promise keepers

Saturday morning in Washington, D.C. was a little different on October 4. In fact, the whole week before had been a little weird as the city geared up for the Promise Keepers’ “Stand in the Gap” rally. The national media talked about the event nonstop the week beforehand.

The Promise Keepers are a group that enables Christian men to come together and share their problems and grow. It was also alleged that women were excluded because the group held the belief that the role of the man was as a leader, a position of authority over women. They promoted racial harmony, even though the group was predominately white.

It was a large coalition of Christians that sounded a little right wing politically. There were protests by groups opposed to the rally and the message it stood for There were angry groups opposed to them gathering in Washington, convinced it was a political statement and they were jockeying for power. A lot of attention turned to the rally and the city this past weekend; expectant, waiting, curious as to what was to happen.

I didn’t know what to expect. I suppose I feared the fact of many Christians gathering in one place, Christians associated with the right side of the political spectrum. I expected words about the place of women in society and how men needed to lead the way. I was waiting to hear a political demonstration in the nation’s capital.

So Saturday morning I headed for the Mall. As did the Promise Keepers. The Metro ride down was crowded, but not packed. “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” resounded through my car. Streams of men were headed down the streets toward Constitution singing hymns. Those t-shirts with the cheesy slogans for Jesus were everywhere (e.g., “Hand to Hand Combat” pictured two hands together praying). Men walked around carrying bibles in the air. Some waved their hands back and forth, caught in rapture. Chants of “We love Jesus / Yes we do / We love Jesus / How about you?” went back and forth between groups, seeing who could yell louder and with the most conviction.

Laying on blankets on the grass, some listened to radio announcers talking about what was going on around them. I saw a number of women around the gathering. I saw women that had come with their husbands to participate. Women with buttons (“I love my Promise Keeper”). Women on the actual staff of the Promise Keepers, helping to run the event.

During the speeches, women were asked to not be afraid of the group or its purposes. They did not want women to feel forgotten or excluded. Women had just as much right as men to be included in the kingdom of God. The wives and sisters and friends of these men should “have hope” because these men were surrendering their lives to Jesus, and they would return to these women better men. I waited to see.

The rally began early (something unheard of in Washington) with a trumpet blast and a short welcoming by Jewish rabbis. (Jews for Jesus, but Jewish nonetheless.) Hymns were sung all day. Prayers were prayed. Native American tribal chiefs chanted. Preachers and speakers talked. There was a feeling of brotherhood evident. People met other people all day. “Where are you from?” was the most heard question.

The purpose of the rally, as exalted from the pulpit at one end of the Mall, and broadcast through loud speakers and jumbotron screens down the rest of the Mall, was not to influence men, politics, or to gain power for the group. They came to “show spiritual poverty so All Mighty God will influence us.” One speaker even asked everyone with political agenda signs (i.e., abortion) to put them away. He stressed that the goal of the day was not to influence other men, but to “exalt Jesus.”

Basically a huge tent revival (without the tent), the rally went off smoothly. There were no problems usually associated with huge crowds. Most people stayed the whole day in one spot, praying and singing. There were lanes open through the crowd the whole event, making passage easy. And their demeanor of peace and calm, of merely gathering to worship their god and submit themselves to his guidance, made my passage through the event easier too.

I left feeling a little easier about their agenda. I expected political rhetoric and male domination. Instead I witnessed 500,000 men kneel and pray together for their submission to God’s will. At least for one day, no matter what comes of this, men gathered together to ask for something better, something they believed in.