It's not about you. . .

Having read a few excerpts of the Pope Francis autobiography (when did Popes start writing more about themselves than anything else?), I am even less impressed.  From what others have said, this new book is not all that new and simply rehashes what he has said or interview with others he has given.  There are a few insights.  Hope, The Autobiography, gives much of the same confused and contradictory glimpse into this pope as the previous books by him or about him.  He is not an intellect though he presumes himself to know more or better than everyone else.  He is not a kind person to work for though he would argue with that point (and some of those who have worked for him would argue back).  He is not a person who tolerates disagreement or a difference of opinion though he would surely insist that he is the most tolerant pope every to sit on the papal throne.  He is not learned though he thinks he is and one mark of his lack of learning is his willingness to paint those who hold traditional views as mentally unstable.  He is not a simple man though he refuses the ordinary things that have accompanied the popes who went before him and this shows his arrogance in putting personal choice above office.  He is not very pastoral and has hardly ventured outside the Vatican though he is bishop of Rome though he would insist he is above all things a pastoral pope.  He is not synodal or collegial but authoritarian in his exercise of the office though he would surely beg to differ.  What is there to make of him?  He is this, rather complex, inconsistent, head strung, and ruthless while trying to appear very compassionate and easy going.  In this he is not unlike many liberal and progressive leaders on other stages.

Surely he knows on some level that the office he holds is not about him.  You would hope so, anyway.  But in this he typifies all that is wrong in culture and society as well as in religion.  He continues to make it about him despite his words to the contrary.  From what I have read, his funeral will be different as well.  Isn't it just like him to snub tradition (whether good or bad) because he does not like it!  He has insisted that there will be “no catafalque, no ceremony for the closure of the casket, nor the deposition of the cypress casket into a second of lead and a third of oak.”  Okay.  No arrogance there, now is there.  But that is my point.  This pope acts much like the times.  He presumes that it is about him.  Perhaps he is not that much different than evangelical media personalities who call themselves pastor or modern clergy overall who will give the office they bear some of themselves but insist upon keeping the rest for themselves alone -- in pursuit of that life/work balance that somehow they have reconciled with vocation.  I don't get it.  I don't like it.  Not in Rome or in Wittenberg or wherever it shows up.  It is not about you whether you are creating a cult of personality around yourself or working to make the pastoral office merely a job.  Grow up.  Get over it.

Some months after we moved into the new educational wing, administrative area, and sanctuary at my parish in 2001, a member came up to me and said "well, are you happy with your new church?"  How odd!  It was "my" church?  Funny, when we were trying to make decisions my voice was merely one among many and my role was more the facilitator who tried to make sure that it was a building project that fit the congregation and reflected their concerns.  My response, by the way, was that if they knew me, they would know that "my" new church would have looked very different than the one we constructed.  Mine would have been colder and darker, lots of wood paneling and carving, tall windows, and a giant crucifix designed to make me look smaller.  Don't get me wrong.  It is very nice.  But it is not a mirror of my taste in churches.  I like stone and dark wood and tall ceilings.  But, as Pope Francis should already know and every other pastor as well, it is not and was not about me.  If only clergy were as concerned with making it about Christ as they were about pursuing their own desires.  It is a common problem, probably less common among conservative churches than liberal ones, but common enough.  It is no wonder that folks only take Pope Francis seriously because he can make the rules.  It is no wonder that folks struggle to take other clergy seriously.  It is not about you.  That also includes the folks in the pews. 

We don't sing hymns or preach on the basis of polls or opinion or favorites.  We don't believe doctrine because it has received majority approval.  We don't teach what most people think is in the Bible.  That is perhaps the Lutheran genius.  We have written confessions.  Of course, you can see how far that went when folks decided not to pay attention to them -- like the decisions of the ELCA and its predecessor bodies going back 50 or 60 years.  We don't vote on things like who communes or how often the Sacrament is offered or how long the sermon should be or even chalice or individual cup.  Pastoral decisions are not less orthodox but made first of all away from the realm of personal taste or preference.  We model a fuller piety but make no rules that everyone has to cross themselves or the like.  We preach faithfully the whole counsel of God and not what fits the mood of the people.  We serve not to build monuments to ourselves but to carefully steward the mysteries of God among His people in the time we serve them.  It is not about me or you.  To his shame, the current autobiography of the Pope and the previous written offerings about him share this common character flaw.  He does think it is about him.