Article 2 of 18 in the Series...
Letters Never Sent
Author: Martha Kilpatrick
Author: Martha Kilpatrick
A long time ago I began to write Letters Never Sent. They were just for me, but some read them and said they should be read by others, that they speak for all, not just for me. So I offer these letters, written for profound events and little encounters. Written to real individuals. Some are lost to me. A few are dead . . . but all are remembered - and I remember my own responses - because I recorded them.
The Liberal
Author: Martha Kilpatrick 1 May 2000
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Dear Pastor,
You, so current and liberal. "The Bible mostly myth." I could not bear your leading astray those tottering and gullible lambs. That Book most dear to me, most proven true, I protested for . . . designated your error.
We had a relationship of sorts. Each thought by patience he could win the other over. Polite condemnation boxed fake kindness. Pretending to love, encourage, we tried to do it right, to endure each other. But it was superficial. We were two thorns, the closer we got the more we bled. We had to work together in God's house. But in most civilized manner, we threw rocks.
I thought my rocks justified. Weren't they in defense of His Precious-Word?
Yet something was wrong. ... read remainder of article
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Other Articles In This Series (Table of Contents)
1
The Best
God has handed you a raw deal. I don't like it!
It's not fair.
You, the best, the finest.
Oh, your suffering!
On every...continue reading
3
Garden Gates
Beloved friend, don't analyze me.
I defy analysis. So do you.
To do so violates my soul by confining me to your...continue reading
4
The Brother
I lectured you. (I called it sharing.)
You needed to do things by the standard I had chosen,
arriving when you promised,...continue reading
5
The Star
You want me for your counselor. Beg me to look deep and
give you what my inner eyes see. We walk...continue reading
6
The Tyrant
This person was my first introduction to "religious evil," the kind that
didn't recognize the Beloved Son of the God they...continue reading
7
The Boy
Brave
you rose to speak.
Myriad faces didn't stop you
nor an awesome pulpit.
Boys sometimes stand
and shaking, preach.
But only men
cry in public
for their...continue reading
8
The Living Dead
(I will call this person TAMI)
I have had such strange thoughts.
I have been thinking about the eulogy
that could be spoken...continue reading
9
The Comic
You taught me to laugh. But for you I'd be a stodgy
stick-in-the-mud. No mundane days for you....continue reading
10
The Prince
You are a prince. Do not walk as common men.
The world is yours as much as you are wholly His.
...continue reading
11
Radiant Nurse
You were lovely in your nurse-white, coming in my empty room.
Really empty, having lost my first: years-waited-for, prayed-for baby.
Isolated from...continue reading
12
The Melancholy
You are Winter, know only one season.
Gray silhouettes. Hopeless struggle.
Life is not sleeping, soon to stretch and wake.
For you life...continue reading
13
The Christian Teacher
I'm his mother. What makes you think you know better for him than I do? I who pray and fast...continue reading
14
The Mother
Dear Baba (my infant name for you),
You've lived in heaven for many years now . . . .
As you lay...continue reading
15
The Gossip
You served up all the juicy meat. I didn't know how to stop you
and I hated myself for wanting to...continue reading
16
The Image Consultant
I held back, reserved opinion. I wasn't going to be fooled. But I would hear you out, let you give...continue reading
17
The Biting Dog
I never got to know you before you killed us.
I came in like a puppy, dancing - open.
Thinking you wonderful,
glad...continue reading
18
The Friend
We have been together how long? Through how much?
Children, projects, trouble, cooking, ministry . . . misery.
Your brand of love...continue reading
