Is Chick-fil-A Anti-Gay?

Fast food chain Chick-fil-A has been accused of being  anti-gay by Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno and Mayor Rahm Emmanuel for supporting organizations such as Focus on the Family, which oppose gay marriage. Company president Dan Cathy said this week that his company is  “guilty as charged.” In an interview with the Baptist Press, Cathy said Chick-fil-A  is “very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family  unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.” Moreno stated his position in strong terms, referring to  Cathy’s “bigoted, homophobic comments” in a proposed opinion page  piece that an aide also sent to Tribune reporters.

The Humor of Jesus

We know the Bible is not a joke book. In fact, it is very serious about the deadly consequences of our sin and our stubborn refusal to accept God’s redemptive mercy toward us in Christ. All of that said, the Bible does have its share of Holy Humor. We are never told whether Jesus laughed or smiled, but it is hard to picture his personality as anything but winsome and attractive. It does not take a stretch to believe that Jesus had a well-developed sense of humor. It veritably shines through his words and actions. For instance, Jesus once pictured the religious legalists of his day being like a man who so carefully polished the outside of his drinking cup while forgetting to clean out the crud on the inside (Matthew 23:25). He also pictured these religionists as people who carefully picked flies out of their drinks while proceeding to swallow camels (Matthew 23:24). Can you imagine that scene in your mind?

Laughter: the Hiccup of a Fool?

Laughter has gotten a bad rap in the past. Charles Baudelaire in his The Essence of Laughter (1855) said, “Laughter is satanic, and, therefore, profoundly human. It is born of Man’s conception of his own superiority… It is at once a sign of infinite grandeur and of infinite wretchedness.” Also John Ray, in his English Proverbs (1670), claimed that “laughter is the hiccup of a fool.” In contrast, I like what George Macdonald had to say in Sir Gibbie(1879): “It is the heart that is not yet sure of its God that is afraid to laugh in His presence.” Chuck Swindoll had this to say in his article The Winsome Witness. (Winsome = win some?), “If you ask me, I think it is often just as sacred to laugh as it is to pray . . . or preach . . . or witness. But then – laughter is a witness in many ways. We have been misled by a twisted, unbalanced mind if we have come to think of laughter and fun as being carnal or even questionable.”

Men, Like Trees Walking

“I THINK that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed against the sweet earth’s flowing breast; a tree that looks at God all day, and lifts her leafy arms to pray; a tree that may in summer wear a nest of robins in her hair; upon whose bosom snow has lain; who intimately lives with rain. Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.” I remember this Joyce Kilmer poem hanging as a plaque on the wall of our living room when I was growing up. I have always been fascinated by trees; awed by their strength and beauty, and the way they “lift their leafy arms to pray.” I find it interesting that Mark 8 records Jesus’ only two-stage miracle when he first touched the blind man’s eyes and he saw “men as trees walking.”