How Will You Use Your Voice?

“Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

–Mark 9:35

Like millions around the world, I found myself glued to the TV recently to watch the unfolding of the papal conclave in Rome, and the announcement of the election of Pope Leo XIV. An event like this doesn’t come around very often, and it’s amazing to see how ancient rituals, mostly conducted in Latin, can still capture the attention of a largely secularized world.

The election of the new pope got me to thinking about the time I almost encountered the last pope.

OK, maybe I didn’t actually come very close to meeting Pope Francis, but it remains the closest I’ve yet come to an encounter with the world’s most famous religious leader.

In 2015, I was living in the Philadelphia suburbs, and Pope Francis was scheduled to visit Philadelphia as part of an international Catholic conference, and celebrate a mass on the Ben Franklin Parkway downtown. I had no plans to travel into the city for the mass, preferring to watch it on TV. A little after 8:00 the evening before, John and I decided to go to a local fast casual restaurant for a quick dinner, only to find that it was closed. I noticed a sign on the door that read, “Due to papal visit we will close at 8PM tonight.” It struck me as funny that an event happening the next day, in the downtown area 15 miles away from the quiet suburb where we lived, could close down a restaurant for the day. It also left me with a funny image—Pope Francis and his motorcade pulling up to a nondescript strip center in Springfield, PA to order Pei Wei. I don’t know all the reasons for the closure, and maybe there were legitimate ones, but I found it striking that one influential Christian leader could have that kind of power to affect daily life without even trying. There are some people, like the pope, who have platforms so enormous that they can have lasting impact on the lives of people all over the world—for better, and for worse.

Pope Leo is already sending signals about what kind of influence he wants to exercise, even through the choice of his name—a tribute to Leo XIII, who wrote and advocated for the rights of workers and labor and condemned the exploitation of the poorest and most marginalized. These are hopeful signs, and I pray that his leadership will be a lasting and positive influence on the world.

But what about you and me? We don’t have that kind of platform or voice—the power to command the attention of world leaders, to change traffic patterns and business schedules, to impact the very faith lives of millions.

But as I read the bible, I see that over and over again, it’s not the people with the biggest platforms or loudest voices or most powerful positions that exercise the most influence in God’s kingdom. It’s the widow who cares for God’s prophet when he’s in need; it’s the shepherds in the fields giving testimony to the birth of the savior; it’s a young boy offering his lunch to feed a multitude. God speaks to all of us, and God speaks most powerfully not through the voices of the influential, the powerful, the prominent—but through ordinary people, like you and me. The most influential people in my life and my faith journey have not been popes or presidents, but grandmothers, parents, faithful church people who showed me what love looks like and helped me see the face of Christ.

So today, I hope you will know that you can make a difference in this world right where you are. You can bring love, transformation, and justice that will resonate and ripple far beyond what any of us can imagine. And through it all, the Love that created and sustains all things will whisper your name and call you beloved.