WANTED: CHRISTIAN ADVOCATES

 

The basketball game with preteen boys was over. A player from the opposing team observed that one opponent was good with handling the ball, but unable to move quickly on his feet. Actually, he moved with a limp. He had seen enough. He began to taunt his opponent and invited his team-mates to join him. His behavior was tantamount to bullying.

The mother of the limping player confronted the bully after the game. She reprimanded him for his bullyism and informed him that he was taunting a player who had gone through five surgeries on one leg within the last year. At that moment, my daughter-in-law assumed the posture of an advocate. She saw injustice and confronted it.

Her reaction was no different from Pastor Kendall Lankford. He applied to a Massachusetts Public Library, requesting a room to host a “Pastor Story Hour”. His request was approved. However, the library went on to cancel the event because of an uproar from opponents in the community.

The pastor was subject to a number of abusive, angry comments on the phone as well as on social media. He was accused of homophobia, trans-phobia, and bigotry. People demanded that he cancel the event and his church was branded as a “hate group.” Lankford was even compared to Hitler. Others claimed that by teaching biblical Christianity, his church was engaging in child abuse.

 

The day before the story-hour was to take place, Lankford received an email notifying him that it was cancelled. He was told it was due to “violations of the library’s meeting room and acceptable behavior policies,” which states that “proselytizing” is not allowed.

 

After hearing about the attacks on the pastor, the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) offered its services. MFI refuted the charges calling them “patently false.” MFI proceeded to send a demand letter to the library contending that the center had violated its own policies by allowing anyone to book public meeting rooms. The group also asserted that the library violated Lankford’s federal, and state constitutional rights related to free speech and religious liberty. Less than four hours later, the pastor was notified that the event was on again.

 

The event went off without a hitch and was well-attended. Christian parents and children say they look forward to more “Pastor Story Hours,” according to Lankford. He intends to rent the room every month, but he is concerned the library may block him from doing so.

 

Cases like these with my daughter-in-law and Pastor Lankford are not twenty-first century phenomena. In Genesis 18, Abraham advocated on behalf of the people of Sodom. In Exodus, Moses advocated in defense of an enslaved people. Esther pleaded with a Persian king to free the Jews from annihilation. The Hebrew Bible is replete with persons standing up for the marginalized. Those advocates obeyed the Proverbs 31:8-9 injunction – “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

 

Echoing Isaiah in Luke 4, Jesus declared that his public ministry was to be about good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners and sight for the blind. His preaching of the kingdom was meant to encompass economic systems (teachings on day laborers, wages), societal and religious structure (interacting with Pharisees, Sadducees and the Temple) and political powers (engaging Herod and Pilate).

 

As Christians, we have a rich tradition of advocating to challenge systems and powers for the common good. Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg church, calling for change. In 1663, Christian minister Roger Williams pioneered advocacy for religious liberty for all and specifically for the rights of Native Americans. Christian abolitionists advocated for an end to the slave trade and for women’s right to vote.

 

In my lifetime, perhaps the most well-known and universally lauded work of advocacy is the Civil Rights Movement, led by Pastor Martin Luther King, Jr. Today, fifty-five years since his assassination, his words still ring true -  “If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.”

 

From current trends in our secular society, there is a growing need for Christian advocates. We need a movement of mothers, pastors and everyone within our faith communities. Jesus’ call for His followers to be salt and light is as relevant today as when that call was uttered in the first century.