Do No Harm ... But Take No Bull. Do Good ... and Call Out Bad

Opinion

by

Perspectives

Special to United Methodist Insight | Jan. 26, 2026

Tonight I am going to share a devotional about a version of Wesley's Simple Rules that I have slightly altered. Do no harm... but take no bull, Do good... And call out bad, And stay in love with God... as well as who and what God loves.

There is a John Prine song rolling around in my head called, Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore... He wrote it when he was a mail carrier in Chicago in 1965, during the Vietnam War. John died of COVID in 2020 and we lost an American Treasure and writer of hundreds of songs and ballads. He had quit singing this song until 2016. He said, "When the divisions in the country and hate seemed to be running wild again I started singin’ it again." There is a line in the song that says, "And Jesus don't like killin' no matter what the reason's for and your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore.” John Prine's song is six decades old.

We Christians need to really be clear about Jesus and who and what he loves and what he hates--killin' no matter what the reason's for. We must pray and we must take no bull, we must pray and we must call out bad. This is bad! My friend David "Buck" Nichols share this photo that I had not seen. I knew there were 10 shots fired, and it seems Alex Pretti had no gun in his hand, only a phone. This is so bad.

And whether or not it gets worse is by and large in the hands of everyday US citizens. This is not about red or blue, this is about red, white and blue and the freedom and justice we were born 250 ago as a nation of law and order to uphold.

There must be a way to enforce laws without unnecessary gun violence. Maybe 47 more days of training is in order. Maybe more cooperation with state officials and trained local law enforcement, as well as less retribution and vengeance driving actions. Can government agencies and officials still work together for a greater good and safer cities? This must be a citizen-driven outcry for changes that are long overdue.

The Rev. Stan Copeland is a retired clergy member of the Horizon Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church and former senior pastor of Lovers Lane UMC in Dallas, Texas. This post is republished from his Facebook page.