A Kentucky Court Clerk and Romans 13

            So, there’s this court clerk in Kentucky who is refusing to issue marriage licenses because she, as a Christian, doesn’t believe she can have her name stamped on a marriage license for a gay couple.  It’s doubtful that this blog is the first that you’ve heard about this.  She’s gone about this the right way, I believe.  She’s made her stand in love for one thing.  No hateful diatribes, no screaming matches with anybody (as far as I’ve read in the news anyways).  She even went out and gave a bottle of water to one of her LGBT opponents sitting in the heat outside.  Speak the truth but in love (Ephesians 4:15).  Also, she’s not discriminating.  The Supreme Court says the government can’t discriminate in handing out marriage licenses.  So she’s stopped handing out any. Gay or straight.

            It’s a losing battle of course. Which is a shame.  Sure, the law is the law, but if she can risk her job and everything that she’s worked for, then so could that judge who jailed her today. And then the politicians could have gotten behind him.  It could have been a snowballing effect of people standing for truth.  But it isn’t and it won’t be.  Ultimately she will stand alone with only you and me to cheer her from the sidelines.  It’s a losing battle, yet she fights.  Why?  Because any battle fought for Christ, even if a losing battle in the temporal short-term, is always a winning battle in the Kingdom of God.  Her reward will be greater than mine for all she’s going through (2 Corinthians 4:17).  Few of us can imagine the stress she’s under.  Personally, I applaud her. 

            But this all raises a very interesting issue, which has been brought out by most media outlets: the tension between being a person of faith, and being a public servant.  This tension is not new in American democracy, although with the secularization of our society the tension has been more visible; more palpable.  One article I read pointed out that Romans 13 commands Christians to be obedient to the laws of civil government.  This, the article claimed, was another example of Christian hypocrisy as we pick and choose which parts of the Bible to follow.  This is a powerful argument against the stand this clerk is taking.  How does it square with the Christian values she has espoused?  How does it square with the sermon from Sunday?

            Well, let’s look at it like this: if we take this passage in Romans like that article claimed we should, and always be completely obedient to civil government, than what of the Boston tea partiers?  Surely they considered themselves devout Christians, even as they protested tea taxes by dumping tea in the harbor.  For that matter what about George Washington, Paul Revere, or any other of the thousands of Christians who rebelled against their civil government during the American Revolution.  How about the many Christian women who defied government in support of women’s suffrage?  Or how about the civil rights movement?  Was Dr. King - himself a minister - violating Scripture when he fought for equal rights?  Do we honestly believe that the African American community should have just silently and obediently suffered oppression indefinitely?  Do we believe that God would have preferred that?  I, for one, do not believe that.  Nor do I believe that any of these past patriots violated Biblical teaching in making their stands against the injustices of their societies and their government.  So how do we square it?  We do so by looking at all of Scripture, not just a single passage.

            We won’t point out everything, since this blog is already getting long and we still have a ways to go yet; so we’ll just point out a few of the more prominent examples.  There’s Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who refused to worship the golden image and were thrown into the fiery furnace.  Daniel ignored a law not to pray to anyone but the Emperor and was thrown into the lion’s den for it.  Peter and John were told by the religious government to stop preaching in the name of Jesus and were flogged for ignoring it.  All of these examples are held up as examples of Godly behavior and courage.  Every credible commentator understands Paul’s injunction in Romans 13 (Paul was martyred for ignoring Roman laws against Christianity, by the way) as applying only so long as those laws do not conflict with Gods law.  When Government law has been contrary to God’s law, Believers have been expected to stand firm in their opposition. 

           However, the more specific question here is about participating in government.  It’s one thing to be outside government and standing up to it.  It’s another thing to be in government and participating in it by virtue of your job description.  Does a person have to choose between their faith and a job in government?  As freedom loving Americans we are loath to say yes.  Those who think this clerk should “just do her job” should ask just how freedom loving they are.  Unfortunately, the answer may in fact be yes.  Not because I believe it should be that way; but because I believe that that is simply the way it’s become.  For example, while a Muslim who would have to shut down a government office five times a day for prayer would be likely be accommodated, the exact same accommodation would not be given to a Christian without a media firestorm (if Christianity required that, that is).  (It should be noted that many counties are trying to find ways to accommodate the law while allowing objecting clerks to opt out.  But many lawyers say that even this will eventually run up against the legal system).  The plain fact is this:  Christianity is no longer an acceptable religion to our culture or to many in our government.  The time may be fast approaching when Christians can no longer participate in our government through certain government positions, such as a county clerk, or a justice of the peace for example.  And that list is sure to grow.

             But if we don’t participate, then how can we hope to change things?  Well, we still have the vote, for one thing.  But let’s look again at the example of the early church.  Because they were persecuted, and living in a pagan culture with a pagan government, Christians tended to stay out of government almost completely.  There were a few here and there, and maybe more who didn’t admit their faith.  But for the most part you would have been hard pressed to find many Christians in a government job in the first 300 years of the Church.  They simply didn’t feel that such a job was compatible with their faith, and they choose to stay out of them.  And then came Constantine, the first Christian emperor who declared Christianity mainstream.  You know what Christians did to help make that happen? Absolutely nothing.  God did that without our participation and he can do it again here.  (Disclaimer: prayer was undoubtedly involved).  Although, if you believe we are living in the last days then nothing is going to change it. 

            Should she have just resigned?  I’m not sure I have that answer.  Perhaps she should have, but perhaps God has told her to make this stand so as to be a public witness for Him.  You’d be surprised how a Christian standing against long odds for their faith can influence people.  When people see that someone else has found something worth fighting and dying for it makes them curious.  And people’s opinions can be changed when they see someone going through what this clerk is going through.  When they see someone calmly standing up, despite severe opposition.  It’s been noted by historians that people’s feelings about the civil rights movement began to change when they saw marchers being pelted with stones and blasted with fire hoses.  So perhaps God is using this as an opportunity for something.  Perhaps she was going to resign - wants to resign – but God has commanded her otherwise and she is being obedient.

            And we must be obedient.  Obedient to continue in prayer for our nation and its leaders.  For our state and its leaders.  Our city and its leaders.  And we must come together in prayer for this clerk; for the judicial system she’ll be interacting with; for the politicians who have an opportunity to stand behind her.  And (brace yourself) that God would count each of us worthy to suffer for our Lord (Acts 5:41; Philippians 1:29; 3:10).  If we think we’re up to it. 

Diary of a Vegas Vacation: Entry Three, Housekeeping & Fishnets

Days two and three sort of blend together.  I woke up on day two with the street preacher still fresh in my mind, and an unusual, ministerial energy that I hadn’t felt before.  Like there was purpose today and something was going to happen; like maybe I was supposed to make something happen.  I intended to use part of my interruption-free time to work on some other writing projects that I had been moving too slowly on and sat down at the desk in our hotel room (I don’t mind saying it was a NICE hotel room) to do just that.  I ended up beginning this series instead. 

As I was wrapping up the first post it was around lunch time and I decided I would take my laptop somewhere with Wi-Fi and post the first entry while I had lunch.  As I was saving and closing down, housekeeping came to the door.  I smiled at her and assured her it was ok to come in, I would be leaving in a few minutes anyways.  Her name was Olivia and her smile and demeanor were friendly and confidant and not at all subservient or like she had to pretend I was better than her.  I was glad for that; I hate it when people act like that with me.  And I felt that this was something.  I decided to strike up a conversation.  An oddity for me since I hate conversation because I feel so inept at it, but this day was anointed and I planned to press in and find out why.

As I packed up my stuff to head out I made small talk (which I don’t generally know how to do, so it MUST have been God) and asked how long she had worked at the hotel.  She had worked there since August.  She had been blessed to get the job with no prior experience after the printer she worked at let her go after many years of service.  She had developed fibromyalgia and so they had found a reason so as not to incur extra benefits costs.

Her biggest worry was her oldest son.  Her 24 year old son had started doing drugs some time back.  It started with marijuana, and she had learned that it had progressed to heroin.  She had a hard time not blaming herself and wondering what she had done wrong.  She had tried everything but the boy didn’t really want help yet.  She had taken him to a treatment center but he left after only four hours. 

Brian (that is her son's name), had two little girls who are old enough now to know that something isn’t right with daddy, and his girlfriend (the children’s mother) has given up on him.  The thing that Olivia found to be both perplexing and an assurance was that Brian had always been the one most in the Word and knew his Bible inside and out.  He had taught her everything she knew about faith and had been the one to make her faith strong.  And yet here he was now telling her to stop praying for him, that God wasn’t going to help; that he was already lost, had sold his soul and now had to worship Satan. But it also meant that he had a foundation.  He knew the truth.

Her church, Victory Church, had a strong recovery program with a smart pastor.  He was there for her to lean on and was helping her to realize that nothing would help Brian until he wanted help.  But she should keep praying and not give up.  She wished she could get to church more but weekends were the busiest time for the hotels.

I knew her room quota and schedule were probably tighter than UPS’s and I didn’t want to get her in trouble, so rather than pray with her there I assured her that I would pray for both her son and her fibromyalgia (which the doctors had said in 2009 was so bad she wouldn’t be able to use her hands much longer (but look at her now, praise God).  So I parted company with Olivia.

To get where I was going I had to leave the hotel and head up to a pedestrian overpass to cross Las Vegas Blvd.  These bridges were spacious, wide and full of people pedaling things.  On these bridges, as well as on every street corner, were people promoting the bars and clubs.  They did so by trying to hand out drink coupons with pictures of naked girls provocatively posed.  Only about half of these promoters where male.  Many of the females were short, squat little old ladies.  Maybe somebody’s grandmother.  But there were younger girls, too.  And they were usually dressed for the part. 

As I came to the other side of the bridge I started down the escalator.  But as soon as I stepped onto it my mind finally registered the girl I had just walked by and seen purely in my peripheral vision.  I didn’t notice her until it was too late to stop, and turning back would have made me look creepy.  But once she registered, the image was clear.  She had been standing next to the escalator leaned up against the bridge rail, one foot up against the wall behind her like some gunslinger in a clichéd western.  She was young, mid-twenties maybe, with long, straight dark hair down to the middle of her back.  She had on aviator sunglasses, was holding a fake police baton, wearing a fake badge, a police-looking bikini top, black bikini bottoms, fishnet stockings and mid-calve boots.

As soon as she registered in my mind (Vegas is kind of keep-your-eyes-to-yourself kind of place unless you want to get taken for something), I realized I missed an opportunity for another something. It was quite windy out and the temperature was just barely on the positive side of comfortable for me in a long sleeved shirt and sweater.  Had I seen her sooner I would have asked jovially, “Aren’t you cold?”  In my mind I could see the smile.  It would be the same one all the girls wore.  It would be full of well-practiced genuiness.  Not flirtatious, but with warmth and seemingly sincere happiness to see you.   Vegas girls could make money as smile consultants, teaching service staff around the country how to flash that smile.   She would have answered honestly enough. “A little.”  “How long do you have to stand out here?” I would have asked next.  And she’d have answered.  “What do you do in December?”  Answer.  “How long have you lived in Vegas?” Answer.  “Are you going to school or something?  Must have an important goal to be standing out here freezing like this.”  This is how the conversation would begin, and I would have learned her story.  What it was that made her do what she did.  No little girl says that when she grows up she wants to stand on a crowded walk-way in next to nothing, getting ogled, mentally undressed, and probably ‘accidentally’ groped by guys ‘accidentally’ getting jostled into her by the crowd. Maybe it was the only way she could find to pay for school.  Maybe her parents had shuffled her out of the house as soon as she turned 18.  Maybe she got pregnant at 16 or 17 and her parents had thrown her out and now she had a kid at home to feed.  Maybe she ran away from home, to get away from the abuse, and found that exploiting her only known asset was the only way for her to survive.  I would have learned all those things about this otherwise anonymous girl, who was standing on the Vegas strip and hoping that this would be as far as she would ever have to go in using her body to make money.

How much would she have appreciated that conversation?  A conversation that was about her as a person.  A conversation that didn’t begin “hey baby,” or end with “When you gettin’ off tonight?”  A conversation with someone who looked her in the eye the entire time and then moved on, no motives.  What kind of hope might that have left her with?  There were many girls like her along the strip, but it was only her that I had had a strong conviction that I needed to start a conversation with.  A something missed.

In the end the day played out pretty much like that.  I had places to be that evening and I needed to get back and get ready.  I should have had more than one Olivia that day but I missed the other opportunities.  The day had been anointed but I wasted that anointing.  Not too big a deal; it happens from time to time.  Especially when it’s for something totally new to you (like talking and conversing).  Upon reflection I know that I didn’t give in to my wife asking me to go with her – I had given in to God.  Upon reflection I know that the disappointment a couple months before at deciding not to go was really that feeling you get when you have just made a decision that was opposite what God was telling you to make.  Upon reflection I know that it was a vacation that was not supposed to be a vacation.

They say that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.  But something about Vegas didn’t stay there.  Something about Vegas nags at me, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.  Jesus looked out at the crowds and said that “the harvest is so great, but the workers are so few.” (NLT.  Matt. 9:37 [or, if you don’t like Matthew, Luke 10:2; but who doesn’t like Matthew?]).  For three days I walked Las Vegas Blvd and saw so many sheep in need of a shepherd, and none in sight.

Roots

There is a particular spot in my back yard, about a 10 x 15 foot area that my wife and I would like to someday turn into a little patio area.  Right now it’s an overgrown mess.  Tall, hardy weeds; tough, little weedy shrubs; various grasses and all sorts of other annoying vegetation call the place home. Trying to keep this area under control is a lot of work.  No matter how many times I cut it all down it keeps coming back, often times bigger and hardier than before.  And if I fail to stay on top of it for too long it becomes a solid weekends worth of work.

One of the keys to getting rid of certain things like tall weeds, shrubs and other things is to get at the roots.  If all you do is cut down what’s above the surface, leaving the roots alone, then the thing is bound to grow back.

My battle with this piece of landscaping is similar to the enemy’s battle with us.  His ultimate goal is to destroy our relationship with God.  To do that he keeps hacking away at our blessings.  Does it ever seem like whenever something good happens to you that you hardly have time to enjoy it before something happens to it, or something stressful pops up in direct relation to it?  Those are the garden shears of the enemy.  And, just like I have to be with my landscaping, he has to be on top of them all the time, lest they grow and bear more fruit than he can handle.  It may not be what anybody wants to hear – but he’s not going to let up.  But the good news?  He can’t ever get at your roots, if your roots are Jesus Christ.  Which means those blessings will keep coming back to annoy the enemy.  As long as you don’t let him discourage you into letting go of those roots, then he can never achieve his ultimate goal of killing your relationship with the Father.

UNLIKE my landscaping problem, our blessings are not weeds they are flowers. Nor is the enemy the gardener.  He’s just a thief in the garden who has no legal right to be there. The gardener is you.  Expected me to say God, didn’t you.  It is true that there would be no flowers in the garden, or even a garden at all, if not for the grace of God.  But God gave us the responsibility of tending the garden.  We can plant the seeds of our blessings by ardently following after Him.  (…I will not let you go unless you bless me – Gen 32:26).  We can water and fertilize our blessings, and make them to be hardy plants resistant to the enemy’s shears, with prayer.  Prayer can insulate and protect our blessings the way piles of leaves insulate flowers against the frost.  Prayer keeps the weeds that would choke our flowers at bay the way fertilizer with weed control works in the natural.  Why?  Because prayer is the active nurturing of our relationship with Jesus Christ, who provides the right amount of rain and sun for the garden we are tending.  It strengthens the roots.  And the flowers are really just the visible manifestation of the strength of our roots.  If we protect our roots then we will always have flowers in our garden.  (Here on Earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I (JESUS) have overcome the world. – John 16:33 [Parenthetical emphasis added]).