This past week a man slightly
hunched beneath the weight of his hulky white robes came sharing a gospel of
advice to our nation and some thought, “Not my Pope.” Easily discrediting his
wisdom, his science, and his humanity as dogmatic Catholicism, and defaulting
with the pigheaded--and quickly becoming cliché--, “I am not Catholic; I’m such
and such.”
In his address to congress, the
Pope encouraged immigration reform and a welcoming support for the refuges of
war torn nations, abolishment of the death penalty, and spent the climax of his
address asking for environmental considerations to battle global climate
change. It’s easy to call these political issues and accuse the pontiff of
meddling in politics. It’s even easier to generalize these as catholic issues
and since nearly all politicians claim to be laity of one church or another,
allow issues to create more polarization between not only denominations but
also congressional officials.
From the Gospel of Mark, the ninth
chapter, “John said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in
your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’ But
Jesus said, ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name
will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is
for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because
you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.”
How can Christians doing deeds in
the name of Christ come together? How often do we try and intervene in the
midst of an “exorcism” and wind up just getting in the way of something good
happening—something Godly. We allow our naïve branding of denominations and
labeling of ideas to block the greater good that is happening. We partition
ourselves and let biases become burdens preventing concord and a means to work
together productively.
Jesus knew his disciples needed to
learn this lesson so that the kingdom of God would spread. When we see and hear
the promise of Christ spreading in all its acts and tongues, it is something to
lift up, something to rally behind, not divide by. We needn’t label it as a
Lutheran way, or a Methodist way, or a Presbyterian way, or a Catholic way,
because no one doing a deed in the name of Christ will speak evil of him. Not
only do we owe one another confirmation of our prevailing beliefs, but
affirmation we all serve a fraternal greater good. As the Pope distinctly said,
“We must move forward together, as one, in a renewed spirit of fraternity and
solidarity, cooperating generously for the common good.”
I appreciate how you point out how our distinct faith tradition or political leaning can often create a road block for solidarity. I grew up in a small town in Montana and I saw this happen all the time. The acts of the Catholic church in town would be criticized by my Lutheran church and vice versa. Instead of supporting one another in our attempt to spread the gospel of Christ and participate in the Kingdom of Heaven we often spent more energy critiquing others. This past week I saw something completely different happen in a Lutheran church in South St. Paul. The Popes words were lifted up during the sermon as a call for all people of faith to join together for the good of our neighbor. The question that I keep pondering is how can the Church as a whole stand up and speak to issues of immigration, the death penalty and environmental concerns when members of our congregations differ so drastically on these issues?
ReplyDeletePatrick, thanks for responding. I think the church--a church, any church--can stand up for these issues not by what they say, but what they do. If immigration is an issue in your congregation don't just have a season of prayer and preaching about immigration but get Lutheran Advocacy to come to your congregation and write letters and make phone calls lobby your local, state, and federal legislatures. Allow immigrants of varying faiths to use your facilities for worship. If environmental concerns are the issue in your congregation than have a bike to church day. Set up a ride share/car pool network for Sunday mornings. Have a community garden and donate the vegetables to local shelters. Take nature hikes. Find local "Friends of..." organizations that need bodies to come out and do some grunt work in the name of nature. Activism is about doing and not just saying. Activism is about helping and not just protesting. And most importantly, it's about passing these ideas along to the youth so get them involved.
ReplyDeleteI am so guilty of writing off everything the Pope says as clownish Catholicism, but I think you're absolutely right. I was making fun of the whole thing as a parody of "Coming to America" (insert Eddie Murphy reference here), but when I actually listened to what he had to say, I found that there was a lot of value to it. While we can value and cherish our denominations, sometimes they do get in the way of, as Martin Luther puts it, "the one, common, true faith."
ReplyDeleteThank you for this! I find Pope Francis quite fascinating, and I really appreciate what he has to say on most social justice issues. Like you said, these issues don't have to be polarized! It seems as though the only way to affect real change in the world today as christians is to do so in an ecumenical manner, otherwise polarization may hinder progress. I think this is a great thing to think about at Luther Seminary as well! We are learning to be more ecumenical as a school, but its going to take some real work! I am curious if you heard about Pope Francis meeting with Kim Davis while he was here? After all of the great things he has said and done so far as the Pope, this action really left a sour taste in my mouth.
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