Today’s date May 15th, but in 1940, may not be known to too many of us. Yet, it is most certain that we would know what came from it. Richard and Maurice McDonald started their first restaurant called the McDonald’s Restaurant in San Bernardino, California as a drive-in selling barbeque food on that day 85 years ago. Noting the most requested item on the menu was the hamburger, Richard and Maurice quickly changed their restaurant to exclusively selling hamburgers, fries, coffee or a soft drink. The Golden Arches became their brand and the brothers busied themselves growing their business through the franchise model. One of the lesser told parts of this history is the brothers’ reluctance to make so much money that they forget about people. By 1953, a short 13 years into its starting, the McDonald’s restaurant chain had established itself in California with six franchise restaurants in the state. That is when a man named Ray Kroc joined them. History would record Ray as the man who made McDonald’s the multi-national chain it is today, but the values that the brothers shared were not Ray’s. Ray recalled a frustrating conversation he had with Richard McDonald where he laid out for Richard the possibility of making the McDonald’s brand so big that they would be making money hand-over-fist. Richard was unmoved. Eventually, he said, “Ray, there are plenty of things that we could do to make a quick buck, but that doesn’t mean that we should.” Ray Kroc hung up on him. Shortly after that conversation, Richard and Maurice sold the rights to McDonalds to Ray in 1954, and the rest is history.
As I consider the Scriptures, I am reminded of Paul’s caution to those who are rich. “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:17-19). Paul doesn’t condemn riches. But he warns of the temptation of material possessions to create pride, take our focus off God and neglect doing good with riches. Kroc was quoted to say, “I believe in God, family and McDonald’s. In the office, that order is reversed.” People weren’t important; God is at the bottom of the list. When he saw people staying too long in his restaurants, Kroc implemented a policy of reducing the heat in the dining area to make it uncomfortable, installing chairs that lean forward and into the food so that people will eat and leave, distanced the chairs so that no one could linger and stay in conversation, and served drinks in cone cups so that people couldn’t set the cup down. I must admit that I laughed when I read that since McDonald’s has made drastic changes in the time after Kroc’s passing in 1984 to be people-centered as a marketing tool. But Paul’s sobering caution “to be rich in good works” comes as a clarion call to a deeper moral change. As we lift up our eyes from the business world of McDonalds and other multi-nationals, we realize that our southern neighbour, the United States, is run by billionaires who are bent on making money. Russia’s leadership is surrounded by oligarchs; and China’s political wealth is funded by the super-rich. Every time we look up at the Golden Arches, it is good to remember Paul’s words “to take hold of that which is truly life.” Don’t trade life for money. Don’t trade God for riches.
Just Church
At Just Church, we spur each of us to remember God’s Word, and to live life just as Christ called us to live it. “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
