Manson's Memo 4/14

A great deal of the news lately has focused on the death of Pope John Paul II. Protestants are often hard pressed to know how to respond to such a death. After all, we don’t recognize his authority over the church. But at least we’ve come a long way from the days when the Pope was looked at as the Antichrist.

Much of the discussion of his papacy has had to do with his role in the fall of Communism in Europe and about his travel. He was not content to stay in Rome and let people come to him. He went throughout the world to see those who would never get to Rome.

Although I disagreed with many of John Paul’s positions and doctrines, I still appreciated him for his ministry. John Paul was an amazing example of servanthood. He accepted a job with no retirement benefits (after all, no one has retired from that job for centuries). When he became Pope, it was with the knowledge that he would die as the Pope.

As the College of Cardinals prepares to elect a new Pope, the news people have to find stories. I’ve found a website that gives an Irish bookmaker’s odds on various Cardinals being elected. There will be lots of speculation. However, often the person chosen to serve as Pope is one of the Cardinals who had no plan of becoming Pope. They have this job thrust upon them. And it is one that they accept knowing that it will be more than they have ever done before. And they will do it because they feel called by God to do take on this awesome responsibility.

It is the rare person who gets such a ministry offered to them. It is a rare person who can accept such a ministry. But each of us is called to the ministry that God sets before us. We also are called to be servants to the world around us.

As the world remembers the ministry of John Paul II, let us each remember the ministry that we have been given and strive to be as faithful.