wake up church (warning - chickfila content will ensue)

i originally began this blog as an attempt to record my experiences teaching in the delta. even though i am no longer, "up in the delta" my experience there has had an impact on me that will last forever. the delta's presence remains consistent even though my physical presence there is no more. this blog was was simultaneously meant to be an avenue of processing and expression to those with whom i wasn’t able to talk to on a consistent basis. my ability to frequently update the blog was substantially diminished by the overwhelming nature of teaching and the consistent pressures and demands for improvement. now that i am free from those requirements and before i start spending all my time writing papers on judah and tamar, i thought now would be a good time for some reflection.

in reflection over the past couple of months, i keep coming across some variation of the same question “where is the church in this fight?”

in three years of working for and around teach for america, an organization that seeks to tackle one of the most pressing injustices of our society, educational inequality, i often wondered some variation of the following question. “where is the church in this fight?” (when i say the church, i don’t refer to the church as an institution, but as people who identify themselves as followers of Christ) in seeing the injustice of a broken society play out every day in school systems where students were years behind by the time they got to 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grade, i wondered “where is the church in this fight?” in watching how capable these same students were of mastering material and becoming innovative thinkers, i realized just how feasible it can be to take sizable chunks out of the problem of educational inequality and i wondered, “where is the church in this fight?” in reading books over the past couple of months covering topics from economics to the Kingdom of God, i’ve been reminded over and over again that half of the world’s population is living in desperate poverty, while we (myself very much included) live in inexplicable comparative luxury. upon reflection, i ask myself “where is the church in this fight?”

this week i got an answer to my question. the church is at chickfila. the church is standing firm for its “biblical principals” by spending its money on fried chicken, sweet tea, and ice cream cones. it deeply saddened me to read the intense, divisive rhetoric on both sides of this apparently all-encompassing issue. i spent about ten or fifteen minutes reading some of the facebook posts from both sides of the debate, and i had to stop for fear of either screaming, cursing, crying, or some combination of the three. to those who went to “chickfila appreciation day” and informed the rest of us of your desire to support a company that “stands firm on biblical principals,” i appreciate your need to stand up for the ideals and beliefs that are vital to your life. i do not appreciate those who do so in a manner that demeans others and robs them of their dignity as human beings created by the very God you seek to serve in your dedication. here are some of the things gay employees experienced on chickfila appreciation day. “A gay employee at the company’s headquarters in Atlanta heard a customer say, “I’m so glad you don’t support the queers, I can eat in peace.” Another in Colorado had customers telling him, “I support your company, because your company hates the gays.” i realize not all of those who participated did so in this manner, but these are not isolated incidents. i would implore those who are convicted on this manner to ensure that your conviction shows the grace that my God and yours has called us to show to the entirety of our society and all of creation.

my previous statement of, “where is the church?” haunted me as i read Chickfila posts. i stared with disbelief at pictures of chickfila locations packed inside and out, read about chickfila’s supposed “record profits,” and watched my facebook timeline blow up with post after post about “biblical princiapals.”

i wondered,
when will i see picture after picture of homeless shelters packed with volunteers there to act on Jesus call to serve the marginalized in society?
when will the headlines announce ‘record giving’ to Worldvision, an organization that seeks to give food, shelter, and education to the poorest in the world? (worldvision.org.)
when will my timeline blow up with post after post about the injustices of a society that prejudices children who are born into a cycle of poverty and then attend school systems that often exacerbate and heighten their problems?

to the other side of this debate, i would similarly remind us all of the words of MLK, “Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love.” nobody’s mind is going to be changed by hate speech and rhetoric. we’ve tried for too long. its time to try a new approach. meeting the forces of hate with the power of love sounds like a pretty good place to start.

its time to wake up church. we’ve got a lot more to deal with than an attack on a fast food restaurant. then again, its a hell of a lot easier to buy a number three with waffle fries and post a picture of your meal on facebook than it is to throw yourself in the trenches and tackle the injustices of society.