an oxymoron.

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

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

but he writes, whenever people unite around their own

race, their own particular ethnic group, or their own

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

an antagonistic posture toward others, nothing

good ever comes of it. So whenever we just surround

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

people that believe like me, And so nothing good

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

much antagonism. We have literal bloodshed that's been

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

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

of bad things going on. So

the idea here is to continue to speak to

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

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

got a a period of chaos yet to go? I

think the churches has a responsibility to continue

to echo the call of the

value and worth of all people. Somehow, we

have made it okay to say some people are more

valuable than others. Some freedoms, should

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

the the problem of hunger, the problem of homelessness

to the unhoused. We must be able to say

having shelter should be a basic right.

Having basic nutrition nutritional

food should be a basic right in a country that

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

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

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

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

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

that oftentimes doesn't work out to be. But

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

are beneficial to the common good and to

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

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

sentence that the lame man probably pray pray from the

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

cannot change. Maybe we should pray more what Angela

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

let me change the things that I cannot

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

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

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

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

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

so we should we should vote, and we should

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

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

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

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

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

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

world and a society and a country and a community

that is welcoming to my granddaughter and to all of her

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

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

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

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

of hope and opportunity in the midst of some of this

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

God is love. God is love.

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

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

ability to speak to people all across the globe through a

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

right now to know that you love you love

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

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

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

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

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

the face of oppression, but we might speak

up and we might vote and that we might

give voice to those things that break your

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

become more hospitable, more humble,

more useful, and more cognizant of the

fact that people need community. They need

a sense of belonging. They need doorways to friendship

and portals of prophetic witness. Help us,

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

but help us to be the church so that wherever we

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

they are Christian by their love, by their love.

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

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

Encouraged podcast with Bishop Julius c Trimble. I'm

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

where we look to offer an encouraging word to an often

Encouraged world.