What Do You See?

Last week’s National Prayer Service from Washington National Cathedral was one of the most beautiful, uplifting experiences of faith I have had in my lifetime. I was mesmerized by the wide array of colors and creeds, each giving voice to their experience of God. We have so much to learn from each other.

So much of what we believe and how we think is dependent on where and when we were born. I was born in 1970 in middle class America, raised in a white, Catholic family. That is the lens through which I processed my life experience until my mid 20s. It was revolutionary for me to realize that the rest of the world did not live like I did. I don’t think my parents intentionally tried to shield me from other experiences or purposely limited my worldview. It simply shows that unless you are intentional about seeing things from another point of view, it is easy to assume that your experience is everyone else’s experience as well.

I am at the half century point of life right now, and my faith experience has been all over the map. I was born and raised Catholic, but only went to Mass a few times during all four years of college, even though there was a Catholic Church within walking distance of campus. I didn’t stop going to Mass because I had a problem with the Catholic Church. Looking back, I would say it was quite developmental. In that 18-22 year age bracket of life, it’s pretty natural to think you already know everything you need to know, and when you are setting out on your own, driven by goals and wanting to make you dreams come true, YOU can feel like God in your life, thereby not seeing a need to trust Someone bigger than yourself.

Like all bad habits, the longer I stayed away from Mass, the harder it was to go back, so I just kept going with what was comfortable. Before I knew it, ten years had gone by! In 1997, I actually ended up with a job as a Christian Educator in Family Ministry at a small town Presbyterian church. To this day, I am not certain what prompted me to answer the ad in the newspaper, or what inspired the pastor to take a chance on me, but she did, and thus began opening up the person of Jesus Christ to me and how to live out faith in ways that I had never encountered before. And a female minister?!? All the years I had spent going to church always showcased a man at the altar, so Reverend Nancy was crucial to expanding my worldview. She made me think about the gifts women possess and how sharing them could have such a radical, positive influence in the world.

I spent four challenging and happy years at that little Presbyterian church and then felt it was time to move on. I did some church shopping for about six months, not feeling at home in any of them, before stumbling across a book in the summer of 2001 that got me thinking about returning to the Catholic Church. I did some research and quite a bit of pondering. Then, 9/11 happened, and I got my butt back in the pew! That horrific day spurred me on to “get right with God”, which I interpreted quite literally as the Catholic Church being the “right” one. It offered the fullness of faith and the one, true way to heaven. I learned how to explain and defend the faith and taught teenagers in the youth group I led as a volunteer to do the same. I cringed a little as I wrote that last sentence, because explaining and defending are all about me talking in order to prove that I’m right. Of course it’s good to understand why you believe what you believe, but when it keeps you from listening to and being open to others’ experiences of God, then something is amiss.

I continued “proving” myself throughout most of my 30s and in 2007, felt compelled to enroll in a four year lay ministry formation program offered by our diocese, in hopes of one day working for the Church. While I became well versed in liturgy, sacraments, Scripture and Church history as expected, I also encountered insights that were completely unexpected and started to break my world open. Our Ecclesiology professor started the first class with this question: “Did you know that only 20% of the world is Christian?” That was a huge eye opener: an overwhelmingly large portion of the world didn’t believe what I believed! In our Christology class, we unpacked the humanity and divinity of Jesus, and then went even further by discussing how different cultures of the world perceive Jesus. The Caucasian man hanging on the crucifix in my home parish is seen differently by people who live in Africa, Mexico or Egypt, as well as those living in the Bronx, or Gary, or down the street from me as well! Until that class, I had never seen a picture of Jesus that didn’t look like he was a flesh and blood member of my family. How had I gotten to be almost 40 years old without realizing that my framed photo of a white guy with sandy hair and a beard was not going to be relatable to every other person in the world?

The crown jewel for me, though, was the unveiling of Liberation Theology, emphasizing social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples. JESUS IS FOR EVERYBODY!!!: not just those who believe the “correct“ things. Up to this point in my life, church and religion had been more about saying the right words instead of daring to act on behalf of those whose voices are ignored. There is a reason that the adage, “Actions speak louder than words” is such a common, universal phrase: BECAUSE IT’S TRUE! This is why I love Pope Francis: his words are beautiful and inspiring, and then his ACTIONS---they stop me in my tracks and then hurl me forward because I am compelled to follow this example of humility and compassion. Pope Francis not only sees things from the point of view of the “other”, he intentionally sets out to make their lived experience his lived experience as well. We gain nothing when our worldview is through our eyes alone.

WHAT DO YOU SEE?