For the last few weeks, our team have been crafting and preparing a special Valentine’s gift mailing to tell each one of 650 of our MPs individually the vitally important message that they are LOVED…
Here’s a picture of them all at the final check and count before they went in the post. We had to drive some distance from our base in Nidderdale to find a post-box big enough to fit them all in!
Each one received a personally addressed and signed letter and gift postcard, with the LOVED graphic above on the front, and the following text on the back:
What inspired us to do this?
Well there are two answers to that. The first is, of course, LOVE! But the second, is what fueled and grew that love – prayer.
You see because our daily prayer rhythm is outward focused, we are praying for the UK’s leaders very often. And of course, even more often than usual at the moment.
And it’s this frequent and extended prayer, and the trying to imagine ourselves in their shoes involved with that, which keeps reminding us that our leaders are so much more than the two dimensional public roles they hold, or the way they are talked about in the press, social media or conversation…
They are real people. Three dimensional people with back-stories, personal lives, pressures and emotions. Individuals deeply loved by God.
And the more we have prayed, the more we have realised this, and grown in concern for them. So much so, that we prayerfully reached a point where we felt we needed to show that love to them directly. Hence sending them true, loving and affirming words that recognise so much of what is overlooked when they are talked about in a way that is just two dimensional.
What are we hoping will happen as a result of sharing the message that they are LOVED with them?
Mostly, to be honest, just that each recipient will receive our words in the way they are meant, and actually feel loved through them. But perhaps, also, that the atmosphere in the Houses of Parliament might even be positively affected as they do.
Knowing we are seen, valued and appreciated – getting the sense that we are understood and loved even when we don’t manage to be perfect – is so powerful.
It is the starting point for three vital things we need as we face the kind of incredibly difficult and challenging situations the UK and its leaders are facing at this time.
The first is the relief of freeing perspective.
Ultimately, though we are called to serve and give everything we can to build with justice, compassion and love, ultimately the responsibility for the future is not in our hands, but in God’s. Whether those we have written to share our belief or not, we want to remind them – this is not all on them!
The second is hope.
No matter what happens, there are always fresh opportunities to return to the foundational principles of love, justice and compassion for all that this world was designed to run best on, and we are all made to build best with. And this mean, there is always a way to turn things around to align with a way forward that can bring transformation for everyone.
The third is courage.
Because what a difference it makes to remember that every person in this nation, and every nation – including each of our MPs – is of indescribable value to God.
To wildly paraphrase Jesus’ beautiful words in Matthew 6:26… if even just one of the sparrows who cheekily nests in the Victoria Tower, or perches anywhere else on the Houses of Parliament – is seen and deeply valued, how much more so are those who lead our nation?
As we’ve been praying for our leaders again yesterday and today, and particularly that they would be truly encouraged as they receive our messages to them, we’ve found some of the lyrics from the song For the one by Brian and Jenn Johnson particularly, and newly resonant:
‘Oh how you love us,
from the homeless to the famous and in between,
cos you formed us,
you made us carefully,
cos in the end, we’re all you’re children.
So help me to love with open arms like you do,
a love that erases all the lines and sees the truth…’