What the Evangelical Churches can Learn from Franciscan Spirituality- Part 1

INTRODUCTION

Christian spirituality is not only prayer and is not simply prayer for mission. What then is a true spirituality? It would be such a good question to pose since Christian spirituality is not just a simple prayer or mere prayer for mission. According to Cunningham and Egan, Christian spirituality is the lived encounter with Jesus Christ in the Spirit. The key dimensions of this lived encounter are:

• deepen our communion with God
• grow in the imitation of Christ
• grow in community with our brothers and sisters in the Faith

Having known the criteria of Christian spirituality, this research best finds a good example in the life and spirituality of St. Francis of Assisi. Likewise, the primary purpose of this paper is to make a meaningful learning model of Franciscan spirituality to modern evangelical realm.

Firstly, the term evangelical used anywhere in this paper does not intentionally mean to a particular denominations such as Baptist, Assembly of God, or Presbyterian. It rather is focused to intend the movement of the evangelical. Since the history of evangelical arose from a strong passion of evangelism to spread the Gospel, labeling spirituality seemingly lean toward being actively involvement or engagement in spreading the gospel which is particularly limited to Soteriological message. Or the other way around of spirituality could probably be a prayerful life, fasting, and being wise to be able to give advice to others. Spiritual discernment is also so often counted as being spiritual so much so that the difference between spirituality and the gifts are getting confused to Evangelicals.

Thus, within evangelical realms, emotion is so much dominant over the people. A person who is capable of action involvement will be graded as more spiritual. Or, a rhetorician preacher a pulpit is usually applauded. There might not be a fatal mistake in doing so, but where is the truthfulness if it were to be rated in terms of the performance. And yet the evangelical churches are the most judgmental among Christian movement to blame what they do not respect as well as uplift that they appreciate.

In order to become a proportionately balanced and spiritually integrated evangelical Christians, chapter one will talks how the Francis of Assisi found God in the leper. Though during those time lepers were still expelled from the community, Francis was struck with his witness about the leper. Then his life was regenerated since then. Chapter two will write how meeting the leper had touched his entire life and decided to renounce the family riches and dignity. There is something that is so inevitable in Francis’ heart that made him do so. Similarly, chapter three will write how he had found God in creation, how he took a good care of creation. And it will also trace how his followers observe his footsteps in terms of caring the creation. Finally, chapter four will write about how he practically lived the life of Gospels in the Bible in imitating the Christ life.

There are many more that the evangelical churches can learn from Franciscan Spirituality. However, the four areas mentioned above will be emphasized in this entire research. The purpose of this paper is to advocate the evangelical churches environmental awareness, a deeper spirituality which is very practical including suffering, renunciation, and spiritual disciplines.

FRANCISCAN SPIRITUALITY: FINDING GOD IN THE POOR

Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “ Here’s a good seat for you,: but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “ Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? James 2: 2- 4, (NIV).

When poor is said, it basically means the poor who are outcast, forgotten, deserted, rejected etc. Once he made a pilgrimage to Rome, soon after he returned, Francis met a leper in his city. He could not restrain a shudder of repulsion, and felt as if he were about to faint. He felt so because of the concerned burden for the leper. Francis experienced a challenge of grace. He realized that how he reacted to the leper was how he reacted to Christ himself because in the leper he experienced the presence of the Lord.

It is very touching testimony to hear that while people nowadays are giving charity because they are capable, Francis actually experienced that he was doing as if Christ as the leper. It is not that you wanted to do so because he wanted to be recognized by others. In a sense of recognition, there were no ways of doing so since during those period attending to lepers were still severely detested. The lepers were forced to live out of the community. But for Francis, the lepers were Christ. He did kiss the lepers prompted by his love for Christ. Being a son of a wealthy family, he could have just greeted the lepers, wished well and offer some clothes, but he intentionally got off and attended to the leper.

Likewise, a general schema for Franciscan spirituality summarized by the Franciscans of Canada says Minority is expressed in Poverty and Humility. Poverty is the external expression of Minority while Humility is the internal expression of it. If minority is expressed in poverty and humility where shall all the refugees, foreigners and immigrants in the bulletin board of evangelical churches. The refugees, foreigners and immigrants are still worth considering and worth caring because God “Yahweh” in the Old Testament never forgotten those types of people.

In Luke 10, Jesus also validated and affirmed the principle of this the expression of poverty is found in being minor and humiliated. Such a good example can be found in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan was the neighbor to be loved in explaining how to inherit the Kingdom of God. There are two specific commandments that Jesus summarized the entire commandants to inherit the Kingdom of God when asked by a law expert. They are “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself”Mt 22:37-40 (NIV). Here in the story, a man who was robbed was referred as the neighbor. In short, the neighbor can also mean the people who are refugees, discriminated, out casted and needy surrounding the environment.

Then, what will it mean for the evangelical churches to see those poor as defined above. Can the Churches really see the poor as Christ like Francis saw? Of course, it is possible. However, with simple human eyes would not see them as he did. What else will be needed for the evangelical churches today? It must so deeply rooted in the love of God or for loving God. The Churches must put the eye glass of Christ in seeing those poor. It is mere a human empathy or sympathy, it will not last long. According to Leonardo Boff, a liberation theologian, “The primitive Church, until the fourth century, with the advent of the age of Constantine (313 A.D.), was made up largely of the poor.

The content of Jesus’ message, promising first Kingdom and salvation to the poor, calling them blessed (Luke 6: 20) and the Father’s privileged ones (Mt 11: 25-26), reached out to meet the religious and social demands of the poor, thus favoring the spread of rising Christianity. Let the churches not strive only for emotion which seems to be so spiritual in the sight of the so called evangelical Christians. Instead the churches must see and care like Jesus did. This Francis of Assisi should be our model among non apostolic history.