Bad News Chicks

Folks I have some bad news. Buying fried chicken will not secure your right to freedom of speech. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy fried chicken, but the truth is that it just never tastes like freedom.
I'm not a constitutional scholar, so maybe I'm wrong, and if I am (you actual constitutional scholars) please tell me.

August 1st was a great day to be the owner of Chick-fil-A.
People lined up around the building.
Some folks just wanted to know that a little of their hard earned money, that they used to get delicious chicken sandwiches, went toward ensuring some folks don't get married/enjoy certain rights. (hospital visitations, health benefits, tax breaks, children, etc)
Others held up a much more noble cause: defending freedom!
One customer was so enthusiastic in her support of freedom/chicken that she brought along her two teenage daughters:
"It was good for them to see (that) this is what it means to be an American, and we have free speech, and when we want to make a statement, we can make it," she said. -1. CNN


The problem is this: freedom of speech is a right afforded by the government to its citizens. When LGBT folks/supporters get upset at a chicken chain that is funding campaigns against their ability to marry and they then make their frustrations known (whether it be via social media, boycott, or other), their actions/words against the chicken chain are not a violation of the restaurant's, nor the CEO's freedom of speech.

I have read some articles claiming that LGBT protesters are actually against the CEO's beliefs. Maybe they're right, but I'm pretty sure that that argument is at least an unintentionally misleading claim, if not an outright straw-man argument.

Now, if mayors like Rahm Emanuel and Thomas Menino actually moved their threats of "banning" Chick-fil-A from political posturing to reality, then we have a legitimate freedom of speech claim, because they are the government. When the government starts telling you what you can and cannot say, we all have a problem.
(This is why the Supreme court upheld the right for the Westboro folks to do their hate thing.)
However, there are legitimate pieces of legislation that have come out in the last 12 or so years that we should be getting our free-speech-breeches in a twist about.

But this?

Chicken?

And here's the thing; increasing a company's profits will not deter the government from violating free speech, because free speech is not a corporate/private issue, it is a government issue. If any violations ever did take place, the appropriate action would be political, not corporate.
Coming out to support the beliefs of the CEO and the way that Chick-fil-A donates their money to anti-LGBT organizations, that actually makes sense (if you're into that sort of thing).

If the shining example of "American freedom" is our willingness to support corporations monetarily because of the organizations they donate to, outside of the realm of their business, then I am afraid that I really do not know what is going on.

Maybe I don't.

After all, the surge of supporters/customers/"freedom fighters" present on the 1st was not the result of any direct corporate scheme.

Rather it was the idea of Christian pastor Mike Huckabee.

I didn't realize that was part of the gig. Now I'm wondering which corporations would like me as their sponsor...


1. CNN Wire Staff. “Chick-fil-A restaurants become rallying points for supporters.” CNN 1 Aug. 2012, 1 Aug. 2012 <http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/01/us/chick-fil-a-appreciation/index.html?iref=allsearch>.

An Unassuming Voice

We hear about the injury,
the accident,
the death.
Of a coworker,
a friend,
a loved one.

We hear the politician,
the preacher,
the anchor.

Decry the wrong,
the perversion,
the society at large.

And the words that come bubbling out of our mouths are:
Anger at the injustice that has come forth from evil itself,
Hate for the one's responsible,
Momentary sympathy for those who have been hurt,
Calls for an apology,
a change,
retaliation.

But the voice that is seldom heard is the one that is the least boastful,
least knowing,
least declaratory.

The voice seldom heard is nary any noise at all,
Not even a whimper.

The voice seldom heard is quiet, patient, and kind.

The voice seldom heard has hope in all things,
believes in all things,
and endures in all things.

The voice seldom heard makes no assumptions.
And so it does not make noise, but rather, silence.
It is only in silence that a still small voice can be heard.
An unassuming voice, whose name is love.

The Things God is Terrible At (And Why That’s Good News for Us.) Part 1

As I was listening to the sermon in church the other Sunday, I was moved by the absolute truth of the mercy and grace that God gives. The scripture came from the Gospel of Matthew 13:1-8, 18-23; The parable of the sower. This parable is not new to me and the connection between unbelievable grace and God was certainly not new. But this is sort of how the sermon went and where my thoughts have gone:

The parable of the sower has a farmer sowing seed in a field. Some of the seed falls onto good soil, some falls onto rocky soil, some falls onto the path, and some more falls into some thorny bushes.  

Once the seeds mature and start to grow, the type of soil they’ve been sown into affects their growth. 

The seed on the path is immediately eaten by birds. 

The seed in the thorny bushes grows a little but is choked out by the thorns. 

The seed in the rocky soil begins to grow but the roots can’t dig in and they die. 

The seed in the good soil grows up good and strong. 

The thing about parables is that they always have some sort of hook. There is something not quite right in a parable and that is meant to challenge the listener’s outlook. In the Gospels, the disciples are often left scratching their heads at the parables Jesus tells. However, that does not mean that their content was completely foreign to the audience, just the connection between the story and God. 

So in this parable, the disciples convince Jesus to reveal to them the true meaning behind it.

Jesus explains that God is the farmer sowing seeds.

The plants are people who hear the message about God.

The types of soil are their faith.

But the thing to note about this parable is not really about the fate of the seeds. 

Anybody who has done any farming would automatically know that seeds sown into anything but good soil don’t really have great odds at making it as a fully grown plant.

That fact comes as no surprise to the people to whom Jesus is speaking. 

What does come off as a bit shocking is the farmer’s actions.

This is our hook.

This is where we learn something about the nature of God.

This is where the audience discovers that God is a terrible farmer.

Now wait a minute.

That can’t be right.

Isn’t there some philosophical quandary about God and a rock so large that God couldn’t lift it, to help us demonstrate that the only real limits on God are the ones God chooses?

So how can God be terrible at something?

Well lets think about this parable.

Like I said, ANYONE who has ever farmed before would know not to throw seeds willy-nilly.

And here we inexplicably find God seeming to care for his seed like a happily careless child.

God doesn’t really seem concerned with growth models, harvest quotas, or the statistical advantages of the good soil.

God just throws caution to the wind and sows seed into every patch of soil around.

Now that is absolutely crazy.

That makes no sense.

Those numbers don’t add up, those odds are terrible.

Farmer God wastes energy, time and resources caring for seeds that have almost no chance of maturing.

And here’s the absolutely wonderful thing about God.

God isn’t us.

God doesn’t care about numbers,

or quotas

or growth models

or rates of efficiency.

God cares about creation,

for the chance of life,

for the beauty in overcoming the odds,

for the least of these.

When it comes to giving people a chance to be in relationship with God, God throws caution to the wind and sows like a careless child.

God doesn’t care where you’re coming from, what circumstances you’ve grown up in, the pressures of the world that surround you.

God loves you where you are.

God gives you a chance to grow.

God wants you to grow and mature.

God wants everyone to grow.

But here’s the thing.

Not everybody is in good soil.

Not everybody is ready.

But God knows that without the chance, 

Without that seed being sown in the rocky soil, 

No one would grow there anyway. 

So this was the central point of the sermon: What if we gave out the kind of grace that God gives out?

What if we threw caution to the wind and stopped caring about the right people to come along in order for us to show God’s grace and love?

What if we looked at everybody as a child of God,

A God that gives grace.

A God that sows seed like a child.

This all got me thinking, what else is God really terrible at?

Because odds are,

Whatever God is terrible at,

Is really good for us.