Letter
from Brian McLaren
Dear Friends,
There’s a little saying I’ve referred to often over the
years: The proper response to misuse is not disuse, but wise and proper
use. The saying helped me a lot in my twenty-four years as a pastor,
and it still helps me in my current work as author, speaker, and activist.
It’s particularly appropriate in this election year. A lot
of us feel that we’ve watched large sectors of our Christian
community in the U.S. engage in several decades of divisive, ineffective,
and downright counterproductive political engagement. At best, many
attempts at engagement have been superficial, simplistic, and subject
to binary thinking where one or two wedge issues easily distinguish
the “good guys” from the bad. At worst, we’ve watched
too many of our fellow Christians slip into a “culture war”
mindset where neighbors became enemies to be defeated and silenced,
not loved as we love ourselves. In addition, we’ve watched too
many members of our faith communities be manipulated by cynical politicians
who knew what tune to play to get people of faith marching obediently
in their parade.
Many of us – sadly, I include myself here – stood on
the sidelines and complained about the wrong being done by “the
Religious Right.” In private, we might say that the major media
figures didn’t speak for us, but we responded to faith-based
misuse of the political process with faith-based disuse. We didn’t
realize, as we now do, that disuse tends to favor those in power and
support the status quo.
As I’ve watched with sadness what has happened in recent years,
I’ve promised myself again and again that I wouldn’t just
stand on the sidelines complaining this election season. That’s
why I’m so thrilled about positive, constructive initiatives
like the Matthew 25 Network. Drawing from Jesus’ powerful parable
about his solidarity with “the least of these,” this network
invites us as people of faith to step beyond individual self-interest,
and even beyond the interest-group politics of “what’s
best for us” – whether “us” is our denomination,
religion, party, or nation. It invites us to consider how to use our
vote on behalf of the neediest, the most vulnerable and poverty-stricken
… so that their concerns are our own when we vote. For us, this
is inherent in what it means to be followers of Jesus.
Based on these values, the Matthew 25 Network has chosen to support
Barack Obama. Does that mean that every one of us is in full agreement
with every detail of Senator Obama’s campaign? Of course not:
we’re electing a president, not a Messiah! Blind, uncritical
support is part of the misuse that we’re trying to move beyond.
But it does mean that a wide array of committed Christians - Catholic,
Evangelical, Charismatic, and Protestant - are mobilizing pastors
and priests, seminarians and theologians, women religious, Sunday
school teachers, religious educators, and faithful church-goers to
seek to model wise and proper use of the political process this year
in hopes that Senator Obama will be our next president.
Learning from past mistakes, we realize it’s not just who we
support that matters – it’s how we show that support.
So the Matthew 25 Network will be creating honest and positive messages
for broadcast on Christian radio, and for publication in Catholic,
Evangelical, and other periodicals. We’ll have a vigorous online
presence, and we will organize voices on the ground to speak out in
appropriate ways and venues. In everything we do, we will seek to
model wise and proper engagement in the political process for people
who are deeply rooted in Christian faith.
Here are three ways you can help:
- Go to Matthew25.org right now and Sign Up.
- While you are there, offer a contribution. We literally cannot
sustain this effort with out support from people like you.
- Tell your friends about your decision to be positively involved.
Forward this email, and refer folks to Matthew25.org.
For nearly 2000 years, followers of Christ have sought to live out
their faith in the real world – under a variety of political
systems: empires, feudal systems, tribal systems, monarchies, totalitarian
regimes, anarchy, and democracy. In our American democracy, we have
struggled, stumbled, fallen, and gotten up again, and again, learning
each time as we moved forward. We have grappled with how our faith
related to declaring independence, opposing slavery, confronting child
labor and economic depression, embracing the dream of overcoming racism,
and so much more.
Now we face unprecedented global crises: caring for our fragile and
wounded planet, building a just peace in situations of conflict and
fear, and eliminating extreme poverty. Electing the wrong president
will set us back even further in these crises – something we
cannot afford to do. Electing the better president will not solve
everything; it will only be a first step in the next chapter of our
history, but it is an important step.
We invite you to step off the sidelines as an observer or critic.
We hope you’ll join us … praying for God’s will
to be done on earth as it is in heaven and seeking to be humble makers
of peace, joyful workers for the common good, and dedicated servants
of “the least of these.”
Yours,
Brian McLaren
Author and Pastor