A "Remembered" Pope

As many of know (or might not know) I grew up in the Catholic Church. For awhile, especially during my high school years, I was bitter towards the Catholic Church. I felt like they didn't teach me about Jesus like I thought that they should. It wasn't until college that I began to fully appreciate my Catholic upbringing. When I was a freshman, I took my first ever theology course with one of my (still) favorite professors, Dr. Matthew Thompson at Southwestern College. Then, I took Church History and eventually History of Methodism. Throughout those courses, I realized how well the Catholic Church prepared me for ministry, theologically speaking. I grew up reciting the Creeds and the different prayers and liturgies of the Church. When I was in college and learned about the history of them, they came alive to me. My academics brought healing in my life and led me to a place where I began to fully appreciate my own spiritual history as a member that was baptized into the Catholic Church.

When Pope John Paul II died, it was a big deal. Now, know, I have never had any big opinions about the Pope. You know, some people have heated ideas about what the Pope stands for, but I've always appreciated the idea of him. With Pope John Paul the II how could you not? He was literally the Pope the entire time that I was a part of the Catholic Church. He was really wonderful. Anyway, I remember sitting in Latin class when I was a senior in college and my teacher began talking with us about Pope Benedict XVI. He said the following, "You know, I just don't think that Pope Benedict will ever be a "remembered" Pope. Sure, he's doing great things, but there's nothing that sticks out about him that I think the Catholic Church, as a whole, will remember."

Then, Pope Francis was elected. How amazing! He was a "first" in many categories -- the first non-European Pope in over 1,200 years, the first Latin American pontiff, the first Jesuit.  People weren't sure what he was going to be like. But, as I think back to my Latin class and our conversation about Pope Benedict XVI so long ago (isn't funny the random things that you remember?), I think it's intriguing to now say that Pope Francis will be a "remembered" Pope. His spirit is gentle, his words, profound. His very nature proclaims Christ. If you haven't read/watched the latest story about the little boy that he allowed to join him on stage, then you should. It's sweet.

Loaded

Lately, in of my classes, we've been talking about person-hood and our own way of being. I've been intrigued by our conversations revolving, not just around person-hood, but the way that we choose to see others. We've been talking about how we often choose to see others in one of two ways: either as people or as as objects. The breakdown goes like this:

1. When we see others as people we acknowledge that they have hopes, fears, and a general longing to be liked and loved. These feelings are as real and as relevant as our own feelings.

2. When we see others as objects we tend to see them as obstacles in our way, vehicles that can be used to help us get what we want or irrelevancies that we'd rather not have to "deal with."

Fortunately, this information really touched me. Unfortunately, the reason it touched me is because I realized how often I see others as "objects." And honestly, that gun is loaded. It's loaded no matter who's holding it.

One of my very dear professors once told my class that we must realize that every person has the divine spark -- the image of God within them. Every.single.person. No matter how marred we think the image is within them, it's there because God created them in his own image.

I don't think this is just a "feel good message." I think it has important implications. At the core it affects how we see others. But, that core affects how we interact with others on a daily basis. It affects our political views. It affects our views about war. It affects our theology about providing for the marginalized and the poor. It affects how we treat our enemies.

And we can't be agents of good peace until we commit to seeing others as people and not as objects.

*The core of this information was gathered from my brain, duh. But, the technical parts were gathered from the book "Anatomy of Peace" by The Arbinger Institute. And now go listen to "Red Hands" by Walk Off the Earth...you know, "that gun is loaded, but it's not in my hands..."