Did you hear about the flap over the chapel at East Central University in Oklahoma? They were going to remove all crosses and Bibles from the building. Then they weren’t. I reckon they will eventually answer the broadside from the iconoclasts in court.
You may be familiar with the work of some advocacy groups that want to liberate the public from anything Christian, with their legal strategy to move the line between establishment and free exercise. At times it seems this may ultimately be successful, if removing Bibles and prayers from where they once were is any indication of where we are headed. Dr. Robert Wilken of the University of Virginia wrote in 2004, “The unhappy fact is that the society in which we live is no longer neutral about Christianity.”
What if we live in a society that tears down Christian symbols, and liberates the public discourse of anything but Orwellian newspeak? The struggle against that should continue. But as the Hebrew prophet said, “Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places” (Hab. 3:17-19).
Despite the chilling cultural climate, believers walk the high road because we are the Lord’s visible presence, His body. Yes we can (and should) argue about a university chapel, but even if symbols and freedoms disappear, we are still here. In “The Benedict Option,” Rod Dreher writes, “The first Christians gained converts not because their arguments were better than those of the pagans but because people saw in them and their communities something good and beautiful – and they wanted it. This led them to the Truth.” People are attracted to love, not argument.
Here’s why it matters. I borrow from Andrew Young who told NPR, “These (BLM activists) grew up free, but they don’t realize what still enslaves them, and it’s not those (civil war) monuments.” Those in our culture who are no longer neutral about Christianity do not realize they are enslaved by something other than what they are trying to eradicate. Jesus’ church stands ready to receive in love those cultural refugees who have had enough of the misplaced outrage. Jesus Christ is not an enemy to resist, He’s a Liberator to embrace!
