Dear friends in Christ,

At 2:00pm this coming Tuesday, a nationwide protest has been organized called “Walk Out.”

Participants will walk out of offices, apartments, and schools to observe a period of non-violent presence in protest against the escalating violence by the government.

Thugs have been unleashed upon civilians and instructed to brutalize them into submission and compliance. More of them with even less qualification have been hired. Lawful due process has been pushed aside in favor of instilling fear not only in their victims but in the greater population.

This is straight from the “playbook” of dictatorial seizure of power. No longer shared power among coequal branches of government, but all power constituted in one man who claims there are no limits other than his “morality.”

We are living in a moment when the outcome is uncertain. We are teetering on the brink. Will we retain this constitutional democracy or allow it to fall into the possession of a megalomaniac?

Walk Out on Tuesday is an effort for millions of people to say one loud and collective “NO.” I have invited the staff of Saint Philip’s to walk out to the northeast corner of River and Campbell at this time, and I am inviting you, the people of Saint Philip’s, to join us.

We will gather by the great doors of the church at 1:45pm on Tuesday for words, prayer, and song in preparation for this witness. We will stand or sit (if you bring a chair) for 30 minutes. Maybe we will sing as part of our discipling.

Paul reminds us that we do not struggle against flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers of this world. This is spiritual warfare and not the warfare of the world. Our task is to be grounded in the forgiveness of enemies and prayer for leaders.

Instances of illegalities and improprieties abound. They come at us as a tsunami to disorient, cower, and subdue. We must not play that hoped-for role as a hopeless and helpless victim. The contempt for persons is extraordinary. Humans are simply pawns to enhance more and more power for those at the top.

This is not of Christ.

This is not legal.

If we do not rise up, they will wreak havoc and inflict greater suffering, especially upon those at the margins, the “least of these.”

Who will intervene?

Who will say, “Enough!”

A professor from Union Theological Seminary, Reinhold Niebuhr, said some decades ago, “Moral responsibility requires collective action when individual virtue proves insufficient.” An observer of the Third Reich, Hannah Arendt, said, “The banality of evil thrives on ordinary peoples’ passivity.”

You are invited.

Your fellow traveler,

—Richard