I rarely follow sports, but a story about the LA Dodgers has caught my attention. It has to do with Pride Month. Like so many other businesses and organizations, the Dodgers have jumped on the bandwagon of supporting and applauding the LGBTQ community by hosting a Pride Night Celebration. Given our current culture’s mindset, there is nothing unusual about that, but what is unusual is that the Dodgers chose to uninvite one group: the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence describe themselves as an order of queer and trans nuns. They use a blasphemous approach to Christianity, an “in your face” belligerent attitude to simultaneously mock Christ and His followers and promote their lifestyle of sin. And lest you think I’m being narrow-minded in calling their lifestyle sin, their motto is “go and sin some more.”

There should be no surprise as to what happened after the Dodgers made their decision: there was a great outcry from the LGBTQ community. What the Dodgers did was considered hateful. Shameful. Discriminatory. The complaints worked, and the Dodgers reversed their decision. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence would be allowed at Pride Night.

Enter Clayton Kershaw, pitcher for the Dodgers. Not only is Kershaw an outstanding pitcher, but he is a deeply committed Christ-follower. As a Christian, he was opposed to the Dodgers’ decision. He told the Los Angeles Times:

“I don’t agree with making fun of other people’s religions. It has nothing to do with anything other than that. I just don’t think that, no matter what religion you are, you should make fun of somebody else’s religion. So that’s something that I definitely don’t agree with.”

While Kershaw made his feelings known, the extent of his protest ended there. What he did instead was push for something positive. He pushed for relaunching Christian Faith Day, an annual event that ceased only because of the pandemic. He spoke of what he and his wife chose to do:

“For us, we felt like the best thing to do in response was, instead of maybe making a statement condemning or anything like that, would be just to instead try to show what we do support, as opposed to maybe what we don’t. And that was Jesus. So to make Christian Faith Day our response is what we felt like was the best decision.”

Details of Christian Faith Day have not been finalized, but Clayton Kershaw noted in his statement,

“It’s our opportunity to be able to kind of share our testimony of what we believe in and why we believe in it, and how that affects our performance on the field. It’s a great opportunity to see the platform that Jesus has given us and how to use that for his glory and not ours.” [Source]

In our culture, Christians are more known for what we are against that what we are for. The world hears us ranting about homosexuals, gender identity issues, and the role political party, but do they ever hear us talking about the gospel, the hope we have in Christ?

This does not preclude speaking out against sin. But over it all, let’s be screaming the love and grace of Jesus Christ. Let’s talk about the freedom He gives us. People need to know there is something called sin—and we are all guilty of it. But they also need to know that there is something greater than the sins we hold on to and even boast about.

Jesus stood for love and grace. He addressed the matter of sin, but it was the love and light He displayed that changed hearts and lives. He just shined the light of love and grace … and the light revealed our darkness for what it is.

Consider the truths In Ephesians 5:

“Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them” (v. 11).

Many interpret the command to expose the works of darkness as a call to scream and shout against the sins of the culture. But Paul didn’t stop there.

“For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret” (v. 12).

If it’s shameful to mention these things, how do we expose them?  The answer is in the next verses:

“Everything exposed by the light is made visible, for what makes everything visible is light” (vv. 13-14).

Instead of shouting against the darkness, we are to shine a light. The light of Christ. When we live and speak the love and grace of Christ, conviction follows. To my knowledge, no one has ever come to Christ or changed their ways by an advertisement of what Christians are against. But when we lift up Christ and talk of what His love and grace have done for us, change happens.

Jesus said, “As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32).

It’s the cross where Jesus was lifted up that draws people. It’s the love of Christ displayed on that cross that draws people.

What do I stand for? I want to be known for what I stand for, not what I stand against. It’s not that I am in favor of behavior that is wrong, sinful, and out of step with Scripture, but I am in favor of people—even those who live lifestyles that are wrong. That’s exactly what Jesus did. He embraced “the wrong people” in a very religious Jewish society; He hung out with them—He partied with them—without endorsing their sin.

What do I stand for? I want to make sure people—both friends and strangers—know I stand for love and grace … that I stand with—and for—Jesus.

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