Identity Crisis

Last week Donald Trump called the Pope a pawn, and the Pope in turn questioned Trump's self-proclaimed Christianity. It was one of those moments where the world of social media just about blew up from the rapid fire commentary and back and forth.  Trump, of course immediately called it "disgraceful" for someone to question another person's faith, and to tell you the truth, on the surface, he had a point.  We should probably think twice about judging others, in fact, I think Jesus said something about that, and about another man's servant, you could go along and cherry pick all sorts of scripture that would probably lead you to side with the Donald on this one.
Except for the fact that this is Pope Francis, a man whose judgment and faith I am growing to trust more and more day by day (even as a Protestant).  Except for the fact that the Pope was not actually questioning the validity or sincerity of Trump's affirmation of faith, he was actually questioning his practice of said faith.  Here is the Pope's actual quote (translated to English of course):

A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the Gospel."

The term that everyone focused on is "not a Christian."  That is, in the minds of most people, the judgment, and the error of the Pope's statement.  What I have been rolling around in my brain for the last few days are the many ways in which it may be much more necessary for us to say precisely that, about great many things.  But I am afraid.  I am afraid because when it comes to defining the word Christian, you are going to run into resistance from those whose definitions you challenge in the process of clarifying your own definition.  Furthermore, you are going to have difficulty finding a harmonious place to park your Jesus following wagon. Neither the progressive nor the conservative side has a space that will fit, but they both think they do, and they will gladly label you a heretic or an apostate if you try and nuance something they feel is central.
This is just evidence of the pilgrim nature of following Jesus in this world.  The Pope is a rather good example for me to use (much better than Trump), because the Pope is in many ways a really good example of living a Christ-like life, he is kind, caring, and humble.  He has expressed concern and solidarity with the poor and suffering, he has washed feet (even controversial feet), he has consistently expressed his commitment to social and economic justice, he has taken small steps to open the fortress of the Roman Catholic Church to the rest of us.  Yet, I would like him to go even further to address the unequal treatment of both women and LGBTQ people in the Church. I would like him to address the tragic connection between reproductive choice and poverty, and how the official RC prohibition on birth control plays into that.  I do not expect him to single-handedly solve all of our problems though, and so I am glad to take what he is able to give, and I would hope for the same grace.
None of us are perfect disciples, but I think that that realization is crucial to actually being a disciple.  What troubles me most about Trump, and the more blatantly religious folk like Ted Cruz, Jerry Falwell Jr. and Franklin Graham is the utter lack of humility and any self awareness that they might be wrong, or that they actually might need to learn a little bit more from Jesus.
I get why they don't like it when the Pope calls them out on a thing like immigration or caring for the poor, even if Scripture and a long history of Christian ethics would both tell them they'r wrong. It is troubling to have your faith assumptions challenged, sometimes it can utterly break you and leave you feeling as though you have lost faith altogether, but God never leaves you in pieces.  The Spirit who breathes life into us can make the dry bones live.
"The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (Psalm 51: 17)  What will keep you from being a disciple of Jesus Christ, therefore a Christian in the only truly acceptable definition, is a refusal to be broken.  The building of walls is part and parcel of a desire to be invulnerable, and true Jesus following is about being vulnerable, about letting people in, regardless of the risk.  I have no problem with A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, but if we actually believe that then it should inspire us to stop trying to build the fortress for ourselves.
I think the future of the church depends on Christians actually remembering to follow Jesus, even and especially when his example troubles our assumptions about life.  The more I think about it, the more I feel like the Pope was speaking to the Donald as a pastor should.  He wasn't, at least in my opinion, casting him out of the kingdom, he was simply challenging him to consider the way that his own, angry, narrow way of understanding the world is hurting him and those who are influenced by his fearful rhetoric.  Because fear is not the Gospel, because the Gospel is the Good News that God is with us in the person of Jesus Christ, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. If that is true, and the Scripture is reliable, we can believe that God is love, and if God is love we should also trust that love casts out fear.