Kelly Gissendaner: One More Post

“I'm currently sitting in the beautiful sanctuary of First United Methodist Church in Newnan. A concert on their magnificent pipe organ awaits. The stained glass windows stunningly portray Jesus, the one who came to bring redeeming forgiveness to all who come to Him. How sad that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole seems convinced that justice eliminates mercy and refused to commute the death sentence of Kelly Gissendaner. Equally sad is how many elected officials in the state government and especially the judiciary will brag about how tough they are on crime because of this. Perhaps their politics will allow that. It doesn't seem to be how Jesus behaved or thought - and neither should His followers. The stained glass windows around me weep tears of sadness. Jesus would gather us as a hen gathers her chicks but we refuse to come. And He too weeps.”

I wrote those words last night after seeing on a news feed that that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole would not commute Kelly Gissendaner’s death sentence to life in prison. I posted them on Facebook and there were lots of “likes.” It was encouraging to see so many Christian people agreeing that the State of Georgia really dropped the ball in this situation. 

One person did object to what I wrote, but his argument was so specious that I will only say by the logic expressed in that disagreement, Christians should be fine with abortion because after all the dead babies are with Jesus; and you might as well go ahead and approve of euthanasia, at least for Christians who are old and sick because they will be with Jesus also. And forget persecuted and often murdered Christians in places like Syria and the Middle East – ISIS is sending them straight to Jesus also. 

His objections reflect a kind of patriotism that places faith under the state flag of Georgia and the stars and stripes of the United States. Yet when confronted with a similar issue before Pilate, Jesus was quick to say “my kingdom is not of this world” and when Pilate asked him “Are you king of the Jews?” he replied “You say that I AM King.” (John 18:36ff) He is King - but not of this world. Thinking that some act of the state is acceptable because the state says it is, while it stands in brutal contrast to core values of the kingdom of God, can only mean that our pledge of allegiance to our nation will always trump our confession of faith that Jesus is Christ. That’s simply not orthodox faith.

So why do I think “He too weeps” in response to the murder of Kelly Gissindaner? I’m so glad you asked!

First, by the same argument that I would use to suggest abortion is morally wrong, one is put in a difficult position as a follower of Jesus in thinking the death penalty is “of God.” Forget about all the little proof texts anti-abortion people use to show opposition to abortion (they aren’t really about abortion). Scripture opposes abortion because it creates an image of life where God alone is the author, giver, and sustainer of life and abortion violates that image. 

I understand that sometimes godly law enforcement people and godly soldiers and godly civilians are put in places where lives are taken.  I’ve never met a truly godly person in that circumstance who was happy about that. But I understand it happens. In this particular case, the state had multiple options other than lethal injection. Why unnecessarily violate the premise that God alone is the author, giver, and sustainer of life?

Of course the state doesn’t have to follow God in the way that I do as a believer. So the question really is why do Christian people find themselves lining up to vote for politicians who are interested in notches on the belt of “hard on crime” rather than interested in the idea of mercy?

Second, forgiveness is a big deal to anyone who follows Jesus.  By the standards of those who preach a kind of “she did the crime, she has to die” message, the apostle Paul would have been put to death before he wrote the first word of what would become nearly one-half of the New Testament and the impact of his work as a missionary would never have come about.

No one, including Kelly Gissendaner herself, was denying that what she did was a heinous act and deserving of punishment. While I didn’t see one person suggest that her conversion was nothing more than “jail house faith,” I did see lots of women prisoners and former prisoners who spoke of her genuineness as a believer and how much she had helped them.

Just think pragmatically for a moment. Go check out the recidivism rate for prisoners in Georgia. It’s horrendous. Go check out the overcrowding of Georgia prisons – in part because of recidivism. Forget the gospel, faith, forgiveness and all that silly stuff – wouldn’t it just make good sense to keep a women like this alive and functioning inside the prisons of our state? 

Third, the use of plea arrangements by the court system in Georgia as well as other places in the United States has become a “let me get another notch on my belt” by prosecutors more interested in their next election than any sense of justice, mercy, or human decency. Kelly Gissindaner, for reasons I don’t know, took the risk of going to trial. The realization that the person who actually committed the murder was given a sentence with the possibility of parole and she was given the death penalty once convicted by a jury should cause any decent, justice-loving person pause. Is that really where we want to be as a country?

The whole plea bargain approach eliminates the long-cherished American ideal of “innocent until proven guilty.” The behavior of government and courts in Germany in the years leading up to and including the Hitler years of terror sound awfully similar sometimes. To suggest that because she went to court and lost it is wrong to show mercy is not only un-American, far more importantly it is un-Christian. When the state can threaten you with dire options if you to plead out – you can be sure that the idea of justice is but a shrinking memory of a day long since passed.

This isn’t just about Kelly Gissendaner – though if it were that would be adequate reason to be disturbed.  Rather it is ultimately about the danger of the church – followers of Jesus – going to bed with any government, including our own, that will tempt us to salute flags before we kneel at the cross. My initial blog on this situation suggested that it was the result of Sadducees who were comfortable going to bed with Rome and Pharisees who thought it was all about tradition and rules that Jesus was crucified.

I still think I’m right about that and determined that I won’t yield to the temptation to be like them. Every morning I get up and walk around three miles before leaving for work. On that walk I pass a house where there are all sorts of “look at me, I’m a Christian” indicators. Oddly, there is a flag pole on which hangs a US flag and a Georgia flag.  Much lower, underneath those two flags, there is a Christian flag. The image of subservience can’t be missed.

God forgive me if I ever get to the place where I think Georgia law is more important than the grace and mercy of Jesus.

Sobering Reality

Early Sunday morning (20 September 2015) we heard the news that our good friend, colleague in ministry, and fellow alumnus of Point University, Joey Mullins, died during the night. In some ways it was not all that surprising, given the kind of cancer he had been fighting against; but in other ways utterly shocking because Joey put forth such a great, Christ-like attitude in the battle that you just assumed he would win. Should I ever face such a moment, I pray that I would be as strong as he has been. 

Of course in real terms he did win – but in more temporal terms that awful disease called cancer won. For Diane, he three sons Brandon, Jason and John, and daughters-in-law, grandchildren, brothers and sisters and a ton of friends there is that vacant spot in life once filled with a godly follower of Jesus. 

Vicki knew Joey longer than I did since they grew up together at Central Christian Church in St. Petersburg, Florida where Joey’s father and Vicki’s father were elders and worked with Curt Hess to build a great church in St. Petersburg. When he came to Atlanta Christian College a year behind us, he and I became friends in a kind of friendship that would last a life time. We were actually friends before Vicki and I ever had our first date – but that friendship was so strong for both of us that Joey was a groomsman in our wedding.

Joey and I were on a “youth team” as they were called back then, along with other friends our junior year in college and had lots of fun travelling all over the southeast. When Vicki and I graduated, we both went to graduate school in Cincinnati and a year later, Joey and Diane moved to Ohio and Joey preached at a church not too far from Cincinnati and enrolled in grad school as well. Vicki, Joey, and I often met at Stake-n-Shake for “ACC Alumni” meetings in the shadow of “THE seminary” as they saw themselves!

Our lives took different paths, but both in ministry. Joey served a church in Florida, and then in Bremen, Georgia. He was, in no uncertain terms, a very fine student of Scripture and a very good preacher. No church he served ever realized what a great person they had chosen as their preacher. While he was at Bremen, our paths crossed again because we both cared deeply about Woodland Christian Camp. Joey was born to be a camp leader and his presence at Woodland made my being a program director a piece of cake! I don’t know how many years we worked together at Woodland, but every time I was with him I was reminded of the blessing of a good friend.

Joey eventually became a leader in a group focused on better child care for poverty stricken children in Georgia. My youngest daughter, Bethany, worked with that organization for a while. He was greatly respected by his colleagues and his passion for being Jesus to children caught in the most difficult of circumstances was amazing.

Even though he didn’t spend the last part of his life in a local church as a preacher, folks at Bethany Christian Church in Carrollton where his brother-in-law Alan Howard was the preacher and later at First Christian Church in Carrollton were blessed by his ministry. He believed in the local church and was committed to sharing in its ministry.

During this extended period of battling with cancer, Joey wrote and posted some amazing blogs on a website called Caring Bridge. I – along with Vicki – followed those posts religiously. Back in the spring I talked with him about speaking for a class I facilitate at Point called “Healthy Congregations.” I wanted him to come and talk to the young men and women in the class – future kingdom leaders – about how to minister to critically ill people. In that conversation Joey told me he was putting those posts into book form and that the book would be published. The title of the book is Hezekiah’s Maple: One Man’s Journey with Cancer and Hope. It is available on Amazon.com. He was excited about coming to my class – and I was excited about what he could say to my students. I will have to purchase them a copy of the book – it is too important a subject to ignore.

Joey was just a year younger than I am. It isn’t all that unusual to see people in our age category to be listed alphabetically in the metro section of the AJC under the heading “Obituaries.” Yet it is still a sobering reality to think that such a good friend, a colleague in ministry, and just all around great guy is no longer among us.

I’ve been praying for Joey’s healing since the first day I learned of his cancer diagnosis. We saw him and Diane at the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Newnan several times – on one occasion delivering a Point University baseball cap he wanted.  Vicki regularly sent cards and notes – including the “40 cent” reminder of a childhood joke. Since early Sunday morning, I’ve been praying for Diane, her boys and their families, and so many people who have this idea that someone important is missing and no longer among us. I think about all the families served by Georgia Family Connection Partnership. They have lost a great advocate. I think about all the kids yet to come to Woodland Christian Camp who won’t get to experience a week of camp with him.

All of that is deeply saddening. But I also must think of our great promise of a day coming when the kingdom Christ inaugurated and in which Joey faithfully served will be fully consummated and the children of God will be fully revealed. Paul says that so great is that hope that even creation itself longs for it (Romans 8:18-25). Joey now knows that text better than I – but I suspect he might think creation at Woodland is on the verge of shouting about God’s glory, knowing that among the redeemed are Joseph Clay Mullins.

Vicki and I are sending a gift to Woodland this morning in memory of Joey. I’d love to encourage you to do the same.

God Forgive Us

As a follower of Jesus, I am very comfortable with the idea that Jesus Himself expressed when He told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36) That statement was no effort to relinquish his role as King, for he would follow that with a word to Pilate that too few of His followers remember, “You say correctly that I AM a king.” (18:37)

In the world in which He lived, there were religious people who were Sadducees who thought going to bed with the government (Rome) was the shortcut to success and prosperity. And there were Pharisees who thought that some hyper-legalistic view of the Law was the only way to please God. Put those two fatally flawed ideas together and you have God’s Messiah dying on a cross.

Some things never change. Headline news on the front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for today – Saturday, 19 September 2015 – reads “Georgia ready to execute woman.”  Kelly Gissendaner – the woman Georgia is ready to execute – is not God’s Messiah. I get that and am not even remotely confused about that. But a boatload of people who claim to follow God’s Messiah are comfortable sitting by silently as the state executes her.

The short version of her story is that she arranged the death of her husband in 1997. Her partner in that crime worked through   a plea agreement, she went to trial. She was found guilty and sentenced to death. A host of complications – not unusual in death penalty cases – has brought us to this moment where, according to the AJC, a window of opportunity for the state to execute her has been opened for the state between noon September 29 and noon October 6. The state’s normal pattern is to execute such people on the first day of opportunity at 7:00 p.m.

Gissendaner is not shy in admitting that she arranged her husband’s death. But in prison, she has become a committed follower of Jesus and, according to news reports, become a very influential person among Georgia prisoners to actually take advantage of opportunities to reform their approaches to life. Any government official with a modicum of a brain would look at her story and think that perhaps the Georgia prison system would be more redemptive and more reform oriented if we allowed the Kelly Gissendaner kinds of people to continue living and being influential.

But that is exactly the outcome when followers of Jesus think that either going to bed with the government is the key to success or that being hyper-legalistic about “the Law” is the only option.  We crucify Jesus, execute Paul before he gets the chance to be the person God called him to be, and we support the state in its unjust decision to execute Kelly Gissendaner. We do that while patting ourselves on the back about our sense of holiness based upon “following the letter of the Law.”

Please.

A very respected and successful defense attorney in Georgia recently told me that the most difficult places in Georgia to address the issue of justice and redemption were places where evangelical Christians were the majority voters when it comes to electing judges and district attorneys. What sadder indictment of people who claim to follow Jesus could there be? Like the Sadducees of Jesus’ world, we think government trumps God; like the Pharisees, we think life is all about “the letter of the Law.” Put those two things together and we execute Kelly Gissendaner without even a flush of conscience.

For a number of years now the state government of Georgia has been elected by people who, by and large, would be in the category of “evangelical Christians.” The governor will sleep well because he doesn’t have the power to commute sentences. That is little more than the political claptrap that creates the challenges of our age. But he is elected by “evangelical Christians” who somehow have come to the conclusion that justice and redemption aren’t a part of the Jesus story.

God forgive us.

Georgia will likely execute Kelly Gissendaner. That will be a sad day. Her guilt is not a matter of dispute. Apparently the idea of redemption, renewal, and restoration is.

God forgive us.