A Letter to the Christians at St. Paul's Cathedral and all Christians
Today the Church of England issued a statement requesting that the protesters leave the camp. It is super polite, of course, this is England, and it is indirect, but the bottom line is that someone is telling them that they have to shut this down, or at least cease all aid to the Occupation. They asked Occupy London to get out.
I watched the livestream of the general assembly held to discuss this and I cried with love and wonder as people discussed, given that the guys at the Cathedral seemed like good guys, wouldn't Jesus really be out among the people? Didn't he get rid of the moneychangers? Wouldn't Jesus be on the side of the homeless, the jobless, the poor?
And may I add, didn't Jesus when tempted in the wilderness make it clear that holding on to the power of the state, and siding with the state, as the church has here, is to be on the side of evil and not of Christ?
There are wars and rumors of wars. Our earth is poisoned and thus our children's food. The earth itself rises up and knocks down the spires of the National Cathedral and wounds the Washington Monument. The people come into the street and demand justice. You can cower in the shadows, or you can join Jesus among the tents where you belong. Surely if you ponder this in your heart, you will know I speak the truth. The church should not stand in the way of a call for justice. God is being glorified outside your soaring walls by drunken anarchists, as they stand for the poor. These hippie proto-fascists are the Good Samaritan. They are Moses and you are the Pharoah (and I am Rachel, weeping for my children). They are the little children and you must suffer them to come onto you. .
On Sunday morning, the 16th of October, 2011, when you sent the cops away, my heart leapt with joy and my hatred of the church and what it has done to me abated considerably. You were acting from the heart then and I don't know who has been talking to you since then. Could you tell us?
And if you are truly concerned that you cannot serve the people of the Church with the tents there, then I ask that you at least ask the people you seek to serve what they think of the matter. Why not ask the Archbishop to send out an e-mail to every Church of England service and tell them that St. Paul's is looking to the Christian people of England to show the Church what it is. And invite them to come, for Halloween, for services on the 30th, for Occupy Half Term, invite them, suffer the little children, see what these good followers of Christ will say.
Is it not written of Jesus and the tax collector:
He entered and was passing through Jericho. There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn't because of the crowd, because he was short. He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house." He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner."
Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much."
Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
I watched the livestream of the general assembly held to discuss this and I cried with love and wonder as people discussed, given that the guys at the Cathedral seemed like good guys, wouldn't Jesus really be out among the people? Didn't he get rid of the moneychangers? Wouldn't Jesus be on the side of the homeless, the jobless, the poor?
And may I add, didn't Jesus when tempted in the wilderness make it clear that holding on to the power of the state, and siding with the state, as the church has here, is to be on the side of evil and not of Christ?
There are wars and rumors of wars. Our earth is poisoned and thus our children's food. The earth itself rises up and knocks down the spires of the National Cathedral and wounds the Washington Monument. The people come into the street and demand justice. You can cower in the shadows, or you can join Jesus among the tents where you belong. Surely if you ponder this in your heart, you will know I speak the truth. The church should not stand in the way of a call for justice. God is being glorified outside your soaring walls by drunken anarchists, as they stand for the poor. These hippie proto-fascists are the Good Samaritan. They are Moses and you are the Pharoah (and I am Rachel, weeping for my children). They are the little children and you must suffer them to come onto you. .
On Sunday morning, the 16th of October, 2011, when you sent the cops away, my heart leapt with joy and my hatred of the church and what it has done to me abated considerably. You were acting from the heart then and I don't know who has been talking to you since then. Could you tell us?
And if you are truly concerned that you cannot serve the people of the Church with the tents there, then I ask that you at least ask the people you seek to serve what they think of the matter. Why not ask the Archbishop to send out an e-mail to every Church of England service and tell them that St. Paul's is looking to the Christian people of England to show the Church what it is. And invite them to come, for Halloween, for services on the 30th, for Occupy Half Term, invite them, suffer the little children, see what these good followers of Christ will say.
Is it not written of Jesus and the tax collector:
He entered and was passing through Jericho. There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn't because of the crowd, because he was short. He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house." He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner."
Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much."
Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
Jesus always ate and drunk with the poor because the rich were beyond redemption
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