Rachel Held Evans, a must-read blogger for me, wrote today (Aug 2), “Is this what following Jesus is supposed to be about? Eating a chicken sandwich to prove a point? Is this what mobilizes the people of God? Suddenly, my religion is alien to me–small, petty, reactive.”
I’ve read a surprisingly large number of blog posts, Facebook posts, and comments from conservative Christians who are very uneasy with yesterday’s Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day protest. Not opposed to it, necessarily, but they don’t feel it’s the right approach. One friend wrote to me, “Buying lunch there today in order to thumb my nose at the very people I want to ‘Love-to-Jesus’ just doesn’t seem to make much sense.” In many cases, these writers have gay friends and know that this is coming across to them in non-helpful ways. As the late Stephen Covey said, “Seek first to understand, THEN to be understood.” I fear that the people standing in those long lines gave little thought to how they were coming across.
We need to be strategic and thoughtful about how we go forth with the Gospel. But there was nothing evangelistically strategic about Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day. It didn’t start with churches or religious leaders, but with a TV political talkshow host, for goodness sakes. (Which was the greater motivation: supporting Chick-Fil-A, or supporting Mike Huckabee?) Political pundits are not concerned about spreading the gospel and influencing people for Christ. They just want to create a crowd and demonstrate their own influence. So let us NOT take our cues from TV talking heads. Christians are to be the Church, not merely a jump-on-command TV audience.
Not that the multitudes who flocked to Chick-Fil-A had ill-intentions. And there were no doubt a variety of motivations,including nonChristians who oppose gay marriage or were merely supporting free speech. Anecdotes make it sound almost like a revival, a memorable experience where Christians came together over shared convictions. So, good for that. But they were mostly flocking to support a view in an “I’m right and you’re wrong” public controversy. And people on the other side mostly saw judgementalism and condemnation. The gay community is hyper-sensitive to anything they can construe as judgementalism from Christians, just as Christians are hyper-sensitive to anything they can declare to be religious persecution.
Anyway, these comments I’ve read from thoughtful Christians, who refuse to be knee-jerk reactive, are encouraging to me. We need to think deeply about our activism and how it comes across to a nonChristian world, and not merely be puppets for people with secular agendas. People’s souls are at stake. Let’s not risk alienating people we want to reach for Christ merely so we can make a political statement.
Unfortunately, this flap has gotten way out of hand. I fear that it is doing little more than further alienating gays from the church, and making our real work as Christians–of spreading the gospel–a whole lot more difficult. Yes, political points were scored. But it will not increase the population of heaven.
Steve, you got me musing again as well. On Friday morning the local news reported that the gay and lesbian associations in Fort Wayne had announced that they would not take part in any demonstations of public affection, or approach the two Chick Fil A locations in our city. I found that quite interesting.
I also got wondering WWJD? What would Jesus, the counter-culture, “neither do I condemn you”, attendee at meals with publicans, tax collectors and prostitutes, do? After all, He certainly seemed to fly in the face of religious opinion in his day. If He had to pick one day to patronize Chick Fil A, I wonder which it would be?
Would He go on Wednesday in order to make a point? Would He be as concerned as others with CEO Dan Cathy’s first amendment free speech rights? Or would He slip in quietly on Friday, invite a few gays, lesbians and bisexuals to a free chicken sandwich listen to people and then start up a conversation about “living water” or something. He was good at that sort of thing.
As for the free speech rights argument, I don’t see anywhere in scripture (which by the way does not include the United States Constitution in its appendix) that we have any rights other than our sonship with God through Christ. That sonship, however, does not come through any claim of our own but only by the mercy and grace of God, made available through His Son. Not even Jesus exercised is free speech rights when he stood condemned before both Caiaphas and Pilate. In fact what He had to say was, as He put it, “only what the Father tells me to say”.
Wednesday or Friday?
Steve,
I was also wondering about the whole thing. Apparently the CEO’s statement according to the bit I heard reported was, “We are inviting God’s wrath upon America when we shake our fist at him with same-sex marriage.” or something to that effect.
The last time I read the Bible on the subject, God’s list of the things that will bring down his wrath is way longer than “same-sex marriage”
Exodus 20 includes, “not giving God his due, idolatry,adultery, lying, stealing, bearing false witness, murder etc. there are other Bible passages (prominent in Paul’s writings) that include, such common things pride, anger.
Jesus talked about dividing people into two groups in the judgment. Those condemned., and those who enjoyed bliss in his presence. The condemned received punishment for failing to visit the sick, not visiting those in prison, not feeding the hungry, not giving a drink to the thirsty, and so on.
If we are going to proclaim God’s message, then we must give the total package, that grace is available for all no matter what our particular sins and faults may be.
First amendment right or not, when we choose to speak “for” God and other Christians, then we must get the message right, not just politically correct or popular.