bishopkencarter.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

My goal is not to spend $ today on anything. I’m learning more about businesses + corporations who use their economic gain for the flourishing of all, especially the vulnerable. I will support them. I will cease supporting businesses that directly harm the poor, LGBTQIA+ and our elders. #boycott

submitted 6 days ago • 1 comment

In the United States, to support Medicaid is to be pro-life. The majority of U.S. citizens know this. Our elected leaders at the moment, by a very slim majority, have embraced a culture of death. We call upon the power and intervention of God, who is our judge and our hope.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

My reflection this morning. Thanks for reading, subscribing (no paywall) and sharing. Be encouraged!

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

If you want a definition of integrity and courage for the present moment, read this.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Pam and I met these two young women from Ukraine in July, 2023, in work with ReThinking Conflict, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They are fierce, committed leaders, and said repeatedly to us, “do not forget Ukraine, do not forget us.” I’m sickened by the U.S. abandonment and blame of #Ukraine.

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

I love the Guardian. I have subscribed and one can also access it in many U.S. online libraries, as long as these are funded.

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

The cost of deconstructing government services is being seen in #wnc. These Republican policies are doing harm to the mountains and the recovery. And the cruelty of it is the point.

submitted 16 days ago • 0 comments

Grinding the Beans in a Constitutional Crisis. Lisa Miller’s The Awakened Brain. The Sopranos and our national condition. And why we are being called to stand in the gap. Thanks for reading, subscribing (it’s free) and sharing.

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

The cruelty is the point.

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

Thank you for your witness!

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Thank you!

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Love this. Great people!

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

Tell stories of courage and action in our constitutional crisis. Avoid turning on each other. Carve out space for beauty and joy. Be in it for the long haul. Set boundaries. Be open to new allies. Set a limit on doomscrolling. Trust in God. Your gifts are for others. Live one day at a time.

submitted 20 days ago • 2 comments

Because I am a follower of Jesus, I understand the public health to be a sacred trust. Today our nation (by a very narrow vote) has treated this carelessly, opting for conspiracy theories rather than science. All of which boggles the mind. Stay safe out there.

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

One of the casualties of our constitutional crisis, which we will need to rebuild. #usaid #crueltyisthepoint #mercy

submitted 22 days ago • 2 comments

Congratulations!

submitted 22 days ago • 1 comment

Thank you!

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

Love Luka! #wildfires #nba

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

Welcome! Feels more like an island of sanity!

submitted 23 days ago • 1 comment

A current diagnosis of our national polity. Of the 3 branches of government, the legislative + judicial are becoming increasingly irrelevant. The executive is becoming fused with the (billionaire) $ sector. Our political hope is that the legislative + judicial wake up to their growing irrelevance.

submitted 25 days ago • 0 comments

Thank you Deborah!

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

@bittersouth.bsky.social @theassemblync.bsky.social @altnps.bsky.social @baseballamerica.com @hcrichardson.bsky.social Friday Follows

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

The church is what we do next. Both the film and this reflection are profound.

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

I’ve already seen federal assistance in humanitarian disasters compromised by the party in power in relation to the #wnc hurricanes and the #california wildfires. Elimination of #FEMA would do further harm. More mercy, less cruelty. We have crises without inventing new ones (tariffs).

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

Just circulating this again. Mercy, not cruelty.

submitted 35 days ago • 0 comments

If I had to choose eggs or coffee, I would choose coffee. #Ifykyk

submitted 38 days ago • 1 comment

Sunday Morning. Find a mainline Protestant church and support it (my translation of Timothy Snyder). A sermon can be about extending mercy to the less fortunate. But that does not resonate with a culture of grievance. Here ends the lesson. Thanks be to God!

submitted 39 days ago • 1 comment

100 years ago the swastika cross became a symbol of hatred, racial purification + violence. Followers of Jesus have the opportunity now to say no to that cross, which was a distortion + to take up the cross of Jesus who is God’s love for all people + modeled non-violence in bearing the cross.

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

That the bishop’s words elicit hate is nothing new. This was and is the experience of the prophet. We are all under the mercy and justice of God. Myself included. And if you have a problem with what I’m saying, don’t complain to me. Take it up w/ God. A prophet once said that also :-). (2/2)

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

The church and the state are separate. The church speaks not w/ partisan power but at the level of values. At her best, the church speaks the values of God’s Word. Let’s open our Bibles to Micah 6: 8 and then slowly read the Bishop Budde’s words. I hear justice, mercy and humility in them. (1/2)

submitted 42 days ago • 2 comments

Adaptation is not compromise. It is learning to not only survive but thrive in a changed environment. And what that means for community.

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

To adapt is to learn to work together differently for the future that includes all of us. Random thoughts on the presidential transition.

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

I’m honored to serve as a United Methodist Bishop. I was honored to contribute to this letter. I affirm this letter, on behalf of immigrants who are all children of God and who have made ours a better nation. I affirm this letter as an act of integrity. It’s important that we speak this weekend.

submitted 46 days ago • 1 comment

And, to provoke the faith community, equality is rooted in the creation of ALL people in the image of God. And that image is love. To miss that leads to religious abuse and harm. We have not taught our tradition well and there are consequences.

submitted 54 days ago • 0 comments

What is underneath the practice of responding to natural disasters with culture wars for partisan gain? The raw desire for power, the incompetence of work avoidance and a lack of empathy for human suffering. #california #wildfires #helene #wnc

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments

The work of peacemaking in the church is not avoidance of hard conversation. It is recognition that in some communities a local church may be the only place where people encounter different perspectives in proximity. Grateful to co-author this article with colleague Rev. Beth Crissman.

submitted 56 days ago • 0 comments

January 6, 2021 (the icon)

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

January 6, 2021 (4) I recognize the roots of violence within myself (Sermon on the Mount). Mature followers of Jesus can be a part of the solution. The harm done four years ago was real. We are called to be peacemakers amidst death, destruction and hatred on this solemn day of remembrance.

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

January 6, 2021 (3) The possibility of democracy—which after the violent transition of power in 2020 I’ll never take for granted—is that every person is seen as equal, as valued, as human, and, I would add, as created in the image of God who formed each of us (Genesis 1).

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

January 6, 2021 (2) I’ve been influenced by the reading of Gregory Boyle’s The Whole Language and have come to see this as a day of gang violence. It was a physical reminder of our national sickness, a part of the larger work of voter suppression, with elements of Christian nationalism.

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

January 6, 2021 (1) 5 deaths 175 law enforcement officers injured All of the activities captured by technology, much of it by the actors themselves, and their motivations Confederate flags, Nazi symbols and a noose were visibly present Damage to the U.S. Capitol exceeded $30 million

submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

The reporting from New Orleans seems slow in coming. And driving a truck at high speed into a crowd of people meets my definition of terrorism.

submitted 64 days ago • 0 comments

This is the crucial and sadly the accurate distinction. He came to (and for) his own people and they did not receive him.

submitted 66 days ago • 0 comments

Beautiful

submitted 66 days ago • 0 comments

If Jesus is Lord and if the Bible is true, this man was a great person, leader, president, disciple. To teach Sunday School and to build houses with the poor is personal and social holiness. He came to his own people and they did not receive him. Rest in peace President Carter!

submitted 67 days ago • 0 comments

I’m hoping that pastors, church musicians, worship leaders and tech assistants are enjoying what I call the (real) Holy Week. #peaceonearth #emptiness #sabbath

submitted 68 days ago • 0 comments

Merry Christmas friends!

submitted 71 days ago • 1 comment

I would share this as a benediction on #ChristmasEve when I served as a pastor. Love Thurman, love these words.

submitted 71 days ago • 0 comments

Love #9LC. We listened today on WDAV while driving to see Pam’s mother in her assisted living home. Hello to friends at Wesley House Cambridge. Staying with the Bidding Prayer, a model of intercession. Peace on earth.

submitted 72 days ago • 0 comments

www.wnccumc.org/newsdetail/a...

submitted 72 days ago • 0 comments