BLOG 2/15/15. CHRIST THE CONTROVERSIALIST … AND POPE FRANCIS
The late John R. W. Stott of London was a giant in terms of his influence upon my generation. He was a prolific writer, a gentle soul, a profound scholar, and pastor of All Souls Church for decades. But John Stott was not a ‘safe’ expositor of scriptures. He realized how often the teachings of scripture force us to confront areas of darkness that are comfortably accepted by all too much of society, and, alas, too many in the church. One of his significant works is entitled exactly that: Christ the Controversialist. Truth be told, this made a lot of comfortable evangelical folk a bit restive, and was behind his being marginalized in some circles.
Speaking for myself as a veteran pastor, who has lived through several major periods of social and cultural controversy, it is all too easy to remain silent on insistent issues, and then to equivocate about our timidity/cowardice. It is what the apostle had in mind when he wrote to the Christians in Rome that they should not be conformed to the world. Note that he was writing to the Christian community at the heart of the empire, and to a community that was at that time generally illegal. What do you do with that?
Face it: the gospel is radical stuff, it is an invitation to Christ, … but to come to Christ is to become part of a New Creation that is always in missionary confrontation with this present world order. To that end, in these United States it has been common for large and successful church institutions to become comfort zone churches, where the promises of the gospel are exalted, but where one seldom hears the demands of the gospel, and where the demand for repentance is seldom part of the message. The gospel of the Kingdom of God is an offense to the power structures of this age, because it is a message that speaks of God making “all things new” through Jesus Christ.
Which brings me to Pope Francis. I, being a card-carrying Protestant with Puritan blood in my heritage, … am, frankly, fascinated by this guy. He gets the message. And he doesn’t pull his punches. And this past week he waded right into a very controversial area that is dear to my heart: The environment and global warming. My readers have got to understand that there are two pieces of Francis that are critical to understanding him: 1) he is a member of the Jesuit Order, and Jesuits are rigorous and unflinching thinkers and disciplined practitioners of the teachings of Jesus Christ; and 2) he intentionally took the name of Francis of Assisi as his papal designation … and Francis of Assisi was an environmentalist down to his toes. Just read the words of his familiar hymn: All Creatures of Our God and King, and you’ll see what I mean.
In my own Reformed tradition, it was also the teaching of John Calvin that our stewardship of God’s creation is one of the touchstones of our theology. Yet, not only has Francis been outspoken on our complicity in causing global warming, … but he is establishing a new ‘congregation’ (counterpart to the departments represented by the president’s cabinet in our political system) … a congregation on environmental and human ecology. My response? Cheers! (O, but that will jolly well p—off a lot of folk who despise “tree huggers” and deny global warming.)
What is even more fascinating is that he has been invited to address our U. S. Congress, which is inhabited and controlled by many who genuinely oppose the very things that Francis is advocating. What is even more humorous to think about is that this pope doesn’t pull his punches.
The guy is controversial, and he is also well attuned to Biblical teachings about the whole earth/creation being filled with glory of God, … and nobody can fire him!
I love it! I love him. We need his witness. We need his missionary confrontation with the powers of this age. We need his controversial New Creation/Kingdom of God witness.
