A Faith on the Fringe update, Feb. 1, 2025
It’s been a month since the passing of President Jimmy Carter on Dec. 29. I wrote about him here and here.
As Carter’s funeral procession passed in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, I did a live video and then a second.
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I resigned from my church the last Sunday in December. Here’s an excerpt from my final sermon:
Politicians tell us that Spanish speaking people from Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, or Mexico are streaming into the United States – massive migrations, especially around election time – streaming into the United States, to take our tax dollars and get stuff for free. That’s what the politicians say, that’s what people say online. Donald Trump said that immigrants were eating people’s pets. Immigrants eating people’s cats and dogs. Donald Trump was lying, of course. Immigrants don’t eat people’s dogs and cats. Repeat the lie often enough, and the truth will get drowned out.
Politicians and cable news lie about immigrants, and they want us to believe the lies. Believe the lies, not what we see with our own eyes.
And what do we see with our own eyes? Spanish speaking men climbing all over this roof, working hard and fast and doing a good job, for an employer who trusts them and whom we trust to do the work well and at the quoted price.
What do we see with our own eyes? Spanish speaking neighbors and their kids passing us in the aisle at Walmart – mothers and children. Families. Just like ours.
What do we see with our own eyes? Families sitting quietly, eating at another table across the restaurant. Families, just like ours. Our neighbors.
Politicians and cable news tell us to fear these people, our neighbors. And I just can’t do that, because the Bible says to love them. Jesus says to love them.
In the coming months and throughout 2025, Present Trump intends to spend billions of our tax dollars to arrest and deport our neighbors who don’t have the proper paperwork. Six months from now, the men who installed the new church roof could all be deported to other countries, along with their wives and children. Their children, born in the United States, may be deported to foreign countries they’ve never been to. Never even heard of.
Follow this link to read more.
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Jan. 2 was the last night of Hanukkah. Just like it was 93 years ago. Strikingly similar the way Fascists took over Germany and now the United States.
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On Jan. 6, I recalled the BB gun I received on my 13th birthday.
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In this Facebook live video I talk about Martin Luther King Jr., racism and why I stepped down from my church: https://fb.watch/xplG60kX7f/
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Here’s another Facebook live video I did at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, where slave owner Patrick Henry said, “give me liberty or give me death” without the least bit of self-awareness. https://fb.watch/xqD0aeiB7J/
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On Jan 22, Bishop Mariann Budde offered A Service of Prayer for the Nation and told truth to power. MAGA was enraged to hear a woman minister quote the Bible and ask for mercy in the name of God.
Lines in Christianity are being drawn. American Christianity isn’t arguing over baptism and communion, but about justice and mercy. The line is between those who read the Bible and try to follow Jesus, and those who ignore everything the Bible says and follow Trump.
Trump is living proof that his so-called Christian supporters have a broken theology.
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Click the photo below to visit my suggested reading list for Celtic Christianity and progressive Christianity.
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Follow this link for Christian cartoons.
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I’m now on Bluesky, the growing social media platform that isn’t owned by a white supremacist. Follow me there.
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I’m available to speak at your worship service, or other program, virtually or in person. Please contact me to discuss options. I’m available through Feb. 23 and then have availability after April 27, 2025.
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Thanks for following Faith on the Fringe. Keep the faith.
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Follow this link to learn about my baseball novel, Faith, Hope, and Baseball is available on Amazon:
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Pastor Jim Meisner, Jr. earned his M.Div. from the oldest HBCU seminary in the United States. He’s the author of the novel Faith, Hope, and Baseball, available on Amazon, or follow this link to order an autographed copy. He created and manages the Facebook page Faith on the Fringe.
Faith on the Fringe 