Thursday, September 20, 2012

Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road?


Christian Identity in a Multi-faith World
a new book by Brian McLaren
 

Members of St. Mark were among hundreds who gathered at Ladue Chapel Monday, September 17, to hear McLaren’s presentation about his newest book.  He asked the audience several questions:

>can we be committed to our Christian faith without condemning those who hold other beliefs?

>is it possible to affirm other faith traditions without watering down our own?

In this post-modern , ‘post-Christendom’ world which is growing smaller all the time, via electronic media, and faster means of transportation, some people feel threatened by people of different faith backgrounds, people perceived as ‘the other’. The tendency can be to react negatively out of fear or disdain.  Conversely, some try to appease and please -so they water down their Christian values to ‘get along’- and by doing so, abandon the very essence of their faith.

Neither approach, suggests McLaren, helps to bring about the Kingdom of God.  Neither approach is truly Christ -like.



The very meaning of the word ‘religion’ can be sourced to word ligament: to tie, to bind, to fasten.  Re-connecting one thing to another. If religion is truly meant to connect us [to God and to each other] rather than separate us, perhaps we need to reconsider how we interface with those who hold religious views different from our own.  McLaren looks to the essence of the Trinity for a model - it is one of relationship, encounter, and interaction.  The ‘other’ is part of a ‘one-anotherness’.  

Can we decide to be curious about people of other faiths and engage them, rather than being automatically critical or argumentative?

Can we begin finding some common ground, even if it is simply a shared meal? [Gee, common meal…sounds vaguely familiar!]

Hospitality vs. hostility - can we learn to recognize the opportunity to choose one over the other?

Can we learn to respond this way to someone we disagree with:
“WOW. That’s interesting. I see it very differently.” 

Then stop talking… and listen.

This was contributed by Jerie Messer-Lukefahr who is a member of St. Mark Presbyterian Church.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for posting this Jerie, I have been thinking about this since that amazing night, and the points you bring out are among the many that are still on my mind. I think the central point that came away with was that we receive God's Grace as a gift, and that bringing it to the rest of the world as such, rather than as a judgement, weapon, or cause for exclusion, is much more in line with what God asks of us.

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