On popes and politicians and the requirements for being a Christian

Apparently the Pope does not think Donald Trump is a Christian. 

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” Francis said when a reporter asked him about Mr. Trump on the papal airliner as he returned to Rome after his six-day visit to Mexico.

I would have to agree with the Pope that Mr. Trump does not show much evidence of being a Christian – but not for the reason he states. While I disagree with Mr. Trump’s policy on immigration, and wonder what his policies are in regard to anything he supposedly supports, political opinions do not make a person a Christian, nor do they guarantee someone is not a Christian. 

As I have said before in this blog – your political opinions will not save you.

Be that as it may, I think the Pope misunderstands the requirements for being a Christian.

Sinner : The first requirement for being a Christian is to be a sinner. This is the easiest qualification to meet as we are all conceived in sin. Sinning comes naturally to us. 

Needy: Not needy as requiring more food, money, or attention. Christians must understand their need for a Savior. If we do not recognize our sin, we do not see a need for a Savior. We instead begin to think we can save ourselves by living a good life. It is not that God waits for us to recognize our need. It is that the lack of this need turns us away from God. 

Faith: Christians need faith. Not a faith of our own making, but faith found in the Word and Sacraments. We need a faith given and nurtured by the Spirit. An additional aspect to being needy is that we cannot even manufacture our own belief.

Redemption:  Because the only thing we don’t need is sin, we do need someone to live a perfect life and take our sin upon Himself. We need the Son of God to die and rise again on our behalf.

Here is the Trump statement that makes me doubt his Christianity:

"I like to be good. I don't like to have to ask for forgiveness. And I am good. I don't do a lot of things that are bad. I try to do nothing that is bad."

Did you see what he did there? He sidesteps the question about asking for forgiveness by assuring his followers that he tries to do nothing bad. Hmm.

 

Given the sheer meanness of the campaign, this is probably the nicest thing that Trump has said to date. Perhaps the Pope approves of this statement, I don't know. 

However, this statement is not Christian because it is not needy. It is spoken by a man who thinks he can save himself in the same way he has remade his fortune after each bankruptcy.

Christianity is not about the art of the deal. It is about the perfect love. It is about supreme sacrifice. It is about life-giving faith. 

It is not about us.

But, it is for us.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6: 22-23, ESV

Mercy

Mercy is a word often repeated in liturgy and frequently used in casual discussion. It is a small word, easy to say, but, challenging to mean. It is an essential word to the Christian Faith.

May faiths are all about advice and requirements, but do not include unearned gifts, blessings, or attention. Participants are told that their lives will be better if they follow rules, guidelines, or the wise sayings of learned leaders. These faiths assume that perfect practice is possible and will achieve all that is needed.

Christianity is just the opposite. 

Certainly we have rules for living; rules that if followed, make for a better life. We also have the habit of collecting writings of leaders. We pour over these writings in an attempt to better understand God’s Word.

But, there is a stark difference between Christianity and other faiths. We accept that there is no such thing as a perfect practice of the Christian faith. In fact, even our attempt to follow rules, our attempt to believe and trust, even these actions prove only to separate us from our goal.

We are undeserving, we are contemptible, we are failures as followers of Christ.

And yet there is mercy.

Mercy is not a simple blessing or gift. It is not a random act of kindness on the part of God. Mercy is unequivocally undeserved – but given anyway.

For an action to count as true mercy it must go to someone who not only does not deserve kindness, but in fact has earned punishment. Mercy is compassion and forbearance shown to an offender. Mercy is not only a one-time act, it is an ongoing act.

It is a compassionate treatment for those of us who live in a distress of our own making.

Mercy is how we feel, how we know, how we experience, God’s forgiveness and unconditional love.

The second chapter of Ephesians has much to offer in the way of understanding mercy.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2: 8-10, ESV

God created us, we turned from Him, and still He saves us. He shows mercy in the act of the death and resurrection of His Son. And He shows mercy in His preparation for our lives.

And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. Ephesians 2: 17-18, ESV

The thought of mercy often reminds us of the death row inmate granted a last minute reprieve. The mercy God gives us is more than the gift of life or freedom. It is the gift of peace for the duration of our life. God does more than open the prison gates and send us on our way, free from much-deserved punishment. 

God walks with us in mercy and peace.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2: 19-22, ESV

The mercy granted by God is a perfect mercy and the perfect answer to our grief and suffering. We are His children. We are members of the household of God. And in an important and comforting sense, we are at the mercy of a loving and perfect God.

Live Lent.

Live always.

Live mercy.

The Gift of Christmas

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. James 1: 17a

 

It is the season of gifts. Early morning shopping, boxes tucked under the welcome mat, finding forgotten gifts stashed in the back of the closet, wrapping in secret, and piles of brightly decorated boxes under the tree. This year our family went high tech and posted wish lists on Giftster.  When the larger family of siblings and cousins meet we have gone to drawing random gift cards out of a basket for a unique Christmas surprise.  I am certain the wise men had no idea what they started with their gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

While we work to make Christmas about decorations and ribbon it is truly about the perfect gift from above - the king who became a baby. Christmas is about His sacrifice and our salvation.

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. I Timothy 1: 15

I cringe when I hear about elf on the shelf watching to see if children are naughty or nice. It is such a strange twist to the Christmas story that we tell children to earn their gifts and fool ourselves into thinking we deserve ours. While the elf on the shelf makes for family fun and cute pictures on social media, it represents a completely backward version of the Christmas story.

We do not deserve this perfect gift. The perfect gift brings us eternal life that is absolutely undeserved. The perfect gift is Grace crying in a manger, Grace walking among us, Grace hanging from a cross. The perfect gift does not come wrapped. The perfect gift wraps His arms around us. 

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. I John 3: 1

And so we are. 

Blessed in Grace.

Faking it

It has been a long summer.

It was named the summer of research. It began with interviews and painstaking transcriptions. It continued with coding words and phrases, sorting information, re-coding, thinking, theorizing and now writing. It is the game called "Dissertation or Quit."

The summer has been interrupted by my dear mother-in-law’s passing and by a belated memorial service for my mother’s sister. My sister and I have spent much time helping my mother after she broke her leg. Helping with wheelchairs and transportation, finances and health decisions, doctor appointments, apartment cleaning, laundry, late night calls from Lifeline, and the slow but certain revelation that she needs to move to another level of care. 

Through all of this I continue to carve out time to write and rewrite and edit and write some more.

Today was a day of discouragement.

My typing is bad. My arm never quite healed and numb fingers cannot find the keys like they used to. My brain is tired. The computer is playing tricks on me that require searching for solutions that don't seem to help. One technical problem after another until finally everything froze. 

Now, in an oddly fitting end to the day, I find I cannot sleep.

During the day, problems make me frustrated, tired, angry, discouraged. At night, those same problems turn into doubts, worries, and fears.

This dissertation project is too big.

I am not smart enough.

I will be found out.

I have too many interruptions. I can’t get it done. I will never graduate.

I will fail.

I imagine my dissertation defense as a strange episode of Penn and Teller: Fool Us where I spend an hour trying to fool my committee into believing that I am smart and if I  successfully fool them I win I Ph.D. 

I am not fooling anyone.

I will lose.

Once again, it is time to stop playing this game - the fake it 'til you make it - game.

This graduate school adventure game is not mine to win. On a good day, I feel as if I am treading water. On a bad day, a day like today, I feel like I am drowning.

But it is not my game to win.

I cannot fake anything. I am weak. I am poor of spirit. I am helpless.

I am God's precious child. This game - if it is to be won - will be won by God.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith -

Tonight I pray for God's wisdom, for God's strength, for God's mercy. Only His will can accomplish what my failing, faking efforts cannot do.

 

 - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Tonight God reminds me that He has the plan and the wherewithal to accomplish His will. He reminds me of His complete and perfect love. He fills me with His peace. He is far more abundant than any problem I could worry over. 

 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according tot he power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen Ephesians 3:14-21, ESV