An Open Letter to Break Silence

Dear friends:

For the past many weeks we have been bombarded with political advertisements, mass emails and forwards which plead with us to cast our votes for a particular candidate.  More often than not, the writers, politicians and various political action committees play upon our worst fears to illicit our valued vote.

In the midst of this deluge of political pleading for our attention, I am writing to ask something of you.  I am not writing to ask that you support a particular candidate or a particular position.  I am not asking that you vote Democrat or Republican.  What I am asking is this: will you vote out of hope?

For years I have been struggling to reconcile the principles and teachings of the man Jesus with the Christian values I so fervently believed growing up.  I asked myself, do the principles and teachings of Jesus apply solely to individuals or do they apply equally to nations?  Finally, some 18 years later, I have run out of excuses.  I no longer can claim to be the “realistic optimist” I once was.  No longer can I profess to believe in clever theological arguments which, when seen in light of human history and when evaluated from the heart, seem so empty.

When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. broke his silence and came out affirmatively against the Vietnam War he simply stated: “A time comes when silence is betrayal.”  I believe that the time has come for us.

So, will you join others of like minds and respond to the resounding echo of Dr. King’s words to break our silence?  Will you write your congressman and ask him or her to adhere to the principles and teachings of Jesus as they make decisions that so powerfully affect the world?  Will you ask them to follow the radical life changing principles he so clearly announced in his Sermon on the Mount?

Hundreds of letters to your United States Representative will go unnoticed.  Thousands will not.  Thousands of letters to your United States Senator will go unnoticed.  Tens of Thousands will not.  Do not tell them what you are against, but speak to them about what you are for.  Tell them not to go forward in violence, but to go forward in peace and humility.  In our physical wealth let us address the poverty and brokenness of the human condition both here and abroad.  Let us spend twice the money we spent on bombs, and rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq.  Let us seek to love our neighbor as ourselves by reaching out in a spirit of reconciliation to our Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Atheist brothers and sisters.

Whether you believe the man Jesus is a historical anomaly, a great teacher, a prophet of old or whether you profess him to be Lord, his teachings are just as relevant today as they were some two thousand years ago.

Below are links where you can find the address and name of your United States congressmen.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml

Andrew