Immediate Word

There is an ancient apocryphal story about Jesus' arrival at the Pearly Gates following the Ascension. The angel host was gathered to welcome God's Son and celebrate his return home after his incredible sojourn on earth. Everyone had questions and wanted to hear his story -- born of a virgin, raised in humble circumstances, years teaching, preaching, healing. Eventually, there was that gruesome torture and murder, but finally the conquest of humanity's most feared enemy -- death. Jesus lived through all this to share the good news of a loving God who wants nothing but the best for creation. Now the Christ is home, and everyone is exultant.

Someone asks, "Lord, now that you are no longer physically on earth, who will continue to share the good news?"

Christ responds, "There are eleven who were especially close to me, and I have given them the responsibility of getting the word out."

"O Lord, these eleven must be incredible people -- the best and the brightest that creation has to offer!"

"Well, actually no," the Lord responds. "These are average folks with ordinary abilities. Not the 'best and the brightest' by any means."

"But Lord, if these are only average people with ordinary ability, how can you be sure that they will get the job done?"

"Well, to be honest," the Lord answers, "I can't be sure."

"You cannot be sure, Lord? Well, what if they fail to do the job? What is your backup plan?"

Quietly Christ answers, "I have no backup plan."

I wonder if those standing there on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, the Holy City had any idea that there was no "backup plan." I suspect that they were not thinking much period. After all, these past three years had been quite a ride. They had seen the teaching, preaching, and healing. They themselves had been in danger of the torture and murder. They had been witnesses of their Lord's conquest of death. These past days of close communion may well have given them the idea that things with Jesus would resume where they had left off prior to the crucifixion. But such was not to be.

During the Passover Seder prior to the Lord's arrest and trial, Jesus had said he would be moving on, but in that new scheme of things, the disciples would be sustained by God's Holy Spirit. Now they have heard the same thing again -- instructions to wait in Jerusalem and, "you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now" (Acts 1:5b).

Did they understand? As usual, not really. Thus the question, "Lord, is this the time you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" In other words, "Lord, what now? Okay, things are going to be different -- HOW different? What now?"

My friend Rob Elder ministers to the saints at the First Presbyterian Church in Salem, Oregon, which hosted the national Christmas Eve broadcast on CBS this past year. Rob recalled being dropped off by his parents for his freshman year at college. He wrote:

"Just days before I had gotten myself all packed up, ready to head for school, and asked my brother if he thought I looked like a college man. 'No,' he said, 'you look like a freshman.' There I stood a couple of days later in my ridiculous freshman beanie [some of you are old enough to remember those] at my new school, in a new city, in a new state, where I knew hardly anyone. I waved at my parents and they waved back at me. I continued watching as they disappeared into the distance, over the hill, off into a cloud of mystery as it were, their day-to-day lives now officially separated from mine. An old chapter of my life was now behind me, a new one was opening. Bright as my future was going to be, it didn't feel all that bright at that moment. And all the previous conversations about my future, about the work that lay ahead of me, all the dinner table speculations about the universe of possibilities that waited over the horizon seemed pretty small compensation just then for the certainties of the life of a child and teenager in a loving home that I had known before."1

Do you remember being scared that way? All of us have those moments when we are not only curious about the future, but we wonder if there will even be a future. What now? That is the disciples' question. "What now? Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?"

Jesus' response? He did not answer the "restore the kingdom" question; instead he answered the deeper "What now?" Jesus made this promise: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes...." He shifted the emphasis from the restoration of the past to the transformation of the present.

The waiting will soon be over, the coming with power of the Holy Spirit is just around the corner. Why? Work to do. "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Jerusalem is "home" -- the comfortable and known and familiar. "Judea and Samaria" -- those places of our life where we are not quite so comfortable and Jesus' reception here is mixed (perhaps "ethnic" ministries within the Hispanic, Asian, or other communities; or among the homeless, the prisons, or with those recovering from addictions). "[T]he ends of the earth" -- the edges of our lives, those places that would stretch us spiritually because we are not normally involved there. It is likely something we would find distasteful or off-putting. But, likely, according to Matthew 25, the place we would find Christ to begin with.

"All right, Jesus, tell us just a bit more." The disciples say. "We have some questions. Jesus? Jesus?" As they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. Hmm. It always seems to work that way, doesn't it? At the very moment we want Jesus to be most vivid, something obscures him. That is why, in some traditions, the Paschal Candle is extinguished on Ascension Day reflecting the fact that things will not be so obvious now.2

Strange as it may seem, I take comfort in that. The life of faith does not lend itself to easy answers, despite what some of our friends at the extremes of the religious right and left might want us to believe. We go about our work with clouded vision, with things not always as clear as we might like ... just as the disciples did after Christ's ascension.

Perhaps the "clouded vision" is the reason for the recent controversy over whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God. The question has been posed ever since terrorist acts in the Middle East began, but more so after 9/11 and subsequent comments by President Bush. At a press conference with England's Prime Minister Tony Blair last November, Mr. Bush was asked his thoughts on how the war on terrorism and his promotion of freedom intersects with his Christian faith. "I do say that freedom is the Almighty's gift to every person," he answered. "I also condition it by saying freedom is not America's gift to the world. It's much greater than that, of course. And I believe we worship the same God."

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Commission, said that while he respects Bush he believes the President is wrong. "Like may other Americans I applaud the president as a man of deep religious faith who attempts to bring that faith conviction to bear on public policy issues. However, we should always remember that he is Commander-in-Chief, not the theologian-in-chief. And when he says that he believes that Muslims and Christians worship the same God, he is simply mistaken."

So who is correct? The quick and dirty answer, in my estimation, is both. Since both Christianity and Islam are monotheistic religions, to say that we worship different (competing?) gods is a logical impossibility -- if there is only one God, there is only one God! Thus, we worship the same God.

On the other hand, to say we have the same understanding of that God is clearly not the case. The most obvious difference is that Christians believe we come to know God through Jesus Christ; Muslims disagree. A perfect example is the lectionary's Epistle reading for the day from Ephesians:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the yes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (1:17-23)

What makes the question more pressing is our understanding of how God expects us to behave. Christians cannot imagine a God who would approve of someone flying an airplane into an office building or blowing up a crowded bus or slashing an innocent human being's head off while shouting "GOD IS GREAT!" For that matter, neither can many Muslims.

In a Washington Post article last week, it was reported that a national Muslim advocacy group has announced that it is asking Muslims around the world to sign an online petition condemning terrorism as "un-Islamic" and a betrayal of their faith. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations said that its petition, titled "Not in the Name of Islam," is designed to disassociate the faith of Islam from the violent acts of a few Muslims.

Obviously, there is disagreement within Islam as to what God expects. But to be truthful, there is disagreement within Christianity as well. Thus we have continuing controversies in the church over human sexuality, abortion, capital punishment, the role of women, and so on. We continue to deal with the same "clouded vision" as the disciples gathered there on the Mount of Olives so long ago.

What a group! Standing there. Staring into space. Paralyzed like deer mesmerized by oncoming headlights. These eleven were the A-team. It was to them that the Lord entrusted his mission. There was no backup plan. But, as everyman philosopher Will Rogers once said, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just stand there."

"YO! People of Galilee. Why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. He'll be back! Meanwhile, you have his work to do."

Back when the American West was being settled the major means of transportation was the stagecoach -- we have all seen them in western movies. What you might not know is that the stagecoach had three different kinds of tickets: first-class, second-class, and third-class. If you had a first-class ticket, which meant you could remain seated during the entire trip no matter what happened. If the stagecoach got stuck in the mud, or had trouble making it up a steep hill, or even if a wheel fell off, you could remain seated because you had a first-class ticket.

If you had a second-class ticket you also could remain seated ... until there was a problem. In case of a problem, second-class ticket holders would have to get off until the problem was resolved. You could stand off to the side and watch as other people worked. You did not have to get your hands dirty. But second-class ticket holders were not allowed to stay on board. When the stagecoach was unstuck you would get back on and take your seat.

If you had a third-class ticket, you would definitely have to get off if there was a problem. Why? Because it was your responsibility to help solve the problem. You had to get out and push or help lift to fix a broken wheel or whatever was needed because you only had a third-class ticket.

I tell you that to tell you this: Men and women, boys and girls, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will return in the same way as you saw him go into heaven ... and you are now proud owners of third-class tickets for the journey between now and then! Even with clouded vision, let's get to work.

Notes
1. Via Ecunet, "SERMONSHOP 1996 05 19," Note #59, 5/16/96. Ecunet is an interdenominational "bulletin board" that used to come from Presbynet and the Louisville office of the PCUSA. Now it comes from Houston.

2. See illustration section for more about the Paschal candle.

3. Larry Warren on Ecunet, "SERMONSHOP 1996 05 19," # 7, 5/13/96.


Good News From Behind Bars
Acts 16:16-34; Psalm 97

Well, it's been another of those "What is this world coming to" weeks. With the Psalmist, we would love to cry out, "The LORD is king! Let the earth rejoice"; and we do celebrate the occasional wonders such as the bursting forth of spring. But then we are reminded of the news reports from Baghdad or Washington or whatever hot spot is exploding at the moment, and we find ourselves shaking our collective head and asking, "What is this world coming to?"

Most recently, of course, our attention has been forced inside the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the one that came to be known as Saddam Hussein's national torture chamber. The horror stories under his regime are well-known, but now the horror stories also are perpetrated by U.S. troops. And now word is leaking out that the abuses were okayed at the highest levels. Wait a minute! We're supposed to be the good guys! "What is this world coming to?"

I wonder if Paul or Silas ever asked this question? Perhaps. That familiar story of the conversion of the Philippian jailer begins with Paul and Silas curing the madness of a young woman of the city whose insanity had been used by some unscrupulous men for their own personal gain.

There was the belief in those days that insanity was a strangely special gift from the gods. It was a tool that they used to convey their messages to mere mortals. It was based on the idea that since the insane girl had no mind of her own, the gods could put their own divine thoughts on earth through her. Thus, she was thought to have a gift for soothsaying or fortune-telling, a most marketable commodity in that era and indeed in any era. Obviously, since she was insane, she was not the one to do the marketing, nor was she the one to profit from it. So when the young woman was healed, those wonderfully sane people who had taken advantage of her were suddenly out of business. They did not like it, trumped up some charges against Paul and Silas, then had them beaten and thrown into jail. "What is this world coming to?" the apostles might have asked.

Needless to say, these first missionaries were not all that happy about being thrown into jail, but they made the best of the bad situation, even to the extent of spending half the night singing hymns and praising God. All despite the fact that they were locked up in the deepest part of the dungeon, in stocks, chained in an upright sitting position with a chain around the neck as well -- if you nodded off to sleep, you would begin to choke. The song? Who knows? But perhaps, "The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice"; or something like that. We can read the minds of their fellow prisoners who listened to the midnight concert: "What is this world coming to?"

Suddenly, there's an earthquake ... a not uncommon occurrence in that part of the world ... that shook the prison so much that the door locks come undone and chains become unfettered. When the tremor was over, the terrified jailer, who had been asleep when the quake hit, came rushing in expecting to see the prisoners gone and ready to run himself through with his own sword. The jailer was responsible for keeping prisoners in prison, and the punishment that was scheduled for anyone who might escape would then be brought down on the warden. Death was the easier way out. But Paul shouted to him that there was no necessity for that: The prisoners were all present and accounted for.

You can imagine the sense of relief that the jailer must have felt but apparently, he felt something more. His response might have been to dash around and put all the chains back in place and lock all the doors, but instead he asks a question: "What must I do to be saved?" No, this was no theological inquiry; his concern was not salvation from sin but salvation from his situation, and who could blame him. But Paul's answer was not temporal; it was eternal: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." And ever since that night, it is the answer Christians have all heard when we finally acknowledge our own need.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." What does that mean? You can be sure that the jailer wondered about it. What is this belief, this faith, that can save?

First of all, it is rational. Someone once asked a youngster for a definition of faith and got this response, "Faith is believing something even when you know it isn't true." Cute answer ... but wrong. That is not faith; that is stupidity. Actually, exactly the opposite is true.

If you drive up to a busy intersection in your car, see that the light is green, and proceed on through, you exercise a certain faith based on reason that another car coming in your direction from the right or left will stop on the red and let you through. You have a certain faith in the road system that tells you that only those who would drive responsibly to the extent of honoring reds and greens would be given a license. To be sure, that faith is not always vindicated, but most often it is. In effect, you are willing to put your life on the line because you have that kind of faith.

One thing should be noted here: faith does not require 100 percent understanding. A young gentleman of profound intellect and high culture announced to a group of friends one day that he would not believe anything he could not understand. An old farmer chanced to overhear the remark and, turning to the young man, said "As I was riding into town today, I passed a common on which some sheep were feeding. Do you believe it?"

The young man nodded that he did.

"Not far from the sheep," said the farmer, "some calves were feeding. Do you believe it?"

"Why not," asked the young man.

"Not far from the calves, some pigs were feeding," the farmer went on. "Do you believe it?"

"Of course," the young man replied.

"Not far from the pigs, some geese were feeding. Do you believe it?"

"Yes."

"Well," said the farmer, the grass that the sheep ate will turn to wool; the grass that the calves ate will turn to hair; the grass that the pigs ate will turn to bristles; and the grass that the geese ate will turn to feathers. Do you believe that?"

"Yes," the young man answered promptly.

"Do you understand it though?"

"No," the young man replied.

"My friend," said the farmer, "if you live long enough, you will find that there are a great many things you will believe without understanding." (Walter B. Knight, ed., Knight 's Master Book of New Illustrations, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1956, pp. 185-186)

To put that into the context of our adventure into traffic, there is no need for us to understand the workings of the computer that changes the lights from red to green to let those lights govern the way we travel. To immerse ourselves in the details of the electronic operation might be an interesting intellectual exercise but not much other than that, at least as regards the way we drive.

And that brings to mind something else about faith: it is more than a mere intellectual exercise. You might say to yourself that the rules of the road demand obedience to reds and greens and that such an order is good for all of society. But upon coming up to a red light yourself, if you decided to ignore it and dash on through, your agreement to the concept would be totally worthless. Your agreement has to mean something.

Which illustrates more than one thing about faith: it makes a difference in the way we live. If you did NOT believe that people will routinely obey the rules of the road, you would not dare to cross another intersection ever again -- it would be suicide. And if you believed that strongly enough, you probably would never leave your house, much less go out on the road again. What you believe makes a difference.

To move all that up to a higher plane, faith in Jesus Christ must also be rational even if we do not have 100 percent understanding. The movie, The Passion of the Christ has recently had people asking deep questions. How could Christ's sacrifice take care of all the sins of humanity past and present? How does one win victory over death by dying? Why could not God have just said to the whole world, "I forgive you," and let it go at that without having to go through the cross? Why would a God who loves us so much as to send Jesus to die for us let anyone perish? Big questions ... and lots more where they came from. There are answers to them, and it is a stimulating study to search them out, but the answers are not really necessary to our faith.

But faith in Jesus Christ is more than just an intellectual exercise. Faith in Christ will make a difference in the way we live. What happened to that Philippian jailer when he came to faith? Scripture says, "he took [Paul and Silas] and washed their wounds; then ... He brought them up into the house and set food before them"; This same man who, only hours before, had been content to let these missionaries languish in the worst filth his prison could offer, now was treating them as honored guests. Faith made a difference to him ... as it must for anyone.

To be sure, an understanding of what faith is can be helpful to us but it can also be frustrating if, for all our knowledge about it, we do not know how to go about getting it. The glorious message of the scripture is that we do not go about getting it; it is a gift that is given to us by God. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). And God gives us that gift through the circumstances of our lives.

See how it works. The Philippian jailer came by his faith through a particular series of events. Had it not been for the fact that there were those in the city making money by taking advantage of a girl who was insane; had it not been for the fact the Paul and Silas had been traveling there; had it not been for the fact that they had healed the girl by God's power; had it not been for the fact that they were arrested because of it; had it not been for the fact that this man had accepted the job as local jailer; and, had it not been for the fact that there was an earthquake that night, this man might have never come to the faith that he did. Events! God uses the events of our lives to bring us to faith.

Some of us were led to a particular church or camp or conference or meeting so we might hear the gospel and respond. Others were placed in Christian homes where Christ was the head of the house and where his Lordship was a part of everyday life; so that coming to a saving faith was a natural as having breakfast. Still others came by their faith through the witness of a friend. God uses the circumstances of our lives to give us the gift of faith.

Note something else. The Philippian jailer did not come by his faith all alone. He had Paul to help him. For all his willingness to trust Jesus Christ as Lord of his life, he would never have been able to do it until someone first told him about Jesus. There is every likelihood that until Paul and Silas came along, this jailer had never heard the name of Jesus mentioned. The point of it all is simply this: NO ONE comes to faith all alone.

One thing more: The jailer was willing to respond. He could have reacted by ignoring what Paul had said. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved? You must be kidding. The only thing I will believe in is new locks that will not come loose every time there is a tremor around here." But that is not what happened. In his willingness to listen to these men, he took them into his own home so that the rest of his family might hear, and the scripture says that they all came to believe.

And note that one very important thing: The faith of the jailer made a difference in the way he lived. If what his faith amounted to was nothing more than intellectual assent, he would have been content to hear the missionaries there in the prison, agreed that this Jesus of whom they spoke was indeed a remarkable man, then let it go at that as he went about restoring order in the jailhouse. But it was more than that: He brought Paul and Silas out of the dungeon, cleaned their wounds, fed them, and had them share their message with his entire family. His faith made a difference in the way he lived.

God's gift of faith is rational, despite being sometimes beyond understanding. It is more than an intellectual affirmation. And it makes a difference in the way we live.

"What is this world coming to?" The news reports are not encouraging, but at least today we get some Good News From Behind Bars. Then we remember those words of the Psalmist and, in faith, we shout along with Paul and Silas, along with a Philippian jailer, along with millions more who have come to put their trust in Jesus through the centuries, "The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice."


Team Comments

Carter Shelley responds to Clouded Vision: David, you have been generous in providing ideas related to Ascension Sunday as well as making links to concerns about how widespread and how high up the American military ladder rose tacit support for the torture and psychological abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Since Jesus had many faithful women followers as well as the eleven remaining male disciples, and since some of those women were first on the scene after to Jesus' resurrection, I like to think there were women and other friends and family present that day. You make an excellent case for the remaining eleven disciples mental fogginess as they move from grief and trauma to joy and astonishment and then to having to say their final goodbyes to Jesus all too soon. Whose heart wouldn't ache or brain feel a bit scrambled by all they had seen and experienced in those final days?

While the following example seems trite when compared to Jesus' ascension, we preachers all too often forget to provide sermon illustrations that connect with children and teenagers.3 Since their capacity for both faith and understanding of the transcendent often exceeds our own, it's important to include examples they can recognize and apply. Thus, the visual image that possesses some parallels that I keep imagining is the second to last scene in the movie The Wizard of Oz. After the Wizard has revealed himself to be an ordinary mortal, and has offered Dorothy a ride back to Kansas in his hot-air balloon, the Wizard appoints the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion to serve in his stead, saying to each of them in turn that they have within themselves the brains, the heart, and the courage to rule fairly and wisely. Then the wizard unintentionally takes off in his balloon without Dorothy, who has jumped out of the balloon's basket to retrieve Toto who has run after a cat. As all the munchkins and other inhabitants of Oz wave and cry, "Goodbye!" to their former wizard, they watch his balloon ascend and depart. Dorothy becomes distraught at the thought that she's missed her last chance to go home. At which point, Glenda, the good witch, reappears and tells Dorothy -- much as the wizard has already told her friends -- that Dorothy possesses within herself the love and faith she needs to find her way home.

So also is it with Jesus followers left behind on Ascension Day. They too have within themselves the faith and the love for and from their God to continue Christ's work on earth. And if the concrete symbols of internal transformation for the Scarecrow was an academic degree, for the Tin Man a heart that ticks, for the Lion a badge of courage, and for Dorothy was ruby slippers for the disciples there will be the rushing of wind, a moving of the Holy Spirit. This divine Comforter will accompany and assure them that their Savior is never far from their side or in their heart. When men and women of faith recognize the personal gifts and resources God has given us we don't need a backup plan any more than Jesus did.

It's probably the English major in me that I see all kinds of metaphorical options for a sermon carrying the title "Clouded Vision." It's a wonderful opportunity to examine some of the ways our own vision gets clouded about things in our own church, community, and nation. Do we always draw upon our own resources and our God? No. And why not? Because what clouds our vision is hate, fear, ambition, greed, misplaced love for the things of this world, and for ourselves. The tragic revelations over the past three weeks demonstrate how far many Christians, Muslims, and Jews are from realizing God's kingdom on earth. As I said before, Jesus doesn't need a backup plan, when men and women of faith recognize the personal gifts and resources God has given us and the ever present support and impetus of the Spirit. Can we be living proof that.

Carter Shelley responds to Good News From Behind Bars: Another good piece of work David, but you haven't taken full advantage of the opportunity to discuss current events. Paul and Silas act differently in jail because they are different. The love of Jesus Christ has transformed them. It's when Christians act like jailers, not apostles, that situations like Abu Ghraib prison occur.

Carlos Wilton responds: These are disturbing days for any who track the progress of interfaith understanding in our world. The grisly death of Nicholas Berg at the hands of religious extremists bellowing, "God is great!" surely seems to mark a low point in the relations between Islam and the Judaeo-Christian tradition.

What would happen, I wonder, if some visionary were to come along and propose that each religious tradition strip away everything about it that distinguishes it from other traditions -- leaving only a solid, elemental core of pure, human faith at its center? (Granted, it's hard for Christians to imagine faith without the person of Jesus Christ explicitly at its center, but stay with me on this ... it's just a thought-experiment.) What would remain, that could form the foundation for common dialogue? Let's try to list a few ideas ...

There would be a belief in one God: simple, undivided, and utterly holy. This God would be great, magnificent, and worthy of praise. We could know this God only as God chose to self-reveal to us.

God would call us and all peoples to obedience, honoring simple laws of ethical conduct: love neighbor as self, treat others fairly and honestly, seek peace, strive for justice, give to the poor. This new, refined world religion would be a highly practical faith: Its ethical code so simple that even the smallest child could understand it, but so compelling that even the rulers of nations would acknowledge its wisdom and philosophical elegance.

No one would ever be forced to join this new religion, nor would it try to supplant any other faith. Those who did follow its practices, however, would view their faith as the fundamental essence of all other religions, and for that reason they would treat every other tradition with respect, honoring the teachings of its most important leaders.

There are lots of people today who profess to believe in God, but who never do affiliate with a congregation of any religion (except, perhaps, in name only). This new faith, with its simple, unswerving devotion to God and God alone, would perhaps be attractive to them.

Adherents of this new, universal religious practice would be convinced that, without God, we human beings are nothing. For that reason, they would seek to humble human pride, calling their fellow believers to prayer at regular intervals, at which time they would swear absolute obedience to God. With God at their side, honoring the best of all other religions, this new faith could lead the human race into a new age of peace, harmony, and understanding.

There is little in what I've just described that any adherent of any major world religion could find to disagree with. Granted, many of us would want to add a good deal more to it, but few would take issue with the basic outline that's there.

Does this new religious consensus sound at all appealing? If people took it seriously, don't you think it would have potential to solve the world's most serious problems?

What I've just sketched out are the fundamentals of Islam, as articulated by Muhammad in the 7th Century A.D.

Surprised? If so, it's understandable. Most of us Americans have never in our lives sat down and talked with a Muslim about matters of faith -- if, indeed, we've ever talked with a Muslim at all. (I know I've never had that kind of first-person faith discussion; what I know about Islam comes mostly from books -- including Karen Armstrong's book, Islam, which was my source for the foregoing.) It's sad, but true, that many in our country take it for granted that most Muslims must surely sympathize with the terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon, and beheaded Nicholas Berg.

The truth is, most Muslims are as appalled at that inhuman violence as we are. What happened on 9/11 was an act of sheer barbarism, that betrayed the ideals not only of Islam, but of every major religion of the world.

Muhammad didn't actually think he was starting a new religion: at least not at first. He was simply calling his fellow Arabs to a new, single-minded devotion to the one God. As a young man, Muhammad had studied both Judaism and Christianity. In his day, Jews lived throughout Arabia, particularly in the cities of Mecca and Medina. There were Byzantine Christians there, too, in significant numbers; the cousin of Muhammad's wife, a leading figure in their household, was a Christian. So desirous was Muhammad of honoring these other traditions that, when he came to political power, he insisted that Jews and Christians be not only tolerated, but protected. If they wished to convert, they could do so; but in his view, there was already sufficient wisdom in each of these traditions to lead people to the one God, the one he called (as did all Arabs), "Allah." He called Jews and Christians "People of the Book" -- a phrase that some have suggested can be translated, "People of an Earlier Revelation." In those earliest days, Muhammad taught that Muslims should bow, in their daily prayers, not toward Mecca, but toward Jerusalem.

Obviously, something went very wrong in later centuries. The tolerance that Muhammad had proclaimed lasted only slightly beyond his lifetime. Political rulers led Islamic armies across North Africa and into Spain, and across Persia into India; they put many Christians and Jews, many Buddhists and Hindus, to the sword. In those scheming political rulers you can see the roots of the violence that is the terrorist's stock in trade. Yet that sort of thing is no more a part of Islam than a bomb blast in a Belfast neighborhood is a part of Christianity.

If there's to be any hope for reconciliation in this fragmented world, I think it may be along the lines that Muhammad originally proposed: a return to the simple essence of belief in God that is the common denominator of all religions. That is the only common ground on which we have a hope of meeting one another.

For Muslims, Christians, and Jews, that common ground is that which was first trodden by the man who is the common patriarch of all three religions. His name is Abram: later known as Abraham. How easily we forget that the same man is at the heart of, and honored by, all three traditions!

The Jews, the Christians, the Muslims -- all of us claim a common heritage, that we are children of Abraham. We Christians claim something more, of course, that goes beyond the other two traditions: that in Jesus Christ the Son, God is uniquely present, "reconciling the world to himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). We are called to share that good news, but Christ's task of peacemaking is so important that it cannot wait upon a Christian commitment by the other. We three faiths have a common heritage: We are all children of Abraham. Like Abraham, we will not begin to live into God's will for our lives until we learn to step out together on a journey into unknown territory: as, with God's help, we search out the things that make for peace.

George Murphy responds: "After all, we all believe in the same God don't we?" It's usually a rhetorical question -- of course we do! I don't respond to it that way. Do we all believe in the same God? I don't know -- what God do you believe in?

The idea that "we all believe in the same God" is reassuring to many people because it suggests that if we could just get rid of our prejudices and sit down and talk with one another we could agree on our basic religious beliefs and get rid of all the conflict that often accompanies religious differences. But this idea of the commonality of basic religious beliefs doesn't hold up very well under careful analysis.

In the first place, the Bible has nothing of the idea that the various deities worshiped by Israel and by the nations were in reality the same God. Israel knew that the Moabites worshiped Chemosh and the Canaanites worshiped various manifestations of Ba'al, and especially at the earlier stages of religious thought they apparently ascribed some reality to those other deities. But there is not the slightest suggestion that Chemosh or Ba'al were YHWH operating under some other name.

Then the "we" of "we all believe in the same God" is unclear. Do Christians and Buddhists believe in the same God? Buddhists don't really believe in "God" at all in the same sense that Jews or Christians do. I want to concentrate on Christianity and Islam here but the broader question should be in the backs of our minds. If we to be serious about interfaith dialogue then we need to be as respectful of Hinduism or Native American spirituality as of the so-called "Abrahamic faiths."

Do we all believe in the same God? Some would reply, "Of course -- there is only one God." But that misses the point in at least a couple of ways. In the first place, it assumes that there is one God, which not all religions believe. But it also confuses belief that there is a God with belief in a particular God. As a crude analogy, two people may agree that there is a President of the United States, but if one person thinks that George W. Bush holds that office but the other thinks that Al Gore is President then someone is badly mistaken.

There are certainly historical connections between Islam and Christianity. The term "Allah" which Muslims use for God is not unique to that religion, for it was also used by Arabic-speaking Christians. It is, in fact, cognate with the Hebrew 'El and 'Elohim, common words for God in the Old Testament. But the question remains: Who do we believe Allah, or 'Elohim, is?

The God in whom we place our trust is identified by what God is understood to have done. In the Old Testament God is repeatedly identified as the God of the Exodus: "I am YHWH your God who brought you ought of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me." The fundamental First Commandment is not about a philosophical concept of God as one or about distinguishing the finite from the infinite or anything of that sort. It is about trusting in whoever it was that got this bunch of slaves out of bondage.

The belief that the true God is the God of the Exodus is shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, although Muslims do not place great emphasis on that event. For them -- as the bumper stickers I used to see on Iranian students' cars at Iowa State said -- the Qur'an is "God's ultimate revelation." That is where one really is shown who God is.

For Christians, on the other hand, God is identified most fully in the event of the cross. "True theology and the recognition of God are in the crucified Christ" as Luther put it ("Heidelberg Disputation" in Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 53). There is a fundamental difference here because Muslims don't believe that Jesus died on the cross. E.g., in Sura IV the Qur'an says (vv. 157-158 in Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation):

[The Jews have incurred divine displeasure in] ...
"That they said (in boast)
'We killed Christ Jesus
The son of Mary,
The Apostle of God'; --
But they killed him not,
Nor crucified him,
But so it was made
To appear to them,
And those who differ
Therein are full of doubts,
With no (certain) knowledge,
But only conjecture to follow,
For of a surety
They killed him not: --

Nay, God raised him up
Unto Himself; and God
Is Exalted in Power, Wise; --"

What is involved here is not simply a question of where and when God as revealed, for the cross shows us most profoundly the character of God. The God in whom Christians believe (or are supposed to believe) is a God willing and able to die for his own creation, for sinners who are in rebellion against God. The cross is at the heart of the Christian claim that God is love.

Allah is often spoken of as being "merciful" in the Qur'an, and Muslims are supposed to practice mercy and display love for others. My point is not that Islam is opposed to everything that the cross represents for Christians. But the understanding of God given by the cross is significantly different from that of Islam.

Having said that, I immediately have to add that the idea of a crucified God and of discipleship as a way of the cross is in practice also quite different from the beliefs of many Christians. A Muslim who was knowledgeable about the New Testament might well as Christians how seriously they really take its claims about the cross. I explored this possibility in my contribution for The Immediate Word of 6 April 2003 (5 Lent B).

The belief that it was really God who experienced the cross is what ultimately led to the Christian idea of the Trinity. Unfortunately this has often been thought of simply as an exercise in philosophical theology or a kind of arcane religious algebra that claims that 3 = 1. In some popular versions it comes across as a variety of polytheism, which is probably a major reason that Muhammad rejected the idea. (His whose knowledge of Christian beliefs was somewhat confused and he seems to have thought that the Trinity was supposed to be Jesus and his mother together with Allah -- cf. Sura V, v. 116.)

The Trinity, in other words, is not in opposition to belief in one God, but Christian belief in God is not adequately summarized by the word "monotheism." Several years ago a Muslim cleric from Iran on an official visit to Rome proposed to Pope John Paul that they issue a declaration proclaiming "the triumph of monotheism." The pope, I believe, politely declined, and properly so. We can agree with Muslims that there is one God, but the crucial question remains, who is that one God?

Christian theologians over the past sixty years have begun to reexamine and reinvigorate the doctrine of the Trinity. There is no excuse any longer for thinking of belief in God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as just a sterile formula or as an unnecessary obstacle to dialogue with other faiths. An excellent introduction to this new work in Trinitarian theology is Ted Peters, God as Trinity: Relationality and Temporality in the Divine Life (Westminster/John Knox, 1993). Of special interest for the present topic is the section "Are Christians Monotheists?" pp. 37-42.

I realize that some Christians will give a different answer than mine to the question "Do we all believe in the same God?" But I hope that at least those answers will be well thought out. At the time of the First Gulf War I heard a Lutheran pastor say, "Some call him Allah, some call him Jesus, but we all worship the same God." Not exactly! He might have been treated rather roughly if he'd said that to some Muslims because of course intelligent Muslims know who Jesus (Isa) is -- and insist with the Qur'an that Jesus is not the same as Allah.

We need to do everything possible to bring about respectful dialogue and cooperation between different faiths. But that requires that we be faithful to our own beliefs as Christians and that we be realistic about our own faith and the religions of others.


Related Illustrations
by David Lenininger

The Paschal Candle -- The blessing of the "paschal candle" is a column of wax of exceptional size, usually fixed in a great candlestick specially designed for that purpose, is a notable feature of the service on Holy Saturday. The blessing is performed by the deacon, wearing a white dalmatic. A long Eucharistic prayer, the "Pr conium paschali" or "Exultet," is chanted by him, and in the course of this chanting the candle is first ornamented with five grains of incense and then lighted with the newly blessed fire. At a later stage in the service, during the blessing of the font, the same candle is plunged three times into the water with the words: "Descendat in hanc plenitudinem fontis virtus Spiritus Sancti" (May the power of the Holy Spirit come down into the fullness of this fountain). From Holy Saturday until Ascension Day the paschal candle is left with its candlestick in the sanctuary, standing upon the Gospel side of the altar, and it is lighted during high Mass and solemn Vespers on Sundays. It is extinguished after the Gospel on Ascension Day and is then removed.
-- The Catholic Encyclopedia

***

Throughout the fifty days of Easter, the paschal candle traditionally stands near the altar as a symbol of the resurrection. It is lighted for each liturgy during the great fifty days of Easter. (Easter is not over until Pentecost, the fiftieth day!) Ideally, the candle burns continuously from the Vigil of Easter through Pentecost. Since this is usually not practical, the paschal candle should be lighted well before the arrival of worshipers and remain lit until after all have departed. To heighten the symbolism, it could be lighted any time groups of people assemble in or near the nave (meetings, rehearsals, and so forth). If evening prayer is celebrated during the season of Easter, the assembly gathers for prayer around the burning paschal candle. A separate vesper candle is not used.

In some traditions, the paschal candle is extinguished at the reading of the gospel on the Ascension of our Lord. This practice emphasizes the historical presence of Jesus following the resurrection, rather than focusing on the presence of the Risen Christ in our time. The fuller symbolism of the paschal candle calls for letting it remain lighted and central through the entire Easter season.
-- The ELCA Worship page

***

Allah in Arabic is a contraction for al-ilah, "the-God," and as such is cognate with Hebrew eloh, "god" (plural of abstraction, elohim, "deity"). Linguistic technicalities aside, what matters is that back in the seventh century, the first Muslims were using the same kind of word in Arabic that the Jews were using theologically in Hebrew and using it in the same way.
-- Jack Miles, author of God: A Biography.

***

The Christian God encourages freedom, love, forgiveness, prosperity, and health. The Muslim god appears to value the opposite. The personalities of each god are evident in the cultures, civilizations, and dispositions of the peoples that serve them. Muhammad's central message was submission; Jesus' central message was love. They seem to be very different personalities.
-- Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals

***

"I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol.
-- Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, regarding a 1993 battle with a Muslim militant leader in Somalia

***

"The issue ... is the doctrine of the Trinity, in particular the doctrine of Christ. We must face the fundamental question of how one knows the one true and living God. The Scripture is abundantly clear that God is known through Jesus Christ the Son. Islam, in contrast, insists that Allah is one, and he has no son. The only ground of our Christian identity is ... the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord."
-- Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville

***

"It is true that Bush is commander-in-chief, not theologian-in-chief, but on this question he is a better theologian than some of his evangelical critics."
-- The Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, a Roman Catholic priest, Editor, First Things, a conservative monthly journal of religion and politics


Related Illustrations
by Carlos Wilton

"Muslim Petition Decries Terror National Islamic Group Seeks Backers of Online Initiative"
By Caryle Murphy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 14, 2004; Page B06

A national Muslim advocacy group announced yesterday that it is asking Muslims around the world to sign an online petition condemning terrorism as "un-Islamic" and a betrayal of their faith.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations said that its petition, titled "Not in the Name of Islam," is "designed to disassociate the faith of Islam from the violent acts of a few Muslims."

CAIR noted that its initiative was announced two days after a videotape showing the decapitation of an American in Iraq "shocked television viewers worldwide." The tape showed Nicholas Berg's masked assailant shouting, "God is great."

"I think it was so gruesome and it disgusted all of us as Muslims," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. "I just consider those who did it not human beings." In an online petition, posted at CAIR's Web site: -- is a way for Muslims to demonstrate how they feel about Berg's killing, Awad added.

For the rest of this article go to:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25782-2004May13.html

(c) 2004 The Washington Post Company

Radio Speech from Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, Episcopal Church USA "Pause for thought" BBC Radio 2 11th March 2002
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/29/00/acns2911.html

***

I often find that the simple seemingly chance experiences of our ordinary days have a way of opening us to new understanding. I had such an experience in October while I was in Florida attending a meeting. One morning I left my hotel for a walk along the deserted beach. In my hand I had held my Russian Orthodox Prayer Rope -- a knotted cord made of black wool. As I walked along at water's edge I caught a glimpse of a man approaching the beach on the side path. He looks Middle Eastern, I thought, and felt ashamed having fallen victim to the very paranoia that I, since September 11, have been quick to condemn in others.

Soon he was by my side.

"Are you reading," he asked.

"I'm praying," I replied.

"Are you Muslim?"

I told him, "I am a Christian."

"What do you pray?"

"I pray the Jesus prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me."

He persisted. "What happens when you pray?"

I thought for a moment. "When I pray, I pray that I may be made one with Christ."

He told me then that his father had used a string of beads similar to my cord as a stimulus to prayer.

"And what was his prayer," I asked.

"He prayed 'Allah, Allah, Allah.' "

"And what happened when he prayed?"

"Well," he said, "His heart was purified and he was made one with God."

A deep joy welled up within me as I recognized the profound unity of our prayer regardless of our different paths. The sun was well up by now and it was time for me to turn back. As he walked down the beach I felt a tremendous grace had been given to me in the encounter. My fear had been transformed in friendship and a sense of brotherhood. All of this says to me that prayer helps tremendously in dealing with the charged atmosphere in which we find ourselves as a result of the evil visited upon us on September 11. So many emotions are at work within us: sadness, anger, grief, fear, and for some, alas, a desire for revenge. We are left searching for firm ground to stand upon. Prayer provides that ground because it roots us in the all-embracing mercy and compassion of God, which is at the heart and center of all that is real. So I hope that our prayer in these days works in us a globalization of the spirit, such that our safety is irrevocably linked with the safety and well-being of the world and all God's people.

***

A day or two after the [9/11] attacks, a young Arab man approached the member on duty in the open Sanctuary. "I have no place to pray," he said, "may I pray here?" Without blinking, the member replied, "This is God's house, and you are welcome in it." The young man nodded and thanked her. Entering the sanctuary, he turned toward Mecca, rolled out his prayer rug in front of the baptismal font, and prayed.

A simple act of welcome embodied God's love, justice, and mercy to that man on behalf of our church at a crucial time; she instinctively reflected Christ's open welcome to those in need, a welcome that is offered regardless of culture, belief, or expected response, that simply says, "come all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
-- From the "Leap of Faith" 2003 stewardship brochure of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City

***

"Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the last of human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances ... to choose one's own way."
-- Victor Frankl

***

"When you are interiorly free you call others to freedom, whether you know it or not. Freedom attracts wherever it appears. A free man or a free woman creates a space where others feel safe and want to dwell. Our world is so full of conditions, demands, requirements, and obligations that we often wonder what is expected of us. But when we meet a truly free person, there are no expectations, only an invitation to reach into ourselves and discover there our own freedom.

Where true inner freedom is, there is God. And where God is, there we want to be."
-- Henri Nouwen; from Bread for the Journey, Harper Collins, New York, 1997

***

To further underscore the different understandings Christians have concerning what God's expectations are, we have this week's news from Massachusetts. The following is from the Boston Herald of 5/17:

"Scores of same-sex couples received an emotional welcome last night at an inter-faith service on the eve of the country's first law recognizing gay marriage. More than 300 people crowded into Christ Church in Cambridge, where they celebrated their role in history with prayers and hymns borrowed from more than a dozen denominations ...

Hosted by the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry, the service bestowed blessings on couples only hours before many headed to City Hall to apply for marriage licenses.

Far from the threat that many of his more conservative colleagues had painted, the evening represented "another step forward in the pursuit of civil rights for all people," and a restoration of dignity to an institution that has lost much of its meaning in a "hetero-centric" society, said the Right Rev. Steven Charleston, president and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School.

Meanwhile ...

Gay-marriage opponents pledged to continue their fight last night as a court decision allowing the nation's first state-sanctioned same-sex marriages went into effect.

The National Clergy Council planned to hold a demonstration this morning outside Boston City Hall and the Article 8 Alliance planned a noon rally at City Hall Plaza to call for the ouster of pro-gay marriage judges on the Supreme Judicial Court.

By late afternoon yesterday, a half-dozen protesters from Westboro Church in Topeka, Kansas, had gathered outside St. Peter's Cathedral in Cambridge, one of the many Bay State houses of worship one mother of eleven called "enablers of sin." "The churches today will tell you God loves everyone ... (but) it's a fable to think you can live like the devil and go to heaven," said Shirley Phelps-Roper, an attorney whose father, Fred Phelps [who has become well-known for traveling far and wide to oppose gays], preaches at Westboro.
-- David Leininger, First Presbyterian Church, Warren, PA
http://www.presbyterianwarren.com


Worship Resources
By Chuck Cammarata

Call to Worship

Leader: ask and it will be given.

People: Seek and you will find.

Leader: Knock and it will be opened to you.

People: This is what our God promises us.

Leader: Let us worship the God of promise.

People: Amen

Confession and Assurance of Pardon

Leader: Father, we ask with hearts

People: tainted with selfishness.

Leader: And we seek after things

People: that you have declared unimportant.

Leader: And we have knocked

People: on all the wrong doors.

Leader: Forgive us,

People: and turn our hearts to you

Leader: so that all our asking,

People: and seeking,

Leader: and knocking,

People: will be in pursuit of the things of God.

Leader: We ask it in Jesus name,

People: Amen.

As we think about who God is this week -- Psalm 97 -- the lectionary Psalm for the week can be used. Either read verses 1-6 or use it responsively as below. You might also simply use the rest of the psalm as a Prayer of Confession -- or an introduction to a Prayer of Confession. Verses 7-12 deal with the sin of idolatry. It is a sin we fall into in all sorts of ways all the time. Again -- you can simply read it -- or do it responsively. The Confession and Assurance sort of dovetail so I don't provide a separate Assurance with that Prayer of Confession.

Call to Worship

Leader: The lord reigns, let the earth be glad,

People: let the distant shores rejoice.

Leader: Clouds and thick darkness surround God

People: righteousness and justice are the foundations of God's throne.

Leader: Fire bursts forth

People: consuming every enemy

Leader: lightning lights the skies

People: the earth sees and trembles

Leader: mountains melt like wax before the Lord,

People: the heavens shout their joy

Leader: and all people see God's glory.

People: So let us worship the Lord. Amen.

Prayer of Confession and Assurance of Pardon

Leader: All who worship idols are put to shame,

People: those who boast in their idols

Leader: put them aside and worship god

People: the only God.

Leader: Your people hear and rejoice at your judgments Lord.

People: For you are the most high over all the earth;

Leader: you are exalted far above all else that we worship.

People: Let those who love the Lord hate evil;

Leader: for God guards the lives of the faithful

People: and delivers them from the wicked.

Leader: Light is shed upon the righteous

People: and joy on the upright heart.

Leader: Rejoice in the lord you lovers of God.

People: And praise the holy name of Yahweh. Amen.

Here's a slightly edgier third option:

Call to Worship

Leader: There is but one God!

People: Speak of Allah,

Leader: or Yahweh

People: the source,

Leader: a higher power

People: no matter,

Leader: there is but one

People: who is above all, and in all, and through all.

Leader: Who is eternal,

People: and possesses the power of being.

Leader: Let us seek God,

People: and know God. Amen.

Prayer for Illumination

God of love, as we hear your word this morning, let us become your word for others. May the love we hear become the love we are. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

One and only God -- Remind us that though we may see you in many different ways -- that you are one. There is no God but you. You were there at the beginning. You were the beginning. You created the universe and fashioned each of us. Your ways and truths underlie the world we live in, and the discovery of these truths is our life's most important quest. When we rub up against people who see you differently than we do, help us to lovingly share the truths that you have revealed to us, and to thoughtfully listen to them as well. When we need it, correct us. When possible use us to correct others, always in love, so that we might come to know you more fully, and others may grow in their knowledge of the one true God. We ask your guidance and help in these often confusing areas of relating to others whose beliefs are different. And we ask this help in the name of the one who suffered and died because of his love for all, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hymns And Songs

Any hymn or song that celebrates the greatness of God goes well this week.

How Great Thou Art
Praise to the Lord the Almighty
Holy, Holy, Holy
All People That on Earth Do Dwell
Immortal, Invisible
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

"God of Wonders" is a wonderful contemporary