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James Talarico Delivers Sermon Against Christian Nationalism | James Talarico | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: James Talarico Delivers Sermon Against Christian Nationalism
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my my granddad was a Baptist preacher
I've been a member of this church since
I was two years old and now I'm in
seminary studying to become a minister
myself my faith means more to me than
anything but if I'm being very honest
sometimes I hesitate for or telling
someone I'm a
Christian there is a cancer on our
religion until we confess the sin that
is Christian nationalism and exercise it
from our
churches our religion can do a lot more
damage than a six-pack of Lone
Star there is nothing Christian about Christian
Christian
nationalism it is the worship of power
Social Power economic power political
power in the name of Christ and it is a
betrayal of Jesus of Nazareth he told us
we would know them by their
fruits Jesus includes Christian nationalism
nationalism
excludes Jesus
liberates Christian nationalism
controls Jesus
saves Christian nationalism kills Jesus
started a universal movement based on
mutual love Christian nationalism is a
sectarian movement based on Mutual hate
Jesus came to transform the world
Christian nationalism is here to
maintain the status
quo they have co-opted the Son of God
they've turned this humble Rabbi into a
gun toing gay bashing science denying
money loving fear-mongering fascist and
it is incumbent upon all Christians to
confront it and denounce it
amen Christian nationalism is on the
rise two years ago Christian
nationalists stormed the US capital
killing police officers while carrying
crosses and signs reading Jesus
saves last year Christian nationalists
on the US Supreme Court overturned Road
versus Wade allowing States like ours to
Outlaw abortion even in cases of rape and
and
incest and as we speak two Christian
nationalist billionaires are trying to
replace public schools in Texas with
private Christian
schooling we are closer than we think to
a Christian
theocracy how did this happen the first
followers of Jesus didn't call
themselves Christians they called
themselves the way their crucified
teacher taught them a different way of
Being Human and they intended to follow
it the early church was a revolutionary
Community built on radical Love A
peculiar people who shared all their
possessions and refused to participate
in the economy the military or the
culture the book of Acts tells us that
the first Christians were persecuted for
turning the world upside
down but 300 years after Jesus was
executed by the Roman Empire Emperor
Constantine made Christianity the
official state religion of that very same
same
Empire Constantine was the first Christian
Christian
Nationalist and ever since the powers
that be have been taming Christianity
domesticating it diluting it into
something more palatable
palatable
pro-war Pro wealth Pro white
supremacy that original countercultural
movement became a
tranquilized privatized weaponized
religion the official sponsor of Western
Civilization a religion of sharing
became a religion of
greed a religion of Peace became a
religion of violence
vience a religion of forgiveness became
a religion of
judgment a religion of ego
transformation became a religion of ego
affirmation today Christian
nationalists obsess over people's
private parts while the planet
Burns eight men own as much wealth as
3.6 billion people and Christian
nationalists are boycotting
Barbie the Bible doesn't mention
abortion or gay marriage but it goes on
and on about forgiving debt liberating
the poor and Healing The
Sick Christian nationalists like to say
this is a Christian Nation not only is
that historically inaccurate not only is
that theologically Blasphemous but it's
also just not true look around us if
this was truly a Christian Nation we
would forgive student debt if this was
truly a Christian Nation we would
guarantee Health Care to every single
person if this was truly a Christian
Nation we would love all of our lgbtq
neighbors if this was truly a Christian
Nation we would make sure every child in
this state and in this country was
housed fed clothed educated and insured
if this was truly a Christian Nation we
would never make it a Christian Nation
because we know the table of Fellowship
is open to everybody including our
Buddhist Hindu Jewish Muslim sik and atheist
atheist
neighbors Jesus could have
started a Christian
theocracy but love would never do that
the closest thing we have to the kingdom
of heaven is a multi-racial
multicultural democracy where power is
truly shared among all people something
that's yet to exist in human
history Christian nationalism is not
only a threat to the American experiment
in democracy it's also a threat to the
Gospel of Jesus Christ when someone
asked Jesus to name his most important
commandment he cheats and gives two two
that he says are related the first is to
love God the second he said is like it
love thy neighbor as
thyself it's like it because when I
recognize the Divine image in myself I
can't help but recognize it in my
neighbor whether they're Christian or
not whether they're religious or not in
the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus
specifically defines neighbor as someone
different from us racially economically politically
politically
religiously God loves
diversity God loves variety just look
around this big beautiful planet of ours
do we really think think God would make
all these beautiful people with all
their beautiful traditions for no reason at
all there are so many Pathways to the
sacred the Islamic Mystic roomie said
every religion has love but love has no
religion God is so much bigger than our
human categories God is not a
presbyterian God is not a
Christian God is not a noun at all God
Is A
Verb God is not a being God is being
itself God is love and that's why Jesus
is against anything that gets in the way
of that love between neighbors including
religion that's why he's always breaking
religious rules that's why he's always
getting in trouble with the religious
authorities that's why he says Sinners
will see the Kingdom of Heaven before
religious people do sorry to everyone here
here
I know you I know you came all this
way religious Supremacy is
antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus
Christ Jesus didn't come to establish a
Christian Nation he came to reveal
Ultimate Reality which he called the
kingdom of God but it's not like any
Kingdom we've ever known instead of a
throne Jesus sits at a table
instead of a
warhorse Jesus rides a
donkey instead of a
sword Jesus picks up a
cross the kingdom of God
inverts the power dynamics of all the
kingdoms in the
world true strength is
vulnerability true status is
equality true wealth is sharing
and we as Christians are called to
realize that Kingdom on Earth as it is
in heaven not by force but by
faith Jesus asked us to have the faith
of a mustard seed trusting that by
living and dying for love we give birth
to a better world that's not easy to
do in a world full of fear Jesus knew we
would put our trust in something other
than God something other than love as a
Jewish rabbi he called those things
Idols money
status and the most dangerous Idol of all
all
power when Jesus was tempted by the
devil in the wilderness one of the
things the devil offered was power all
the kingdoms of the world and Jesus rejected
rejected
it when his disciples asked who will be
the most powerful in the kingdom of God
Jesus said you know the Lords of the
earth push their people
around but among you it'll be different
whoever wants to be a leader among you
must be a
servant and when they still didn't get
it and they asked who will be the
greatest in the kingdom of God Jesus
said little
children the least powerful but most
trusting members of any human
Community that's the kingdom of God I
think Chance the Rapper said it
best don't believe in Kings believe in the
the
Kingdom Jesus knew in the words of
Dorothy Sola there is only one
legitimation of power and that is to
share it with
others power that is not shared power
that is not transformed into love is
pure domination and
oppression Christian nationalists are
more committed to the love of power than
to the power of
love and it exposes a lack of
faith because the opposite of faith is
not doubt doubt is a healthy part of any
faith the opposite of faith is
control when we stop trusting God when
we stop trusting love we start taking control
control
ourselves Christian nationalists want to
control what we read who we marry where
we travel when we have
children they want to control our minds
and our
bodies oh ye of little
faith Christian nationalists trust
domination because they think domination
is what
works but Jesus revealed that the true
power of the universe is not
domination but
love in Daoism they teach that over time
the soft overcomes the
hard the water wears down the
rock the wind takes out the
mountain the grass abends the
concrete the meek inherit the
earth violence may win in the short run
but in the end love always
wins Jesus said this kingdom of God is
in our midst it's hiding in plain sight
Heaven is already here inside of us
above us all around
us on my mom's side my granddad was a
Baptist preacher but on my dad's side my
grandpa talar Rico never went to
church but he was one of the most
generous compassionate moral people I've
ever met he was an immigrant from Italy
whose family saw firsthand the dangers
of mixing church and state he settled in
the Texas
country and on Sunday mornings he would
take these long walks through the wild
flowers and Live Oaks and he would take
me with him he said it was the best
chance to see
Outdoors biologists tell us that
everything in nature is connected and
evolving toward greater
Union anthropologists tell us that our
ability to share and cooperate is Humanity's
Humanity's
superpower and astrophysicists tell us
that the universe is just gentle enough
to make our existence
possible this universe of ours is
nothing but gratuitous
Grace wrote that the very physical
universe is
love we see it
in the harmonies of Music the principles
of mathematics the patterns of nature we
are all
expressions of that creative power we
are the universe becoming aware of
itself as children of God Children of
the cosmos we are loved
loved unconditionally
unconditionally indiscriminately
infinitely no achievement can add to it
no mistake can take from it no amount of
church going or church missing can
change it
that's that's truly deserving of the
title good
news we are
made by
love with love to
love I call that love God you may use a
different word and that's okay there are
a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the
ground we can
cure the disease of Christian
nationalism we can protect against the
virus of religious extremism with healthy
healthy
religion the great faith traditions of
the world have so much to offer Us in
this time of global crisis hinduism's
aema provides an alternative to the
logic of
violence Buddhist Meditation provides an
alternative to the abuse of our
attention Judaism Sabbath provides an
alternative to the demands of
capitalism and in a world where
everything can be bought and sold
including the Earth itself native
American traditions provide an
alternative to ecological
extraction it's hard it is so hard to
protect your spirit in a world trying to kill
kill
it that's why we need Faith communities
like this one that's why we need stories
and traditions and practices that heal
our soul and transform our
mind every time in this
Sanctuary that we say the
prayers sing the hymns sprinkle the
water eat the bread drink the wine we're
tuning Our
Hearts our Buddhist friends tell us that
compassion takes practice
neuroscientists tell us that we can
become Kinder more empathetic if we work
at it things like love peace and hope
they require strength training a gym for the
the
heart and so every week We Gather here
to sing our songs and tell our
stories just for the
opportunity to in the words of tikn Han
dwell in the
ultimate to
together just for a
moment and that's almost better than a
cold glass of
beer I invite you now to your own
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