![\"letter](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/444\/2014\/08\/letter-with-quill-pen.jpg\")
<\/a>Dear Loved Ones,<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sorry it\u2019s been so long since I\u2019ve written. As you might imagine, I\u2019ve had a few things on my plate. Thanks for understanding.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m also sorry that this letter is going to have to be so direct, but I\u2019m afraid recent events have pushed us far past pleasantries.<\/p>\n
Please, throughout the things I have to say in this letter, remember I love you. I do.<\/p>\n
I just wish you loved me back.<\/p>\n
Oh, I know. I hear you say you love me and that really does mean a lot.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just that\u2026<\/p>\n
Well, your actions make me wonder.<\/p>\n
For the moment, let\u2019s get back to business. I need you to remove my name from your money.<\/p>\n
Yes, I know. It makes you feel proud \u2013 even a little bit special having \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d printed on your money, but here\u2019s the thing: a lot of people seem to believe\u00a0it and it\u2019s making me look bad.<\/p>\n
Take Ferguson, Missouri<\/a> for instance.<\/p>\n Police killing a kid who has no weapon? Law enforcement officers intimidating unarmed crowds, calling them \u201canimals,\u201d<\/a> and shooting tear gas at them? Opening fire into a peaceful protest? <\/a>And don\u2019t even get me started on the racism<\/a>.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sorry. When you behave in such unjust ways and\u00a0devalue the lives of others, you don\u2019t get to call yourself a Christian nation \u2013 not that I think you should have done so in the first place.<\/p>\n After all, I\u2019m the God of all people \u2013 not just Christians.<\/p>\n As I have shown you time and time again, I\u2019m much more inclined to lift up crooks, prostitutes and those shunned by society than the powerful.<\/p>\n You? As a nation, those are the people you ignore. You lift up movie stars, politicians and the rich.<\/p>\n Even as my children huddle together to demand better treatment, even as those with power use force over and against those very groups, you are more disturbed by the loss of one of the elite. Admittedly, he one of the very best, but elite none-the-less.<\/p>\n I assure you, while you rightfully mourned him, there was much laughter here as he arrived.<\/p>\n Yes, it was a tragic loss and, yes, there is much to learn from it, but what\u2019s going on in Ferguson is equally tragic and there is much to learn from it too.<\/p>\n Ferguson offers you a snapshot of what your nation has become \u2013 and where it seems to be going.<\/p>\n The machismo of the Second Amendment has been elevated to the level of a demigod. The violence, bullying and overstated privilege that rides along on the back of such evil continues to play itself out over and over again in your nation.<\/p>\n And while some people may complain, my children, particularly the least of these, continue to fall as the fingers of hate, greed and self-importance pull the trigger again and again and again.<\/p>\n At the same time, you\u2019ve managed to make the Constitutional Amendment your nation\u2019s founders believed was important enough to be the first one look like a joke.<\/p>\n Freedom of the press now looks like nothing more than a cover story for a ruling class that prefers to control reporting uprisings from the \u201ccommoners.\u201d<\/p>\n From breaking up Occupy Wall Street to preventing coverage in Ferguson (including arresting reporters<\/a> for simply doing their job), those in power have ignored the First Amendment time and time again for fear of a seed being planted.<\/p>\n They cannot have the masses recognize the power they have \u2013 so, when owning the media doesn\u2019t work, they shut it down.<\/p>\n Do you know how far you have fallen? Do you understand where you are going?<\/p>\n This should be sobering: People in Gaza are tweeting to people in Ferguson<\/a> to help them with handling tear gas being fired at crowds from oppressive governments.<\/p>\n Let the hell of that reality sink in for just a moment.<\/p>\n So, take my name off the money, remove it from your pledge, do not wrap your flag around the Bible even one more time.<\/p>\n I am God. I am not a prop.<\/p>\n I do not want to associate with your politicians, the elite and the powerful.<\/p>\n I will wait with the huddled masses. I will lie on the cold asphalt next to my child Michael Brown. I will be found in the protests of Wall Street and Moral Mondays.<\/p>\n I no longer wish to have my name present on the money that the powerful use to further marginalize my children.<\/p>\n I do not want to be reduced to the God of only one of the nations I love, as you pledge your loyalty to it.<\/p>\n I am not leaving you.<\/p>\n I will stand in the crowds with my faced wrapped in expectation of the first tear gas cannon. I will rush into falling buildings to help those in need. I will stock food pantries and distribute good to those without homes. I will be in the faces of every woman, man and child who suffers, and I will be known through the hands of those who bring them aid.<\/p>\n If you love me, do not tell me.<\/p>\n Show me. \u00a0 Help create a market for Progressive Christianity. Not through big publishers or big denominations, but through the grassroots. Consider supporting Mark\u2019s blogging.<\/a>\u00a0We need to encourage the growth of progressive Christian voices in the marketplace. Even a dollar will help.<\/em> Facebook continues to make it increasingly difficult for me to let you know about new blog posts like this. Please consider signing up for my mailing list where we can insure you are notified.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>Just click here!<\/a><\/p>\n
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\n(In no way do I believe any of us actually know the words of God. This is merely an exercise in hopes of birthing more understanding of what God might say and in order to lend a more macrocosmic point-of-view to the event in Ferguson as well as what those events may say about our nation. It is written in hopes of adding to the larger conversation that is encouraging us to alter our course as a nation.)<\/em><\/p>\n
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