The Jim Wallis Podcast

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I Believe Oct 03, 2018

Show notes

As people of faith, we know the importance of professing our beliefs.

We are in the midst of a national trauma, with a vast number of women in America — across political lines — being re-traumatized by the events of last week. This moment requires pastoral care for survivors and those who love them, prophetic truth-telling about what is (or ought to be) morally acceptable and unacceptable, and the hope for some more profiles in courage in the United States Senate.

There is a powerful video on the Sojourners website, that every one should watch and share with their communities.

https://sojo.net/articles/i-believe-you-church-leaders-respond-survivors

Survivors have powerful stories and we must listen and believe what they are telling us. The most public of those survivor stories was on display across the country as the nation was riveted to the broadcast and streaming of the Senate Hearing and the courageous testimony of of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

Now is the time for men and women to follow her lead and demonstrate their courage. It is time for people of faith and moral principle to raise their voices to their senators, calling for the truth and rejecting Kavanaugh’s nomination unless the FBI investigation definitively confirms Kavanaugh’s testimony.

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Three Funerals Sep 13, 2018

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I observed the funerals of three people recently: John McCain, Aretha Franklin, and Andre Presser. You may know the first two, but I felt such gratitude for a great man like Andre Presser, who wouldn’t be nationally recognized, but will be remembered by countless people as one who helped to shape and change so many lives. May we all live with that as our goal — to inspire and serve those we encounter, regardless of the scale.

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Endnagered Species Spotted on Capitol Hill: Senators Reaching Across the Aisle to Unite Families Jul 31, 2018

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In a time when bipartisanship seems like a forgotten dream, it is important for us to find and celebrate cases of lawmakers coming together, regardless of party and ideology, to address the many real and immediate challenges we face as a country. Especially on issues of importance to the faith community, we need exceptional and encouraging displays of bipartisanship that we hope can serve as a model moving forward on issues of clear moral and ethical concerns — ones that the faith community can and should help to lead. It is absolutely critical for the faith community to play a role in encouraging bipartisanship in the difficult days ahead. In response to the political crisis that we are in, it is my hope that some critical moral moments of cooperation could help to save the nation’s soul and our very democracy going forward.

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The Truth Will Set You Free...Unless Donald Trump Defiles the Meaning of Truth Jul 25, 2018

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Make no mistake: Trump has always desired to be a strong man and now he desires to be seen as a strong man as president of the United States. His admiration for autocrats is by no means confined to Vladimir Putin. He has seemed to reserve much of his praise in public and private comments for autocratic leaders like President Erdogan of Turkey and Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and much of his criticism for allies leading European democracies. He finds the checks and balances of the American system inconvenient, and he clearly wishes that even the modest checks he has had to contend with so far weren't there.

But Trump is more than a liar. He has always tried to change what people believe about the truth — suggesting that there is not any truth, and people should just believe whatever Trump says. Listen to him, and hear him in any situation trying to change the truth to whatever he says it is. This goes all the way back to day one of his presidency, his inauguration day, when Trump said the sun was shining though it was continually raining. It has been raining on our democracy ever since.

Donald Trump is NO Strongman by any values of the Christian faith.

He is weak morally;
He is weak intellectually;
He is weak emotionally.

So what do we do about Donald Trump? As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said, in another time of crisis, “We’ve got some difficult days ahead.”

We can’t control all the politics, but we can decide what we will do.

It is time for Christians

to lift up the truth over falsehood, as a way of life;
to defend public service over political tyranny; and
to always protect the increasingly vulnerable.

It is time to reclaim Jesus.

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First They Came for the Migrants... Jul 05, 2018

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The Trump Administration's border policies targeting migrants and Muslims is a test for religious leaders to stand and take action for the beliefs they profess.

The recently upheld travel ban is motivated by religious animus and racial bigotry: The Muslims being banned by this order are primarily people of color; and their targeting is directly related to the white nationalist ideology that has now taken up office in the White House, which is a great danger to America’s future. The use of religion and race for political purposes undermines the United States’ fundamental commitment to being a pluralist and democratic society.

We also see this abhorrent ideology being activated at our borders where the Trump government cruelly and inhumanely separated thousands of children, toddlers, and infants from their families. As the most vulnerable among us are being strategically targeted and denied basic human rights, these cruel practices bring to mind a quotation from Rev. Martin Niemoller when he spoke about his time in a World War II Concentration Camp:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Religious leaders must speak up against the immoral choices of this president and his administration, as well as those in Congress and the courts who should know better but choose loyalty to a man, a party, or an ideology over the good of the country, the best principles of the Constitution, and true religious liberty for all religions. There is more than politics at stake here; at stake is the soul of our nation and the integrity of our faith.

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"Religion is this...to look after orphans and widows in their distress." The Anti-Biblical Actions of the Government Against the Most Vulnerable Jun 28, 2018

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James 1:27 clearly states " Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." Yet Attorney General Jeff Sessions perverts the meaning of other Biblical verses to justify his horrific treatment of migrant families and migrant children specifically.

Following the signing of the Reclaiming Jesus declaration, multiracial elders from across traditions — including evangelical, mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, and African-American churches — yesterday spoke out about the horrific border crisis . We spoke out because the Trump administration is abusing Scripture to justify abusing migrant children and their families. We said the separation of immigrant children from their parents is not biblical.

It is now time to morally press our members of Congress to permanently prevent the Trump administration from family separation, to ensure the reunification of separated families, and to demand the humane treatment of families seeking asylum who have yet to commit a crime and have their case adjudicated with empathy and justice.

It is time to cast the light of Jesus on this political crisis.This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another …— 1 John 1:5-7a

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. — John 1:5

So Stand up. Speak Out. Say No. And pray to God that we can be a different people and a different country than this President envisions us being.

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Good News or Bad News? The Meaning of Evangelical in 21st Century America Jun 22, 2018

Show notes

On June 14th, 350 Christian leaders, who work on the front lines of the battle for The Soul of the Nation, gathered in Washington DC to convene and create an opportunity for building relationships and cross-sector collaboration.

Five of those leaders gathered together to lay bare the controversy of what it means to be an Evangelical.

· The Reverend Jim Wallis, Founder and President of Sojourners

· Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, President of Skinner Leadership Institute

· Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, the founder of the Faith-Rooted Organizing UnNetwork.

· Rev. Nikki Toyama-Szeto, Executive Director Evangelicals for Social Action

· Rev. Wes Granberg Michaelson, the former General Secretary of the Reformed Church in America

The question examined by this Dream Team of Christian Social Leaders was if the word Evangelical still means “Good News,” especially for the growing minority populations in America.

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra: “In M25 (Matthew 25) we are constantly intentional in what we call justice in the process…In all of our processes and all of structures, we try to practice being the body of Christ…It’s a profoundly biblical shift.”

Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner: “We have an identity crisis in America…The Church of Christ is the body…We have so segmented ourselves that we have not clarified that those who are aligned with Christ are aligned with each other.”

Rev. Nikki Toyama-Szeto: “The Church in America is actually going to precede [the] demographic shift. What our churches in our pews are going to look like, that’s going to happen in our churches ten years before it happens along Main Street on America. The church could reimagine how we live our life together as familia.”

Rev. Wes Granberg Michaelson: “We have to de-Americanize the Bible…The Gospel of Jesus Christ has a political and social and economic impact. It did then and does now…Romans 13 didn’t mean we were justified in dropping Napalm on Vietnam … [It] doesn’t justify us separating vulnerable families at the border.

The Reverend Jim Wallis: “The parties…want to use us and abuse us and…that’s true on both sides of the aisle…How do we evaluate our public life by proclaiming Jesus?”

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. — John 1:5

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Let Your Light Shine Jun 08, 2018

Show notes

Now that several million people have watched the video of Reclaiming Jesus, it is time for us to to take our response to a higher level. Signing the Declaration is a good first step but now it is time to action, to answer the call.

We as elders deeply believe in this Pentecost season that the Holy Spirit is at work, even in the darkness of this political moment. We feel it calling us to reclaim Jesus from those who have appropriated, co-opted, and hijacked his name for worldly political and financial power. We are now asking each of you to help show the world that the followers of Jesus refuse to be complicit and refuse to be silent. Will you answer the call to Reclaim Jesus? As elders we are inviting all of you to join us in committing to bringing this declaration into your personal and public lives: into your conversations, into your churches, into communities, and into your nation.

As a visible symbol of your commitment to Reclaiming Jesus, we are asking you to partake in candleight vigils. Candles and candlelight vigils represent this movement: The symbolism of a candlelight vigil — of a host of lights together shining in the darkness — has often been powerfully used in dark political or religious times and has often made a situation-changing difference. Candlelight vigils were widespread in South Africa during the oppression of apartheid. In the mid-1980s in the Philippines, peaceful demonstrations including candlelight vigils helped topple the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. In South Korea just last year, the “ candlelight revolution,” helped impeach a corrupt regime. One of the most powerful examples of the power of a candlelight vigil that spurred change many thought impossible is what happened in Leipzig, East Germany in October of 1989. After seven years of weekly “Prayers for Peace” at St. Nicholas Church, a new candlelight vigil began on Oct. 9, which spread to the streets each week and eventually gained 120,000 people. After only a month, the Berlin Wall came down — showing again the power of light in the darkness.

I keep going back these days to the Gospel of John, which begins with an image of Christ as light. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (1:5 NIV).” As many have done before, it is time again to trust the light of Christ, join the light of Christ, and take the light of Jesus into the world — believing that the darkness, in the end, cannot overcome that light.

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Answer the Call: Bring your Faith to the Streets Jun 04, 2018

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Thousands of faithful people filled two churches to over-capacity the Thursday after Pentecost Sunday, emulating the early followers of Jesus, who took their faith to the streets during the Pentecost season. After hearing inspirational talks from church leaders who were the original signatories to the Reclaiming Jesus Declaration, the multitude marched to the White House to pray and articulate the articles of faith required to Reclaim Jesus.

In addition to declaring what Christians believe, those gathered outside the White House also proclaimed what they rejected. As Bishop Michael Curry and Rev. Jim Wallis said in a recent letter to church leaders, Reclaiming Jesus "is not just a statement, but the beginning of a process of discernment, prayer, reflection, and action that we believe–and have been told my many others–our churches and their pastors urgently need."

We are living through perilous and polarizing times as a nation, with a dangerous crisis of moral and political leadership at the highest levels of our government and in our churches. We believe the soul of the nation and the integrity of faith are now at stake.

It is time to be followers of Jesus before anything else—nationality, political party, race, ethnicity, gender, geography—our identity in Christ precedes every other identity. We pray that our nation will see Jesus’ words in us. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

Let’s call out the ungodly events happening every week, many emanating from the White House with the silence and complicity of white evangelical religious leaders. It is clearly time to reclaim Jesus, in the midst of those who are attempting to co-opt Jesus for political gain.

Pentecost was the beginning of a new time in the Church’s life, when Christ-followers were empowered by the Holy Spirit. May we also be given the courage to take our faith to the streets of our personal and public lives.

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Refuse to be Complicit in the Hijacking of Jesus May 21, 2018

Show notes

In its first two days of release, over 800,000 people watched the Reclaiming Jesus video, seeing and hearing a broadly diverse group of church elders stand up for the principles of Jesus. As of Monday May 21, 2018, that number has almost doubled to well over 1.5 Million viewers.

Now, during this Pentacost Season, is the time time for you to stand up for your faith, watch the video (https://bit.ly/2wJr2W0), and share it with your community via Facebook or Twitter. Bring it to your pastor and ask him or her to show it to your congregation this Sunday as part of how you observe Pentecost. If you are a pastor, please watch this video and prayerfully consider commending the message of these church elders to your parishioners or congregants on Sunday.

The Holy Spirit is at work even in the darkness of this political moment. We feel it calling us to reclaim Jesus from those who have appropriated, co-opted, and hijacked his name for worldly power. Will you join us and show the world that the followers of Jesus refuse to be complicit and refuse to be silent?

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