05-22-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
May 22, 2024
I have debated whether or not to engage the conversation around the commencement speech by the Kansas City Chief’s kicker, Harrison Butker. I have watched the speech and have read the transcript twice. Let me begin by saying that, agree or disagree, I hold pretty strongly to the First Amendment, making space for people to express their opinion. There are always limits, though that line is one I find difficult to draw sometimes. At the same time, my desire to protect your right to speak does not mean I will remain silent if what you said is something I perceive to be unhealthy or even dangerous.

At no point in Mr. Butker’s speech did he ever say, “I believe…” He made many strong declarations, which he is allowed to make, but much of what he said should probably have fallen under the category of personal belief. His theology, which he clearly implied was good conservative Catholic Theology, was in fact a mix of one wing of the Catholic Church, with some Christian Nationalism, and a sprinkle of Prosperity Gospel. Many Catholics would have found his theology to be anywhere from slightly misguided to pretty far off base. Again, he has the right to state those convictions, but it might have been a bit more honest to have said, “As I consider my faith…” And though he implied over and over again how his speech was an expression of Christian teaching, he only once made an indirect reference to a teaching of Jesus, and even that was a rather nebulous Biblical side note. We can have some serious conversations around what it means to follow Jesus, and even disagree in a respectful way, but making dramatic proclamations with serious social implications that are rooted loosely in a pseudo-Catholic theology leaves those who want a serious theological conversation centered on the teachings of Jesus without an actual conversation partner.

Again, Mr. Butker has the right to say what he said, but there are those of us who will suggest, and I think we offer a pretty strong Biblical foundation in our arguments, that Jesus invited people of all genders to live into their unique gifts that may or may not have anything to do with their capacity to reproduce. Marriage and raising children are both sacred acts, but so is volunteering at the dog shelter, finishing up an apprenticeship toward the dream of becoming a master plumber, running for political office because you believe you can do something important, using your medical degree to serve Doctors Without Borders or at the most prestigious cancer hospital in the world, taking a vow to become a nun as you believe God is calling you to serve the most vulnerable, continuing to teach third grade in spite of a political system that seems hellbent on squeezing any creativity from the educational system, and even being gifted enough to kick a ball between two posts and to be paid millions of dollars to do so. Sadly, there are a lot of people who, before Butker’s speech, did not really consider themselves to be Christian, but after the speech, they walked away thinking that their misogynistic and homophobic beliefs aligned them with Christianity. I am always cautious when it comes to making anything that might sound like a pronouncement, but I believe the god Mr. Butker created in the image of his own insecurities does not represent Jesus, the teacher and revealer of love who made real the God of the Universe, a God whose understanding of power began with the cross, an act of self-giving love that did not whine about feeling emasculated. 

Maybe in my internal debate over whether to say something on this issue or not, I should have chosen to remain quiet. But to do so would have silenced my own free speech, and even more so, would have allowed a very unhealthy and dangerous form of Christianity to go unchallenged… or at least that’s what I think.

Encourage me daily, Merciful and Gentle God, to keep my focus upon Jesus, for there I find my hope, my model for living, my liberation, and a love that embraces all. Amen.

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