Credit

Recently someone asked me, Doesn’t your church get annoyed with you talking about saints so much, when you’re not Catholic?

Full disclosure, I grew up Roman Catholic. (I have learned some Protestants get annoyed when people talk about the “catholic” church instead of the “Roman” church. All churches are rightfully called catholic, which really just means “of the whole,” or universal.) Many people have been hurt by the Catholic Church, and I know that needs to be recognized.  But the Church also deserves credit for being the birthplace of Christian mysticism.

Honestly, I get tired of being treated as theologically suspect by some of my colleagues for nurturing a relationship with the saints. After all, they are the very people who developed our basic Christian doctrines! The Lutheran church embraces saints in our calendar because they are part of our Christian heritage.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, we have more in common than we do different. And I think that deserves some credit.

with love, Pr. Chelsea