One Church
02/09/12 05:31
In Milan, the body of Cardinal Carol Martini is lying in state in the cathedral church. Tomorrow he will be laid to rest after his funeral mass. He was a very popular as an archbishop in Milan. Ten years ago his health forced him to resign his post. He spent the last decade of his life pursuing Biblical studies in Jerusalem. The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published his last interview after his death. The interview surprised many. In it he described the church as “tired” and “200 years behind” the times. He rhetorically asked, “Why doesn’t the church rouse itself?” It has been known that Cardinal Martini dreamed of, worked for, and longed for a third Vatican Council in which the leaders of the church would revise the official dogma of the church.It seems unlikely that such a council will occur any time soon. Liberal thoughts and calls for change have not been particularly popular in the Roman Catholic Church since the ascension of Pope Benedict. The current pope is staunchly conservative and has resisted calls for dramatic change in doctrine, leadership and other elements of the church.
In a sense, this is a drama that we Protestants watch from the outside. Our split from the Church of Rome was born, in part, over disagreements about how the church makes decisions and chooses leaders. The reformers were distrustful of human leaders and a process that left little room for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They sough a return to what they saw as a more biblical faith. All of these reforms and the split in the church that followed them were the stuff of history books by the time our generation arrived on the scene. The Protestant reformation wasn’t the first great division in the church. The division between the west and the east, known as “The Great Schism” occurred over 500 years earlier.
Jesus prayer for his disciples, “That they might all be one,” is not a description of the Christian church in our time.
Some of the reforms that Cardinal Martini and other faithful Catholics have called for have long since been embraced in the part of the church where I practice my ministry. The United Church of Christ has had ordained women ministers since 1853. If Cardinal Martini is correct and the Roman Church is 200 years behind the times, it means that it could take another 200 years before the church recognizes the wealth of spiritual leaders that are present in that church. It could be another 200 years before they are granted the authority for ministry that would bring a breath of fresh air to the church. That would make it over 350 years after our church opened itself to the leadership of women.
The issue of the leadership of women is only one of the places where we have major disagreements within the church.
Cardinal Martini was able to live gracefully amid the disagreements of the church. He was willing to voice his ideas and opinions without any need to force others to agree. He understood that the hopes and dreams he held for the church might be parts of a process that was much longer than his life. When he died on Friday, at the age of 85, many of the dreams he held for the church were not yet accomplished.
Perhaps one of the gifts of grace that comes with aging is the understanding that not everything that is important needs to be accomplished in your lifetime. The great movements of history often require generations. While it is true that there are pivotal moments and generations in which dramatic changes occur, there are other moments that contribute to the building of the future in a less dramatic way.
As the people in Milan mourn the loss of their former archbishop and prepare for his funeral, half a world away in a small corner of the church far removed from power and the development of doctrine, I take notice of their loss as I prepare for worship this morning. I enjoyed the frank honesty and clear vision that Martini brought to the church even though I am not quite the audience he had in mind when he spoke.
I believe that we are affected by what occurs in distant locations. I believe that despite our human failings and our disagreements that seem to go on and on, we are still one church. The differences that we can enumerate are minor when compared to the agreements that we share. We are on a journey of discipleship that is common even though the particular settings of our ministries are very diverse.
When I pray the prayer of consecration for communion this morning, I will use the same words as will be used in Milan in the cathedral where Martini’s body awaits its burial. When I elevate the bread and the cup, it is the same resurrected Christ who will be present in both places. When we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the imprisoned, we are engaging in the same ministry of service.
This generation will not be remembered in history as a time of great unity within the church. The world sees us as having different opinions, different ministries, and different priorities. Often people fail to acknowledge that we are engaged in a common ministry. Members of one church have been known to question the faithfulness of members of another church. Some church leaders have become so vehement in their attacks of other parts of the church that they have questioned whether or not that part of the church is truly “Christian.”
One thing we hold in common is our Scriptures. In 1 Corinthians, Paul wrote, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you.’” He also wrote, “Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.”
We are the body of Christ and the words we say about other parts of the body do not change the simple fact that each of us belongs to something much bigger than ourselves.
Cardinal Martini has now entered into eternity and gained a new perspective on time. He has discovered peace that cannot be known in this life. For those of us who remain living, we are given the blessing of wrestling with his ideas for a little while. May we open ourselves to the wisdom and vision that he shared.