Letter to a Protestant

Dear friend,

Okay, I’m a Catholic and you’re a Protestant. I figure I’d come right out and say it, not to draw some line in the sand (goodness no) but to put into words what we both might be thinking.  “Oh, you’re one of them.” Right? Well, maybe there are a few things that you might want to know before we move on:

First, let me just say I like you. I have a smile on my face as I write. I don’t have some sort of knee-jerk reaction to you being Protestant. You are a Christian. You are my brother or sister in Christ Jesus. You are my friend and Jesus told us that there is no greater love than to give up one’s life for a friend. So we can start off on a very positive note.

I am so happy that you have let Christ into your life, that you have found your greatest love and deepest identity in him. Me too. I love it that your ultimate horizon is not worldly fame, financial fortunes or earthly possessions, as tempting as those things are in the world. No matter how many trophies we might accumulate, nothing satisfies. Only Jesus. You know that because I see it in you. After all, you live your life in the imitation of the suffering Servant, the lowly One, the Christ, and I love that about you. I honor and respect that so much.

You see, when you say that you are a Protestant, I know that you and I are so very close already. We have a bond in Christ that goes so deep. It's like we're family, perhaps closer than our own flesh and blood. We are the body of Christ. Together, we operate as Christ’s hands and feet in the world today. When it comes right down to it, I need you. Perhaps you sense that you need me too. We both probably sense that if  the world is gonna know Jesus as Lord, we're gonna need to work together. I want that. I know you do too.

Isn’t it wonderful to love Jesus, by the way? Isn’t it liberating to place your trust, not in an ideology or even a set of doctrines, but in a Person?  Pope John Paul II once said, “We are not saved by a formula but by a Person.” Of course he's talking about Jesus. This has always made a great impression on me. Earlier in my faith journey I was very concerned with being right. I just thought that's what you do. But most of the time it only fed my pride and left me at odds with others. I’m sorry about that. Now don't get me wrong, I continue to be a rather insatiable student of history and theology, but I think about it more in terms of right relationship than anything else – being in loving relationship with God, with others, and with the world in which I live and move. Jesus is such a good model for this.

Speaking of popes, I love our current pope. But I wanted you to know that he isn’t Jesus. Now I know you know this but you might be a little unsure of where I'm coming from. Gosh, we Catholics have made this so confusing for you! I’m sorry about that too. Now I believe Pope Francis is a holy and humble man, but I never get that confused with the Savior. What I find so inspiring about Francis is that he is a man of the Word, he walks what he talks, and he lives what he preaches. Our local bishop recently put it this way as he was ordaining priests, and I thought it was worth sharing: “Believe what you read (in the Bible); preach what you believe; and practice what you preach.” Boy, if we could all do that we’d be in pretty good shape!

I’ve heard many of my Protestant friends say lately that they are inspired by the pope. Francis’ simplicity and commitment to the common people, especially the poor, is just so powerful. Personally, he is a great challenge to me.  He shows me I've got a long way to go to be like Jesus! But the pope isn’t God, let's be clear. I do not worship him or pray to him. I don’t believe (nor does the Catholic Church) that everything he says is gospel truth. He is a follower of Christ, in need of a Savior, indebted to God’s grace, just like you and me. I’m sure he’d be the first to tell you that.

I don’t know if you usually associate this with Catholics but I do pray. And I’m not even talking about Hail May’s and Our Father’s (as wonderful as those prayers are). When I pray I simply talk to God and God talks to me. Matter of fact, the more I pray the more I’m inclined to button my lip and just listen! Surely God has a lot more important things to say to me.

I’d have to say that after nearly 20 years of being an intentional disciple of the Lord, my personal relationship with God is most shaped by reading the Bible and praying every day. Just like you, I thank God and praise him when I pray. I ask God to purify me from sin and fill me with the Holy Spirit. I accept Christ’s lordship in my life and invite him to change me any way he wants. I ask God to make me an instrument of his grace, truth, forgiveness and justice. I beg God to fill me with his love so that I can love others the way Jesus loves us. And I ask God to use me to draw others into a loving, growing relationship with Christ. I ask God to help me to be a good husband to my wife, a good father to my kids, and a good neighbor to my, well neighbors. Just writing about prayer now reminds me how little it helps to talk about prayer and how important it is just to pray.  So I’m going to pray for you now. I hope you’ll pray for me.

There are many things that I was planning to write to you about – Mary, the saints, sacraments, salvation, the Trinity – but for some reason it just doesn’t feel right. Perhaps we’ll get to that stuff on down the road, but I guess the most important thing is to get to know each other first. It seems like the more I get to know people, even people who I think are very different from me, the more I find that we’re more alike than anything. I get the sense sometimes from God, ya know those times when you’re deep in prayer, that we’re all really united already, we just don’t know it. And if we don’t know we’re part of the same body, it’s hard to act like it. But I hope we can change that – one person, one heart (and perhaps one letter) at a time.

I would love it if you’d write me back. I am so interested in your faith, your life, and your story with Jesus. I have a lot to learn from you. And I have a feeling we could become good friends. Thank you, truly, and God bless you.

Yours faithfully in Christ,

Michael