I was going to avoid this subject. I am not a theologian, politician, or psychologist. I am a wife and mom. I am rather conservative in my beliefs. I am a Christ follower, to the best of my ability, which is not all that great sometimes.. I believe in a pretty literal translation of the Bible. And I am far from perfect as I try to live my life in this crazy mixed up world. But as I have pondered the Chic-fil-a situation I decided maybe I did have something to say. These are just my thoughts and observations. And i am free to share them. You are free to hear them and agree or disagree.
As I have thought over the last few days, and read the outcry over comments made by Chic-fil-a's president, my mind went back to an event I attended last year. It was the Global Leadership Summit, sponsored by the Willow Creek Association. It was a two day event where leaders from all over gather together to hear seminars by some of the great business and church leaders of our time. To glean from their knowledge and learn to be better leaders where ever they happen to be. While it was a Christian event, there were speakers from all facets of the business world, for the organizer believes that we can all learn from each other if we really take the time to listen.
Many were looking forward to hearing from Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, and were sadly disappointment to find out that he would not be speaking after all. Apparently he gave in to pressure from a group of people who took issue with Willow Creek Associations stance on Homosexuality and decided it was too much of a risk to his business for him to speak at the Summit. He broke his contract with the organization and choose not to attend. Now, you can imagine what I thought the next words from the organizer would be. Boycott, dont buy his book, don't buy his coffee, send a message that we will not stand for this type of treatment.
Instead, here is what happened. The organizer stood up and explained the situation, then he told his audience to be sure they bought Mr. Schultz book, to stop by and get a cup of coffee from Starbucks on their way home, and to let him know how much they had looked forward to hearing from him and how disappointed they were at not being able to glean from his business wisdom. To be honest, I was rather floored. He wanted us to love this man, and show him that we were not evil, nasty, hate mongering people. That we were people who loved God, loved coffee and loved him. Not only that, if I remember correctly, they did not charge Mr. Schultz a penalty for backing out of his agreement with them. For several days after the event, the Starbucks Facebook page was filled with comments from people who were at the conference, telling him how much they wished he had chosen to speak, and how much they liked his coffee. (now there were some who were a bit harsh and unkind, but the vast majority were gracious and loving toward him)
Now, I think about the reaction to Mr. Cathy's statements regarding his view on marriage, and the fact that his company is based on biblical principles. The outcry has been horrific, hateful and mean spirited. I know there are groups out there who claim the name of Christ and are quite hateful. I do not defend them at all. I believe that they do more harm than good. But for those of us who are just people, sinners saved by the Grace of Jesus and His love for us, we must, oh brothers and sisters we must, be careful in how we uphold and defend our beliefs. For while our message may be offensive to many, we ourselves and the way we deliver the message ought not be. We Christ followers need to be very careful as we navigate our way through these types of issues.
Bottom line, Starbucks and Chic-fil-a are privately
owned companies. They can make whatever policies they wish to make. They
can support what ever causes they wish to support. They can build their
companies on whatever standards they see fit. And we the consumer have a
choice. Support them or not. But don't become nasty, angry, hateful
people in the process.
No comments:
Post a Comment