Ahead of this week’s Brexit votes, many MPs and their staff have received abuse, in person or through letters, emails and social media.
Our democracy doesn’t have to be like this. Whilst we may not always agree, we can to commit to communicating in a positive and respectful way.
However you feel about the situation we face, ahead of this evening’s vote we have an opportunity to send a kind and positive message to our MPs and their staff, committing to holding them in prayer, whilst still expressing views about their vote.
As churches, we represent a diversity of views, backgrounds and lifestyles. However, we know that these worldly divisions do not need to stop us working together and listening to one another.
Below you can find some suggestions for writing to your MP, to express these commitments. Please use as much or as little as you choose, and make your email personal to your MP.
You can find out who your MP is, and how to email them, here: https://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/mps/
Dear [MPs name]
Ahead of tomorrow, we wanted to write to tell you of our prayers for you and all who work with you. We value having a democracy and we are grateful to all who work hard, both as elected officials and in supporting roles, to represent us in the parliamentary processes. We honour the personal cost and vulnerability that often comes with this exercise of power and we lament with you that the tone of current political debate has often been divisive and vitriolic, exacerbating the divisions in our society rather than helping us to listen to the other.
We appreciate the complexity of negotiating a way through Brexit that honours the different opinions of constituents, seeks the long term good of the country and deals with the immediate pressure to discern the right path.
As churches we speak from different geographical places and political spaces. We are made up of leavers, remainers and abstainers, British nationals, EU residents and global immigrants. We are a mix of generations and socio-economic classes. We are divided in our views on Brexit.
Yet this position is also our prophetic hope: we know that the love of God is stronger than that which separates us. We know that our worldly divisions do not need to stop us working together and listening to one another. We therefore pledge that whatever happens in our nation’s future we will continue to offer spaces which foster community and conversation, places where all are welcome.
May you know the wisdom, courage and compassion of our Lord Jesus.
In the love of God,
….