Jesus, love of enemy, and "crappy fast food chicken sandwiches"

“It's sad that the level of debate in this country has sunk to the point where the ‘Conversation’ about what the sacrament of marriage should be is happening on the level of  ‘Do I or do I not buy this crappy fast food chicken sandwich.’”

After I posted this Facebook status yesterday, I received several comments – both public and private – saying that I had missed the point and was trivializing the power of boycott. That is a legitimate response and worth examining. I have not been persuaded that I did “miss the point,” and my opinion is based on taking the power of boycott very seriously. In fact, what troubles me is that the boycott/counter-demonstration of Chick-Fil-A seems reactive rather than reflective and in many ways counter to the role and purposes of boycott in our Christian tradition.

Let’s start with what Jesus has to say on the subject:

“’You have heard that is was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43-44).

This is part of a larger section of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus talks about how we treat our enemies. It is, as Nelson Mandela has said in our day, never seeing an enemy, but always a future friend … and not only treating the person as you would a friend but in such a way as looks forward to that friendship blossoming. The goal is transformation and changing hearts. If we believe we are in the right, our goal is not to defeat the other but to move their hearts. And the most powerful force in the universe for change is sacrificial love.

That is the message that Jesus “who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross.” embodied with his life and with his death.

If we are not just to follow Christ but to trust in Christ fully, the goal of every encounter with an enemy must be together to strive for the truth and wisdom that is beyond us. To have all of our hearts transformed by God’s love so that together we are shaped into the image of Christ. Our goal must never be to defeat or humiliate or shame or do violence in any way to the other.

Boycott is a legitimate and powerful tool of nonviolent resistance to injustice. But remember the goal – the goal is not to beat our enemies into submission but by the power of our dedication and self-sacrificial love to convert their hearts – even as our own hearts are still being converted. It is always done with great care to the pain it causes particularly to the poor and working class people who are inevitably caught in the middle. (Gandhi traveled to England and apologized to the mill workers who were put out of work by India’s boycott of British cloth … and found that far from being upset at him, they understood and were awed by this burgeoning nonviolent movement for independence)

Let’s look at the situation with Chick-Fil-A. The owner of the company said something invoking the name of God that I and many believe is counter to the Gospel Jesus embodied and proclaims. The pain and anger this causes is real and natural. But Jesus calls us not to react out of our pain and anger in kind but to bear the blows and respond in love.

Let’s put aside for a moment the very real question of whether it is appropriate to boycott not based on the practice of an organization (e.g. the Montgomery Bus Boycott was in protest of an unjust policy) but because of a statement of opinion of the owner. That in itself raises a whole bunch of other very tricky questions. But for the sake of argument, let’s just go to the extreme. Let’s say that the owner of Chick-Fil-A had said, “I’m not going to hire anyone who is in a same-sex relationship.”

What is the Christian response?

I submit that the Christian response would not be … as the mayor of Boston did … to tell Chick-Fil-A “there is no place for your company here.” but instead to say,

“Here in Boston some of us who once felt as you do have had our hearts changed by the deep love and commitment of same-sex couples. Those of us who, like you, are people of deep faith, have seen God’s love in new and wonderful ways through them. And many of us have come to understand that marriage is not about the gender of the people involved but the depth of the sacrificial commitment of love they pledge to one another. We hope you will come to Boston and experience what we have learned and are learning, because we want the joy for you that we have found for ourselves when we celebrate the love of all God’s people.”

WOW! How different that would have been! Instead of us mimicking the response of “Begone, sinner!” that so many of our LGBT sisters and brothers have received, it would have been us demonstrating to those who would say “Begone, sinner” once more to us the very expansiveness of love that we say we believe in.

So let’s look at the boycott. A Christian boycott is always nonviolent. That means the goal is not to shame or do violence, but to convert hearts by the power of our sacrifice.

The Chick-Fil-A boycott both in theory and in practice falls short of this on pretty much every level.

First off, let’s be honest about the level of sacrifice involved in not eating at Chick-Fil-A … particularly when we are instead going to KFC. It’s basically no sacrifice at all. This is not a level of sacrifice that is going to change hearts.

Second, the whole intent of the boycott is punitive and violent. And because of that, the reaction is predictable. Instead of hearts being changed, hearts will be hardened. We will lose the high ground of being the people of love who are willing to reach out in love even when we receive blows and will sink into the valley of just being another giver of blows – indistinguishable to the observer from our opponent. And that will, in turn, not convert but rally and solidify the opposition.

… which leads us to yesterday, where this is precisely what happened. There was no conversion of hearts yesterday. There was no triumph of love over hate. There was only anger and self-righteousness on all sides. There was no conversation, no raising of consciousness on what marriage is and might be … just a choosing up of sides based on “Do I or do I not buy this crappy fast food chicken sandwich.”

Of course we should use our purchasing power wisely. But that means we should use it reflectively and not reactively. Remembering that our goal it to change hearts even as we ask Christ to change our heart, our choices should never be made out of anger or with the effect of doing violence, but with the goal of turning todays enemy into tomorrow’s friend.

How can we do better next time?

What does this have to do with Christ Church Cathedral? Part of our embodiment of Christ’s love is that we are an Oasis congregation, which means we are intentionally welcoming and embracing of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons and families. That welcome and embrace is a part of our understanding of the Gospel. Jesus tells us that the Good News of Christ is not to be kept to ourselves but to be spread to the ends of the earth. How we have experienced Christ through our understanding of love and marriage is a piece of the Good News we have to share, and we are called – as a part of “restoring all people to unity with God and each other in Christ” -- to draw the world into it. This is about us because Christ calls us to embody his love in converting hearts. Christ calls us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. This is about Christ Church Cathedral because it’s about how we will show EVERYONE Christ’s surpassing love.

What do you think?