Rick Guy\/The Clarion-Ledger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\u00a0<\/p>\n
For followers of God, politics and religion have always been very closely connected.\u00a0 We are a people determined to see the hand of God move in the land of the living. \u00a0We start to go astray when we remake God into a Republican or Democrat.\u00a0 We forget that we were made for so much more\u2026namely love.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This morning, I woke up to news that Mark Mayfield committed suicide in Mississippi.\u00a0 Most probably didn\u2019t or don\u2019t know anything about him, but Mayfield was an attorney and leader of the Mississippi Tea Party.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know who Mark Mayfield was either until he was charged with conspiring to photograph Senator Thad Cochran\u2019s wife Rose in her nursing home last month.\u00a0 The incident happened when Mayfield\u2019s preferred candidate Chris McDaniel was running neck and neck with Senator Thad Cochran in the Mississippi Republican Primary.\u00a0 A little more than one month later, Chris McDaniel lost and Mark Mayfield took his own life a few days later.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The message of God calls us to love our neighbor as our self.\u00a0 Mark Mayfield confused the allure of politics with the calling of love.\u00a0 I think we do too.\u00a0 Throughout my ministry, I have said political things on social media and in person that were neither loving nor kind.\u00a0 Lately, I have become increasingly reconvicted that followers of God must live beyond the partisan nature of politics and into the life of love.\u00a0 With his wife and two kids, we mourn the loss of Mark Mayfield not because we agree with him politically\u2026whether we do or not\u2026but because we agree with God about love.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tragedy strikes when we place party before people.\u00a0 I pray that we will commit ourselves anew to loving each other regardless of our political stances.\u00a0 Perhaps before that next partisan post or conversation confusing God and partisan politics we should remember Mark Mayfield.<\/p>\n
Amen.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 For followers of God, politics and religion have always been very closely connected.\u00a0 We are a people determined to see the hand of God move in the land of the living. \u00a0We start to go astray when we remake God into a Republican or Democrat.\u00a0 We forget that we were made for so much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2509,"featured_media":1876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[591,853,1390,1406,1491,1810,2076,2166,2170,2216,2302,2304,2618,2619,2620,2715,2721,2946,2958,2959,3050,3148,3390,3437,3468,3667,3675,3721,3930],"class_list":["post-1874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-freshwritings","category-thoughts","tag-chris-mcdaniel","tag-democrat","tag-god","tag-god-is-love","tag-hand-of-god","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-mark","tag-mark-mayfield","tag-mayfield","tag-mississippi","tag-mississippi-tea-party","tag-partisan","tag-partisan-conversation","tag-partisan-post","tag-political","tag-politics","tag-religion","tag-republican","tag-republican-primary","tag-rose-cochran","tag-senator","tag-suicide","tag-tea-party","tag-thad-cochran","tag-took-his-own-life","tag-tragedy","tag-two-kids","tag-wife"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Tragedy of Mark Mayfield and The Call of Love<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" For followers of God, politics and religion have always been very closely connected.\u00a0 We are a people determined to see the hand of God move in the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Tragedy of Mark Mayfield and The Call of Love\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" For followers of God, politics and religion have always been very closely connected.\u00a0 We are a people determined to see the hand of God move in the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jeff Hood\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-27T20:58:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeff Hood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeff Hood\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/\",\"name\":\"The Tragedy of Mark Mayfield and The Call of Love\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-27T20:58:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-27T20:58:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/7520c1e5a6c2879d78536396c58007de\"},\"description\":\" For followers of God, politics and religion have always been very closely connected.\u00a0 We are a people determined to see the hand of God move in the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Tragedy of Mark Mayfield and The Call of Love\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/\",\"name\":\"Jeff Hood\",\"description\":\"Exploring Radical Orthodoxy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/7520c1e5a6c2879d78536396c58007de\",\"name\":\"Jeff Hood\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54ebe6683fcc2aa8526866c4ce7b921c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54ebe6683fcc2aa8526866c4ce7b921c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeff Hood\"},\"description\":\"The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood is a Catholic priest (Old Catholic), theologian, and nationally recognized activist based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. A spiritual advisor to death row inmates across the country, Dr. Hood has accompanied more people to their executions than any other advisor in the U.S., including the first-ever nitrogen hypoxia execution in 2024. His work sits at the intersection of justice, radical compassion, and public theology. Dr. Hood holds advanced degrees from Auburn, Emory, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, University of Alabama, Creighton, and Brite Divinity School, among others. He also earned a PhD in metaphysical theology and founded The New Theology School, where he serves as Dean and Professor of Prophetic Theology. Author of over 100 books\u2014including the award-winning The Courage to Be Queer\u2014Dr. Hood\u2019s writings and activism have been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR, CNN, and more. A frequent collaborator with men on death row, he sees theology as a shared, liberative act. Dr. Hood has served on the leadership teams of organizations like the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. His activism has earned multiple awards, including recognition from PFLAG and the Next Generation Action Network. On July 7, 2016, Dr. Hood led the Dallas protest against police brutality that ended in tragedy. His actions that night saved lives, and his story is now archived in the Dallas Public Library. A father of five, husband to Emily, and friend to the incarcerated, Dr. Hood rejects institutionalism in favor of a theology rooted in people, presence, and prophetic witness.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/author\/jeff-hood\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Tragedy of Mark Mayfield and The Call of Love","description":" For followers of God, politics and religion have always been very closely connected.\u00a0 We are a people determined to see the hand of God move in the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Tragedy of Mark Mayfield and The Call of Love","og_description":" For followers of God, politics and religion have always been very closely connected.\u00a0 We are a people determined to see the hand of God move in the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/","og_site_name":"Jeff Hood","article_published_time":"2014-06-27T20:58:44+00:00","author":"Jeff Hood","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeff Hood","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/","name":"The Tragedy of Mark Mayfield and The Call of Love","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-06-27T20:58:44+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-27T20:58:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/7520c1e5a6c2879d78536396c58007de"},"description":" For followers of God, politics and religion have always been very closely connected.\u00a0 We are a people determined to see the hand of God move in the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/the-tragedy-of-mark-mayfield-and-the-call-of-love\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Tragedy of Mark Mayfield and The Call of Love"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/","name":"Jeff Hood","description":"Exploring Radical Orthodoxy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/7520c1e5a6c2879d78536396c58007de","name":"Jeff Hood","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54ebe6683fcc2aa8526866c4ce7b921c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54ebe6683fcc2aa8526866c4ce7b921c?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Jeff Hood"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood is a Catholic priest (Old Catholic), theologian, and nationally recognized activist based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. A spiritual advisor to death row inmates across the country, Dr. Hood has accompanied more people to their executions than any other advisor in the U.S., including the first-ever nitrogen hypoxia execution in 2024. His work sits at the intersection of justice, radical compassion, and public theology. Dr. Hood holds advanced degrees from Auburn, Emory, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, University of Alabama, Creighton, and Brite Divinity School, among others. He also earned a PhD in metaphysical theology and founded The New Theology School, where he serves as Dean and Professor of Prophetic Theology. Author of over 100 books\u2014including the award-winning The Courage to Be Queer\u2014Dr. Hood\u2019s writings and activism have been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR, CNN, and more. A frequent collaborator with men on death row, he sees theology as a shared, liberative act. Dr. Hood has served on the leadership teams of organizations like the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. His activism has earned multiple awards, including recognition from PFLAG and the Next Generation Action Network. On July 7, 2016, Dr. Hood led the Dallas protest against police brutality that ended in tragedy. His actions that night saved lives, and his story is now archived in the Dallas Public Library. A father of five, husband to Emily, and friend to the incarcerated, Dr. Hood rejects institutionalism in favor of a theology rooted in people, presence, and prophetic witness.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/author\/jeff-hood\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jeffhood\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"-tclhearing40.jpg20140522\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/751\/2014\/06\/tclhearing40.jpg20140522.jpg\")
<\/a>