Jess: You may have deduced by now (good grief, I hope) that
neither Wes nor I is Roman Catholic. Therefore, it might seem silly for us to
be talking about the new Pope. Yet here we are.
As a Protestant, the Pope usually doesn't really come into
my realm of thinking. But there is something to be said about what the Pope
stands for beyond Roman Catholicism. The Pope, for all intents and purposes, is
the face of Christianity to much of the world. There are many people who do not
understand the various denominations and strands of Christian thought. What
they know is that the guy in the funny hat is the leader of the Christians. So
what Pope Francis I says and does speaks volumes about the rest of us, at least
as far as much of the world is concerned.
I for one am excited to see where the Pope will take the
Roman Catholic church over the next months and years. There are many issues
surrounding this denomination, as with the rest of the Christian church. There
are scandals, issues of modernity, the fact that a pope emeritus exists for the
first time in 600 years, and much more with which Pope Francis will have to
struggle. And the whole world will be watching him, many assuming that he IS
Christianity.
I am also fascinated by the fact that Pope Francis is the
first of many things. He is the first Jesuit, which is definitely an
interesting piece of Roman Catholicism. He is the first non-European pope since
back in the day when many came from Africa. He is the first Latin American
pope, and the first to have the name Francis. I am most interested to see how
his Argentinian roots affect his papacy. Latin America is a very different
place from the United States or Europe, and I would hope that this would have a
profound affect on Pope Francis' concerns--especially for the poor of the
world. The fact that he chose the name Francis, after Francis of Assisi, who
had great concern for the poor, bodes well. Since caring for the poor is a
great part of being Christian, I believe this should be a concern of all
Christians, especially our leaders. I was interested to find out that, as a
cardinal, he did not live in the special residence usually reserved for men of
that status.
This is definitely a new point in Roman Catholic church, as
well as throughout all of Christianity. I am interested to see what happens
with Pope Francis leading the world's Roman Catholics, and I pray for his
ministry, as well as all of our brothers and sisters throughout the world.
Wes: When I was growing up, my dad called the bishop of our
conference the Pope-on-a-Rope. Although this was never a funny-ha-ha kind of
joke, it always brought a smile to my face. It also in some way helped ingrain
the importance of church leaders into my young mind. Even though I am United
Methodist, we, like our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, have our own
church leaders. None of them are as elevated by the denomination as the pope
is, but we do have them, and they play an important role.
You see, the church is larger
than just my local congregation.
Having ecclesial leaders in
positions over more than just the individual congregation was one way that I
first began to realize this and wrap my mind around the interconnectedness (I
thought I was making up a word there, but I was wrong) of God’s church.
Ok. So we have our bishops and
they have bishops, cardinals, and a pope. Why should I care about who they put
in what positions? Honestly, it’s a fair question, especially in our day and
age when—as globally connected as we are—much of the world is compartmentalized
and cordoned off from everyone else based on status or membership in different
organizations. Why should I as a United Methodist pastor give any attention
whatsoever to who is the pope? Well, Jess makes a great point: the pope is the
Christianity for much of the world, so we should care who wears the hat. But
there’s another reason we should care as well. Whether I am United Methodist
(hey, I am) or Lutheran or Southern Baptist or Roman Catholic or a part of any
other Christian denomination, I am a Christian. The Body of Christ is far-reaching enough so as to encompass people of
faith of myriad denominations as long as those people proclaim the Gospel and
place their faith in Jesus as the Christ.
You see, the church is larger
than just my specific denomination.
The church includes my current
congregations of Crosswicks UMC and Ellisdale UMC. It includes my home
congregation of University UMC. It includes Jessica’s current congregation of
St. Bartholomew’s Lutheran Church as well as her home congregation of Rejoice
Lutheran Church. It includes the congregations of the AME, American Baptist,
and LCMS churches that are all about a mile from our house. And it includes the
Roman Catholic Church—which, by the way, was a Christian movement LONG before
the Methodists and Lutherans were ever on the scene.
We should care about the new
pope—as we should have cared about the previous one—because he is a leader of
the church, just like Jessica and myself (although on a much grander scale). We
should care because God works through the Body of Christ to bring about the
Kingdom of God, and this will absolutely include God working through our Roman
Catholic brothers and sisters and their new leader in faith. We should all be
anxiously waiting to see what great things come out of this office in the
coming months and years, and we should join our sister denomination in
celebrating God’s continuing work in their midst.
On a much different note, I
feel obligated to tell you that, to my disappointment, I learned from Jessica
that Argentinians do not eat Mexican food. Contrary to popular belief (or just
North American belief—which included me for a long time), not everyone south of
the U.S. border enjoys chips and salsa and tacos. If you, like me, were hoping
that this new pope would mean more Mexican food restaurants popping up all over
the world, you’ll probably be sorely disappointed…
Well, that’s it for now! Be
well, our friends, and you stay classy, World Wide Web!
-jess and wes
