My Soul Cries Out

 If only everyone could experience the joy of being Christian, being loved by God who gave his Son for us!  - Benedict XVI ‏@Pontifex

In his last days as Pope, Benedict XVI sent out this heartfelt message through his Twitter account. I have no doubt that it is a sincere sentiment, expressing the joy that he himself has experienced knowing God’s love. I am also aware that English is not his first language and that sometimes we misspeak when trying to express deeply held emotions. So I acknowledge that the message he intended to give may not have been what was ultimately sent out to the masses.

But this is what was sent out: A message that implies that God only loves Christians. Or, if one admits that God loves all of the creation, it is a message that implies that only Christians can truly experience that love.

This mindset it a plague on Christianity. It arises from the bowels of institutions that care more about the structure of the Church than the people it is meant to serve. It issues forth from people who are certain that there is only one path to God (the one they are on). It disguises itself as genuine care and compassion but is contaminated with subtle condemnation for those who are not like us. And it totally ignores the message that Jesus gave through his life, death and resurrection.

Jesus showed people that God loves them regardless of the theology and doctrine that they held in their heads and hearts. God loves them regardless of their religion. God loves them regardless of their social standing or financial status. God loves them regardless of their actions, righteous or sinful. God loves them even when other people said God would never love them. Jesus showed people that it was possible for them to experience the joy of God’s love in whatever state of life they found themselves in. Then Jesus said that we are to go out and love people just like that.

But that’s too free for many people. So we construct theologies and doctrines to describe God’s love, but in doing so we constrict the freedom of the God’s love. Soon, God’s love has boundaries and we are limited in how we talk about it. Rules and regulations spring up to protect the theology and doctrine. Eventually God’s love is caught in a tangle of requirements and we are given the task of finding our way to the place God’s love can be found instead of simply opening our eyes to the wonder of God’s love all around us.

I harbor no ill will for Pope Benedict. He simply stated what many Christians believe to be true. But you don’t need to be a Christian to experience the joy of God’s love. (And being a Christian doesn’t automatically mean that you are aware of that love either.) It’s time that Christianity realizes that this sentiment is nothing more than a tool for propping up the institutional church that has little or nothing to do with helping people experience the love of God that surrounds them right where they are.