When the Pope Comes to Town

I have never thought of my life having a direct connection to the Pope's whereabouts. (While I saw Pope John Paul before he passed away on a trip to Rome several years ago and thought it was cool, this is about the end of the story for me).

Well, until this week.

Everyone in Washington, D.C. is talking about the Pope. The nation has come to our town. It is much like when Presidents are inaugurated. Vendors are selling "pope gear" downtown as if a rock concert was going on. The Metro authorities have learned their lesson that a bobble head pope is not the way to advertise and keep their religious customers happy.

But, more than just talk, life is altered in many ways by his being here. First of all, multitudes of streets are closed. On Tuesday evening, it took me an extra hour to get downtown to meet up with some friends because of several road closings. Normal traffic patterns have been thrown off dramatically for the past several days. I even heard of one church member's entire government building being shut down for security purposes because they wanted to divert traffic away from the Pope and his special car. (Kudos to him for getting free vacation time!)

Secondly, I feel that the Pope has gone with me wherever I've been this week. His ride through the city was on the television screen in the gym when I was on the treadmill. His service of prayer for the bishops was on the tv when I was visiting an ill member of our congregation in the hospital. The pre-mass singing at the National's Stadium was on tv this morning when I was getting ready to come to church.

As I've watched the Pope on tv and heard of people talk about him being the community (especially when I was sitting in traffic on Tuesday . . . grrr), I've thought a lot about papal authority. Looking into his eyes, I've wondered what's the big deal about this one man. Yes, of course, I know from my theological training the importance of papal succession and how revered in authority the Pope is for millions of Catholics. But, I just don't get it. While I respect my Catholic friends deeply and am often challenged by their spirituality, I am reminded when I think about the Pope that I'm a Protestant at heart and a baptist at that.

I like the idea that I belong to an autonomous body of believers that can make their own decisions about who they want to lead them. I like the idea that I can have a direct relationship with God and know as a pastor that my faith in God is not more important than any of my congregation members. I like the idea that I'm from a tradition that has been shaped and formed by scripture as it has been read by ordinary folks along with the more theologically trained.

Having the Pope in town has certainly made life more interesting and thought provoking couple of days. But, I won't mind when all the roads around town open up again!