The Tale of Two Protest Requests:
Reviewing 2020
Did you ask or expect your pastor to protest something during 2020?
I am an ordained pastor. In my tradition (white, evangelical, reformed) the advice has historically been that pastors do not get involved politically. We are encouraged to not preach or speak out in political ways. The people I grew up around did not protest. The world I was raised and trained in limited its politics to picking up a Christian Coalition voting guide off the literature table on the way out of the service. But I have noticed something interesting this year, members of that community calling for protest and resistance.
Recently on Facebook I stumbled across a comment on a thread where the writer self-disclosed that she was on her third church this year because she was sick of weak pastors who won't stand up to the government over mask-mandates and worship service restrictions. Her comments echoed others (though with much more church hopping/shopping) I've heard throughout the year calling for Christians to stand up and resist - or even defy - government advice on masks and/or in-person worship. I know from talking to colleagues that these sentiments have translated into requests (even pressure and threats in some cases) that pastors resist, defy or protest - even in the tradition I am a part of that tends to be anti-political in its stance.
Over the summer I was invited to join a group of pastors in my city who are seeking reconciliation, in part in response to the protests that followed the killing of George Floyd. That group, made up of African-American and White pastors, discussed the issue first separately and then together. In those conversations it became clear that the expectations for involvement in the issue of race/racism differed greatly in the two communities. What also became clear is that in the white churches there was not much (if any) expectation for pastors to protest on this issue.
Each winter as a year draws to a close we spend time reflecting on the past year. It is natural for humans to do this at the end of anything. 2020, unprecedentedly odd year, may have many not wanting to reflect, choosing rather to charge into 2021 with hope, however naive it might be. But I invite you to reflect on 2020 using the question I opened this blog with: Did you ask or expect your pastor to protest something during 2020?
If the answer is no, I invite you consider what it is about protesting that seems to not be part of the work of a pastor? Further, what issue would be so important that you would expect your spiritual leader to, well, lead?
If the answer is yes, what did you expect or ask them to protest?
Did you want them to stand up for your right to not wear a mask?
Did you expect your religious leader to fight for your understanding of religious freedom?
Did you put pressure on your pastor to resist government overreach so you could go to church?
Did you ask your pastor to stand against the evil of racism?
Did you expect your spiritual leader to speak out against the freedoms (and lives) taken from others because of their skin color?
Did you put pressure on your pastor to lead in making sure that all people - created in the image of God - are being treated fairly?
During 2020 I suspect many folks in the spiritual tradition I am from protested for the first time. I also suspect that many expected the same from their spiritual leaders, also for the first time. First times, like the end of things, call us to reflect. If this year was your first protest, or call for a protest, what did you protest? What did you call for? Were you concerned about your own comfort, rights, and freedoms or the comfort, rights and freedom of others?
Jesus once said, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15:13). As 2020 closes, my challenge is this, if the thing that caused you to cry out in protest for the first time was the protection of your rights, it might not be Jesus you are following/worshipping. If the thing you were pressuring your pastor to take a stand for was your comfort, rights and freedoms, and not the right for all people created in the image of God to experience the same comforts, rights, and freedoms, the thing you call "good news" may in fact be anything but.
Joel K
Photo Credits:
https://pixabay.com/photos/blm-black-lives-matter-protest-5267765/
Anti-mask protesters outside the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on July 18, 2020. (Jeff Dean/AFP via Getty Images) as it appeared at: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/10/29/both-republicans-and-democrats-cite-masks-as-a-negative-effect-of-covid-19-but-for-very-different-reasons/
