Episode 112
Bishop Trimble Discusses the Christian Response to Political Violence and Nationalism
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.
Transcript
Hello, good people, and welcome to this episode of the To
Speaker:Be Encouraged podcast with Bishop Julius c
Speaker:Trimble. This is the podcast where we look to offer an encouraging word to
Speaker:an often Encouraged world. I'm your co host, reverend doctor Brad
Speaker:Miller. Bishop, welcome to our podcast, and let's talk a little bit of what's going
Speaker:on in the world right now. And what happens to the world is the
Speaker:church has to relate to a world that is kind of on
Speaker:fire politically. And so let's just talk about that. There's a
Speaker:lot of things going on. There was assassination attempt on a presidential
Speaker:candidate, some things of that nature. Give me your reaction a little bit of what's
Speaker:going on in the world right now. Thank you, Brad. And
Speaker:the world desperately needs a a word from the church
Speaker:relative to our rejection and denouncing
Speaker:violence as a way to solve or to to
Speaker:prosecute any political differences that we might have. Alright.
Speaker:The recent assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump
Speaker:just was a reminder of how how
Speaker:much we seem to be prone to
Speaker:seek to use violence to to
Speaker:address whatever our grievances might be. I don't know what the motive of
Speaker:the shooter was or the mental health state
Speaker:or the anger or evil that precipitated that, but
Speaker:someone did lose their life. The former president was
Speaker:wounded. I prayed for his, full recovery,
Speaker:and I and I grieve and pray for the
Speaker:family who who lost their father and,
Speaker:the others who were seriously wounded. It seems like
Speaker:history continues to repeat itself that we keep
Speaker:seeing these horrific incidents
Speaker:of violence surrounding the
Speaker:political differences that we that we manifest,
Speaker:particularly in the United States. Although it's not, this is not uniquely
Speaker:an American problem in terms of political violence. My
Speaker:prayers are always for the safety of
Speaker:people who offer themselves to public service and for
Speaker:people who might be candidates. And I do think that
Speaker:as many of the congressional and other religious leaders
Speaker:are saying that there needs to be a message
Speaker:civility, a message of mutual respect, and a and
Speaker:not this vilification of people who may be our
Speaker:opponents. And yet, Bishop, I would
Speaker:just observe with you, there's a lot of
Speaker:gray area even fudging of the gospel when it comes to the political
Speaker:landscape. There are people who seem to manipulate the gospel
Speaker:to meet their political views,
Speaker:and it includes sometimes what
Speaker:appears to be an advocacy of violence. What do we do about
Speaker:that? What do we do about people's understandings and how we C
Speaker:churches get involved with this, you know, and various things as well,
Speaker:politics mixed with religion and all kinds of things going on here. Just speak
Speaker:to a little bit about the proper role of the church
Speaker:and or prophetic voices within the church to
Speaker:speak to politics overall and particularly issues of violence.
Speaker:Well, Jesus said not to fight thy enemies, but to love thy enemies. Yeah. How
Speaker:about that one? Not to kill our enemies, but to pray for our
Speaker:enemies. So so I think that there you that
Speaker:takes a lot of twisting, and I I think theological
Speaker:and ideological gymnastics that justify violence
Speaker:and to associate it with any sense of God's calling. But that does seem to
Speaker:be happening, does it? It does seem to be happening. And apart from a
Speaker:discussion that we might have at another time about just war
Speaker:theory, this has nothing to do with a nation
Speaker:attacking another nation. This has to do with neighbors
Speaker:creating fear of other neighbors or us
Speaker:elevating the the the problem that we have with
Speaker:undocumented immigrants or illegal immigration, if you
Speaker:will, and elevating that to the point where people
Speaker:are saying folks should be killed if they come across the
Speaker:border, or folks should be killed if they disagree with
Speaker:with your political view, or there are
Speaker:some people that just ought to be subject to be killed.
Speaker:You know, people who are elected officials are running for office actually
Speaker:saying those things out of their mouths, really gives license
Speaker:to people who might be a bit unstable or hear that as
Speaker:a cry for them to champion their
Speaker:own political view or the political view of the person whom
Speaker:they think should lead them. I think the we should
Speaker:have a consistent voice of the church in the church of the
Speaker:denouncing violence of any form and
Speaker:saying, hey, we can disagree vehemently
Speaker:disagree about the direction of the country or
Speaker:the way in which public policy should be administered or
Speaker:what constitute the common good. But that
Speaker:does not require me to wish ill for you
Speaker:or threaten you or to intimidate
Speaker:you with pictures of me with a AR
Speaker:15 or or hate hate hate
Speaker:ads. So I think, that the call for
Speaker:really civility and and mutual respect and
Speaker:a sense of hospitality is the appropriate
Speaker:role for the church. Let's just take that one
Speaker:step forward. There's that appropriate role for the church. What about
Speaker:that local church pastor finding themselves kinda caught up on all this?
Speaker:They may have a church or a community that kind of is, you
Speaker:know, split both sides politically or maybe their view as a
Speaker:pastor is really opposed to majority of the people in the church or the
Speaker:community. How you how you any suggestions? Any thoughts on how
Speaker:that pastor might navigate all that and still offer a prophetic
Speaker:word about peace and justice and the things we've mentioned here. I
Speaker:think we need to go deeper in the word of God and by the Bible
Speaker:and and and and allow scriptures to
Speaker:to be our our launching pad, if you will, our foundation.
Speaker:As well as in the United Methodist Church, our social principles. So, I mean,
Speaker:we do have something to say about our involvement with politics in the
Speaker:political community. I'm reading from our updated
Speaker:social principles that were approved at the 2024
Speaker:General Conference, which was really the 2020 Postponential
Speaker:Conference. And this is what it says in the on political
Speaker:our involvement in political systems is rooted in the
Speaker:gospel imperative to love our neighbors. So for us, it
Speaker:goes back to, and I think pastors should pay attention to this,
Speaker:what does it mean to love God and our neighbors? Yeah. And we
Speaker:know the parable Jesus take the whole question, well, who is our neighbor?
Speaker:Right. So to do justice and to care for the vulnerable. As
Speaker:United Methodist, we acknowledge that love
Speaker:requires requires responsible political
Speaker:action and engagement aimed at the betterment of
Speaker:society and the promotion of the common good.
Speaker:We acknowledge that such political engagement demands
Speaker:humility and mindfulness of our own complicity
Speaker:and perpetuating injustice. It also necessitates
Speaker:compassion. People can't fight us against that. Prayer
Speaker:and a willingness to discern God's guidance. What does it
Speaker:mean for us to love our neighbors, to do justice, and to
Speaker:care for the vulnerable? We should never apologize
Speaker:for caring for the vulnerable or advocating for those who
Speaker:have experienced injustice or discrimination. So you're
Speaker:saying, if I'm understanding you correctly here, that does it doesn't say,
Speaker:love thy certain neighbor or my selected neighbor or
Speaker:the neighbor I feel good about. It says love my
Speaker:neighbor, and it doesn't say, you know, live and boastful on
Speaker:pride or arrogance or things of this nature. It's about humility and
Speaker:service. So, Brad, Brad, you What a what a what a concept.
Speaker:Brad, you're going you're going from preaching to to meddling, but you're
Speaker:doing what what what some would call holy meddling. That's There you go. You you
Speaker:you're gonna get us in what John Lewis called good trouble. There you go. Good
Speaker:trouble. Yeah. We believe in the worth of all
Speaker:people. If we start from that standpoint okay. Now if we
Speaker:start from we believe in the worth of all people, not because we feel like
Speaker:it, but because God has said that, then
Speaker:how can I preach a message that we don't have to agree, friends,
Speaker:on this, but let us raise this as a concern?
Speaker:What would be the benefit to the benefit of all
Speaker:C? And oftentimes, Bishop, would you not agree that
Speaker:those who have been
Speaker:unvalued by society or by culture, by politics,
Speaker:often have either a very small voice or no voice in how
Speaker:they are treated by society. Mhmm. And this is where the church
Speaker:can step in to give voice to the voiceless,
Speaker:to give action to those who have been trodden on Mhmm.
Speaker:And can be a a means by which justice can can be
Speaker:done. And they that's part of our role as well because we are
Speaker:here to be helpful to those who are hurting. Absolutely.
Speaker:Absolutely. What a deal. What a deal. So the
Speaker:idea here, friend, idea here, to our listeners is that
Speaker:God's still good all the time to all people, and we gotta be a part
Speaker:of this plan instead of us trying to adhere to
Speaker:something that is not of that. And what I get
Speaker:what I get troubled about though, bishop, is those who really seem to manipulate that
Speaker:and to to use that against other
Speaker:people. And that kinda sickens me, to be honest with you, when it's used
Speaker:against other people to hurt them. So what's next? What do you
Speaker:think is the next step for the church and all this? I think we need
Speaker:to continue to to pursue
Speaker:the vision of Beloved Community. Paul Chilcote, in his
Speaker:book, Active Faith, talks about the danger of
Speaker:nationalism and Christian nationalism, which I think is
Speaker:a contradiction of terms. It's an oxymoron.
Speaker:Christian nationalism. It's kinda like a jumbo shrimp. You know, I mean, the shrimp
Speaker:is the shrimp is the shrimp, you know. And it's the but
Speaker:but he writes, whenever people unite around their own
Speaker:race, their own particular ethnic group, or their own
Speaker:nation or I'd add their own echo chamber and assume
Speaker:an antagonistic posture toward others, nothing
Speaker:good ever comes of it. So whenever we just surround
Speaker:ourselves and say, this this is what I believe and I'm only hanging out with
Speaker:people that believe like me, And so nothing good
Speaker:comes out of antagonism, according to Paul Chukot. And yet we have so
Speaker:much antagonism. We have literal bloodshed that's been
Speaker:happening in our country and around the world. We've got, you know, a whole
Speaker:situation in Middle East and other places in the world where there's just lots
Speaker:of bad things going on. So
Speaker:the idea here is to continue to speak to
Speaker:this. I think it's all gonna shake out in the next year or so. I
Speaker:think we're gonna come out of a better place Mhmm. Or do you think we
Speaker:got a a period of chaos yet to go? I
Speaker:think the churches has a responsibility to continue
Speaker:to echo the call of the
Speaker:value and worth of all people. Somehow, we
Speaker:have made it okay to say some people are more
Speaker:valuable than others. Some freedoms, should
Speaker:be allotted to some but not to others. Take, for example,
Speaker:the the problem of hunger, the problem of homelessness
Speaker:to the unhoused. We must be able to say
Speaker:having shelter should be a basic right.
Speaker:Having basic nutrition nutritional
Speaker:food should be a basic right in a country that
Speaker:has as much as So much. So much. Yeah. So
Speaker:we we somehow we have figured out, well, a certain percentage of people
Speaker:really don't need to have a living wage. You know? There C to
Speaker:be some way that the church can work in in concert with
Speaker:government and politics for more of that to happen, and yet we know
Speaker:that oftentimes doesn't work out to be. But
Speaker:we shouldn't stop, should we? No. We shouldn't stop. Never we should never
Speaker:tire doing good. So give us kind of a word to kind of give us
Speaker:kinda marching orders as it were for the church moving forward to
Speaker:not stop even when we are Encouraged. Because I just have to say
Speaker:to you, as we sit here today, Bishop, I'm a little bit discouraged about our
Speaker:political landscape and about, you know, the way things are going in in that
Speaker:regard. So what would could be an encouraging word to people who are discouraged a
Speaker:little bit like me about this, about to keep pressing on, to keep
Speaker:going, no matter what, that God's still good all the time and all the time
Speaker:God is good, whatever it would be, would be kind of an encouraging word to
Speaker:those who are a little bit frustrated with the political scene right now. Well, I
Speaker:think we should we should continue to pray. We should register and
Speaker:vote. Yes. Register and vote. And we should speak out
Speaker:on the things that we think are are are are are are
Speaker:are beneficial to the common good and to
Speaker:beloved community. We should not just pray that sentence. I C
Speaker:this in my sermon, a jurisdiction. We should not just pray that
Speaker:sentence that the lame man probably pray pray from the
Speaker:from the serenity prayer. Yes. Lord, help me accept the things I
Speaker:cannot change. Maybe we should pray more what Angela
Speaker:Davis and others have said. I think what God Peter really probably said,
Speaker:let me change the things that I cannot
Speaker:accept. Yeah. So let's not just, you know, say, oh, wow.
Speaker:This is this is and I get discouraged too, you know. Right. But I remind
Speaker:reminded that polls That's more of a prophetic word rather than just a word of
Speaker:acceptance there. There you go. Yeah. There you go. And I'm reminded that
Speaker:polls don't elect presidents. Oh. People do. Oh, there we go. So
Speaker:so we should we should vote, and we should
Speaker:vote. For me, my voting is predicated on what kind of
Speaker:will that would my vote contribute to a better world for my granddaughter?
Speaker:Yes. And that may seem a bit selfish. Oh, no. I get it. But if
Speaker:I'm voting, I'm not voting just for me. I'm, you know, I'm on the second
Speaker:I'm in the 4th quarter of life. Sure. So
Speaker:I want to, if I best I can, to contribute to a
Speaker:world and a society and a country and a community
Speaker:that is welcoming to my granddaughter and to all of her
Speaker:generation as well. That's worthy of praying about. So with your granddaughter and
Speaker:mine and my granddaughter's and mine and other people's lives and
Speaker:mine and and the and the those pastors and churches are kinda midst
Speaker:of turmoil. Can you pray us through this one? Can you offer us a prayer
Speaker:of hope and opportunity in the midst of some of this
Speaker:challenge that we have. Let us pray. Dear beloved friends,
Speaker:God is love. God is love.
Speaker:As Pope Francis says, God has a name and God's name is love.
Speaker:So, Lord, we give you thanks and praise for for the
Speaker:ability to speak to people all across the globe through a
Speaker:podcast. And, Lord, we want the person who's listening
Speaker:right now to know that you love you love
Speaker:us, you care for us, and you want us to care for one another.
Speaker:We thank you, oh god, for the rain and for the sunshine.
Speaker:We thank you, oh god, for creation and for our
Speaker:commitment, oh god, to be better stewards of creation.
Speaker:We ask that you bless us, oh god, not that we might be silent in
Speaker:the face of oppression, but we might speak
Speaker:up and we might vote and that we might
Speaker:give voice to those things that break your
Speaker:heart. Lord, we ask that you would help us to
Speaker:become more hospitable, more humble,
Speaker:more useful, and more cognizant of the
Speaker:fact that people need community. They need
Speaker:a sense of belonging. They need doorways to friendship
Speaker:and portals of prophetic witness. Help us,
Speaker:oh god, not when we are able to go to church,
Speaker:but help us to be the church so that wherever we
Speaker:are, people might look at us and say, oh, I know
Speaker:they are Christian by their love, by their love.
Speaker:In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Speaker:Amen. Amen. Amen. And we thank you for listening to the To Be
Speaker:Encouraged podcast with Bishop Julius c Trimble. I'm
Speaker:your co host, reverend doctor Brad Miller. We thank you for listening to the podcast
Speaker:where we look to offer an encouraging word to an often
Speaker:Encouraged world.
