Rock Star. Even those words, and the image of the Beatles that they conjure up, do not due justice to the excitement that existed at St. Joseph’s Parish on the Upper East side as we waited for the arrival of Pope Benedict. From inside the church you couldn’t see anything, but there was no mistaking when he arrived – the roar of the motorcade followed by the roar of the crowd, many who had begun lining up earlier in the morning amidst extremely tight security just on the hope of being able to catch a glimpse of the Pope.

Inside the church, it was equally astounding to see both national and local church dignitaries cheering his arrival, while at the same time juggling cameras and cell phone cameras to record the event for posterity. A clergywoman from the Episcopal Church seated directly in front of me even climbed up onto the pew to get a better glimpse, a better photo.  It was a strange paradoxical moment, where people with widely divergent theological views somehow focused on a man who for one brief moment brought that diversely assembled group of folks together in a way that arguably no other religious figure in the world would be able to. It is hard to imagine any other religious leader - Lutheran, Anglican, Orthodox or otherwise - who would receive that same reception.

Perhaps that is a beauty to be conceded to the Petrine office as it is found in the Bishop of Rome, a central focus that is able to unite. Benedict’s words were edgy that night, some might even say divisive, despite the soft and heavily accented tone in which they were spoken. Doctrine matters.  Rome is what it is. Ecumenism must be Trinitarian. And yet the Roman Catholic Church and its leader have found a way to be principled and yet inclusive in a way that Lutherans to date have not. Whether the modern Lutherans have been too quick to compromise, or too quick to define themselves over and against others, there is this disheartening sense that we are irrelevant. We seem only to be defined over and against or with others. There is no Benedict in the Lutheran Church. We do not seem to be self confident enough for that.

As Pope Benedict left St. Joseph’s down the center aisle, he made a significant gesture that was probably unnoticed except to those who were there in the immediate area. While waving to those assembled, he made eye contact with the Rev. Carol Fryer, an ordained Lutheran clergywoman who serves as the chaplain of the Wartburg Adult Care community and is the wife of ALPB Board member Pastor Gregory Fryer. Noticing that she was in a clerical collar, he made a point of walking over and shaking her hand. It was a gesture few others in the room received. It is doubtful that anyone who observed the gesture honestly thinks that Rome is on its way toward ordaining woman. I don’t believe they are, certainly not in my lifetime. And yet there is a comfort within Rome’s own theological self-identity that such gestures are not only permissible, but commonplace. They will not be misunderstood as signifying some sort of doctrinal shift, but rather they are simply good manners and charity. In that regard Lutherans, and indeed all Christians have much to learn from our Roman Catholic Pontiff.