Before I launch into today’s topic, I want to issue an apology for not posting anything for two weeks. Last week I was at a retreat in the mountains, learning about discipleship and becoming a better disciple. The week before that I hosted a High School Cross Country meet that sucked away most of my time.
But I thought I would venture back into the blogging world by discussing the latest culture war to flit across my computer screen. This one is about as juicy as they come, involving liberal mayors, conservative pastors, the ongoing homosexuality debate, subpoenas, petitions and a very bitter, yet delighted mob of Christians.
What happened in Houston, or rather is happening, is nebulous at best. Even the bipartisan articles (like Snopes) are being accused of bias. Many conservative Christians, riled up by a FoxNews COMMENTARY (not article), are jumping up and saying, “Yes! We told you so! We were right and we love being right! And finally, someone is persecuting us!” Although nobody really is persecuting us quite yet.
Meanwhile Houston stations and papers are trying to set the record straight. But the problem is that the record is so complicated that setting it straight is impossible. In fact, this situation is so entangled, curvy, and bent that to set it straight would be to deny the complexity of the world around us.
But first let me try to state the facts, as I have pieced them together.
First, Houston tried to pass a law that enforced non discrimination (especially against homosexuals). This law exempted churches but not businesses that are run by Christians.
Second, many Houston churches and their pastors protested the bill and got 50,000 signatures on a petition to stop it from being signed into law.
Third, the city rejected the petition because it argued over half the signatures were acquired under false pretenses (which I think means the churches lied to people about what the bill actually said).
Fourth, the pastors filed a lawsuit AGAINST the city saying the signatures were valid.
Fifth, the city, in defending themselves against the lawsuit, did what everybody in a lawsuit does: They subpoenaed everything the judge would allow them to, including sermons pertaining to the issue.
I want to put an aside here to say that if my church sued our city over something as banal as property usage, I would fully expect the city to subpoena any manuscripts or recordings of sermons or announcements pertaining to the lawsuit. That is just how lawsuits work.
Sixth, Fox News published a commentary that made it sound as if the subpoenas were filed in offense (not defense).
Seventh, most conservative Christians were overjoyed and angry at the same time and posted the link everywhere with a gleeful “I told you so!”
Eighth, I read the Fox News commentary myself and was almost fooled by it until the last few paragraphs were suddenly an angry and hasty call to action with a hearty “I Told You So.” So I decided to ignore the situation.
Eighth, a very prominent leader on my district whom I love and trust, saw the Fox News article, was fooled by it and emailed it to all the pastors, meaning my efforts to ignore it were thwarted.
So how should a devout, committed and sane Christian respond to all this.
I have zero idea.
But here is what I did. I sunk my head in despair at the foolishness of it all. I shook my fist and screamed in the air at the stupidity of those in my own faith tradition. I tried to post articles that helped Christians understand the messiness of the situation, only to realize that most Christians have zero understanding of the American legal system, nor do they want to understand it. They just want something to be mad at. It is how they seemingly entertain themselves.
I shook my fist in the air again. Then I went looking for someone in real life to argue this with, armed with all the facts, only to realize that even the best arguments would not stand against the invincible ignorance of my Christian siblings. Instead it would only increase the aggravation and break down Christian unity.
I slammed my fist against the wall. Then I started practicing what my response would be if someone brought this up on Sunday morning during worship, only to conclude any response other than, “yeah, okay” would violate my principles as a loving pastor.
I hung my head in despair again and prayed for the church. I begged God to forgive us for our misinformed rage and our eagerness to break all of the commandments (like, “thou shalt not lie”) just to get our nation to litigate an obscure command in Leviticus.
Then I felt better and took a deep breath, reminded myself that Christians have been stupid for 2000+ years and yet the Holy Spirit has continued to do wondrous things through the church despite its very broken sinfulness.
Finally, I sat down to write this blog in the hopes of reminding my readership of two things:
1) The world is incredibly complex. To boil a situation like the one in Houston down to words like, “persecution” and “right” and “wrong” is to engage in the sinful practice of lying and manipulating.
2) Despite how incredibly stupid and bitter the vocal Christians are, the Holy Spirit’s work continues unhindered. We serve a big God who covers the multitude of our sins.
So take hope my friends for our God is much bigger than us!
Go-Before Grace 