The Non-Controversy of Cesar Chavez

Just for the record… I don’t care what the Google doodle is.  They are clever and they celebrate creativity and occasionally people and seasons.  I like them but I won’t ever be offended by what the subject of them is (or is not).  

But we live in a world rife for controversy and we will always try to rub two sticks together to make fire.  So just a few thoughts about this non-controversy over Cesar Chavez being celebrated on Easter Sunday instead of well… Easter Sunday.

Celebrating civil rights is celebrating the work of resurrection – so whatever people actually got upset about Easter love for Cesar Chavez need to get a bigger idea WHY Jesus rose.  Cesar Chavez wasn’t perfect – he made some missteps – but generally he did a lot more to make resurrection real than I ever have and that is something to be named and claimed – it is a celebration of life fully commensurate with a day to proclaim life ascendant!

Having read way too many comments by offended Christians… I think we need to stop getting offended – it does not become us. We aren’t marginalized (though being so might just be a good thing) and living a way of love, grace, and forgiveness is not achieved by getting snarly over every companies decisions not to preach a Christian sermon with their marketing campaigns.  

Lastly I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with the fact that if Google doodle had put two painted Easter eggs for the o’s than everyone would have been happy even though Easter eggs have very little (if anything) to do with Jesus and Resurrection.  So we’d be happy with pagan celebrations of fertility and spring… but unhappy actually lifting up a Christian who worked tirelessly in advocacy of poor, marginalized workers seeking to make a better life for them through solidarity… a person whose life was lived in service to Good News?

I pray we can get our priorities straight… celebrate life wherever we find it, lift up the oppressed wherever they are, proclaim Good News in whatever package we find it.  Jesus is the least of these and when Google celebrated Cesar Chavez they DID celebrate Christ and Resurrection. 

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