ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
June 30, 2022
On this day in the year 296 AD, Marcellinus became Pope (the Bishop of Rome). There were rumors about Marcellinus that he had denounced his faith during persecution and then repented. This supposedly occurred during the reign of Diocletian, the Roman Emperor (284–305 AD). Diocletian ordered a great deal of religious persecution, including of those who were Christians. Marcellinus’ denouncing of his faith was quite a controversy among some Christians, but for most of us today, we would be judging from the cheap seats. I know nothing of what it means to be persecuted, and what some privileged American Christians describe as persecution is insulting to those who really have experienced it. There are stories of Diocletian cutting people’s tongues out and burning others to death. I’d like to think my faith would remain strong, unbending, but I do not have a clue what it’s like to be in that moment. And what happens when you have family, children who could also experience suffering or death? Yes, faithfulness and martyrdom are powerful statements, but at the end of the day, will God love us any less if we falter or take the painless path? I don’t think so! Even Paul asked in Romans 8, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution…?” Paul then went on to answer his own question by explaining how nothing would separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Though he said nothing about those who avoided persecution, I believe he would have included them. I am not providing you with the easy and pain-free way, suggesting you do nothing. In fact, just the opposite. Upon pondering a love that will embrace me in my utter failures, it makes me want to serve God and the ways of God with even more conviction and sacrifice. I don’t know if I am quite ready to have my tongue cut out, but I will seek to act with boldness.
Holy One, I pray for the strength to speak out against injustice, to act with self-giving compassion for the least among us, and to never worship at the altars of greed and violence. I know I will fail, but I know you will give me another chance, and then another… Amen.
