Messages from the World Vision debacle

And the Pharisees asked him, "Teacher, what is the greatest commandment?".
Jesus replied, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself.  All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments."
Then the Pharisees said, "What about the third greatest?"
Jesus said, "Oppose anything gay."

Okay, so the last two lines of that are somewhat apocryphal (and completely tongue in cheek), but if the Bible actually said that, even this would not support the actions and attitudes from some of our brothers and sisters regarding the recent decision and reversal of World Vision's employment stance on homosexuality.  If you aren't familiar with it, you can Google it.

tl;dr version: On Monday, World Vision says, "Okay, we won't discriminate against employees in same-sex marriages."  Tuesday, the Christian Right (not all, but some) is in an uproar and threatens to drop the children they're sponsoring.  Thursday, World Vision reverses its stance.

I hope to keep this pointed and following a logical progression, but no promises.  I do promise no insults though.  ...and commence rant now.

 <rant>

First of all, World Vision is not a church.  They are an ecumenical non-profit organization providing aid to people in need.  Their employees are just that, employees for an ecumenical non-profit organization.  A shift is taking place in the church today, and more and more churches are changing their stance on the sinfulness of homosexuality.  As an ecumenical organization (clearly this is the record for most times saying "ecumenical" in one paragraph) World Vision decided they would leave this highly divisive issue out of their employment practices and leave it up to individual churches.  They are not in the business of indoctrinating stances on types of baptism, what happens to the Eucharist elements, and so forth.

 I believe this was the right move.  Why?  Well, I work in HR; specifically recruiting.  When we look for someone to fill a job, we try to place the person who is most qualified to perform the job duties.  We look for a couple other things as well, namely safety, hence criminal background checks, and we would prefer people who buy into the mission of our organization.  If someone meets those criteria and has another issue that is not relevant to performing the job, it's none of our business.  Nor should it be.

Shouldn't we as a church (in the holy catholic {universal} sense) want this to be the case with people trying to feed the poor?  Should it matter that someone who disagrees with us on a highly contested doctrinal issue is trying to do good work in the name of Christ with a Christian organization?  (especially if they're the most qualified person!) Here's what Jesus says about people who are not "with us" doing work in His name:

 “Master,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.”  “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”  Luke 9:49-50
Or in Mark 9:39-40 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. " (emphasis mine)

Based on the rest of World Vision's hiring stances, these employees in same-sex marriages are doing this work in Jesus' name.  We're not talking about people from different religions doing this; we're talking about people who follow Jesus. How can we, as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God here on earth, not want to encourage this?  Even if homosexuality is a sin, should we not encourage these acts of love?  Do we discourage people living lives of gluttony or pride or lust from doing charitable work for a Christian organization?  Of course not, but we single out the LGBT community.

Tangent:  I would claim, based on the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46), that we should even encourage secular (Half the Sky) and other religious (Islamic Relief) organizations doing the work of the Kingdom.  As they serve "the least of these" they're serving Jesus whether they realize it or not.

Now, just for a moment, let's forget what I said.  For the sake of argument, let's say World Vision changing their stance to allow employees in same-sex marriages was wrong.  Let's say I currently sponsor a child through World Vision, but I disagree with their decision.  So I'm going to end my commitment to that child by cancelling my World Vision sponsorship.  That'll show them, right?  Right?  Well, maybe a little.  But it really shows that child that I care more about some doctrinal issue than I do about them.  You can flip that around for those considering pulling their sponsorship after the reversal. 

Think about all the messages we're sending here.  

To LGBT Christians-"I'm sorry.  Your desire to do the work of Christ is not welcome here."  

To our fellow Christians-"You need to believe everything I do the way that I do, which is the right way." 

To the non-Christian community-"We Christians cannot agree on anything.  An action meant to unite us divided us even further."  

To the people receiving aid from World Vision-"Sorry. Meeting your material needs is not as important as meeting our need to be right."  

To World Vision-"Your mission should only proceed if you believe everything the same as I do."

I'm tired of these messages being sent again and again, recycled and reworded in different ways.  I'm tired of our LGBT brothers and sisters being singled out and pushed out.  I'm tired of the religious right claiming "THE Biblical view" or "THE Christian view" as if theirs is the only one, with no possibility for error, and no room for discussion or respectful disagreement.  I'm tired of the religious left calling the right "bigots" instead of building bridges toward empathy.  More than all of this though, I'm tired of Christ and his church being defined by what we're against and not what we're for.  I want to be defined by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; empathy, engagement, and empowerment; justice and mercy; shalom.

</rant>

Justice vs. Mercy

I’ve always thought of justice and mercy as being pitted against each other, as if they are opposite ends of a spectrum. And we need to try to find some happy compromise in the middle, erring on the side of mercy.  As I work my way through Martin Luther King Jr.'s "autobiography", my thoughts on this are changing.  (I left autobiography in quotes because it's actually a re-writing of his speeches, sermons, interviews, and letters in autobiographical form.)

I always defined justice as bad guys getting what they deserve and mercy as bad guys not getting what they deserve and being given a second chance.  Under these definitions I thought, “Jesus is pulling us away from justice and toward mercy.”  Dr. King seemed to have different definitions in mind than I have always had; he saw mercy as a step toward justice.

As Dr. King spoke to the African American population of Montgomery, AL, during the bus boycott, he used the word justice frequently. However, he was clear that the justice he spoke of had nothing to do with punishment but with wrongs being righted. After his house was bombed, it would have been understandable for him to ask that the bombers get their deserved punishment. Instead he said, “We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. Love them and let them know you love them.”  Justice is not against the wrongdoers, but justice is for the wronged.

When I consider this definition of justice, I think Jesus would’ve thought the same way.  This puts a whole different spin on Luke 18:1-8, the parable of the unjust judge. Jesus says, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” (emphasis mine) The justice Jesus brings isn’t punishment against those deserving; it’s making things right for those who have been wronged.

Jesus used (and is still using) mercy (or grace) as the chief vehicle for his justice. Jesus’ sacrifice rights the wrongs that man has done to God, to each other, to ourselves, and to creation.  His justice is restorative, not punitive; redemptive, not retributive, and in the upside-down way that Jesus does things, he makes it possible through grace, mercy, and love.