Reflections on "What About Everyone Else?" Acts 17: 22-3; I Timothy 2: 1-7

This sermon and last week's sermon both felt risky -- risky to presume to speak for the Presbyterian tradition; risky to tackle both topics; risky to offer insight into what I believe on a couple of fairly "hot" topics. I found both sermons satisfying -- last week's for cathartic reasons as I see how I was shaped from my childhood experiences growing up in the Bible belt; this week's because I have not delved into the topic of engaging other faiths much.  In fact, probably the biggest "hole" in my ministry experiences is a lack of interfaith dialogues, and certainly never more than Jewish-Christian conversations.  

I think the pairing of the Acts story and the I Timothy story worked well, although Paul may have been harder to handle for the Athenians than I made him out to be.   I am also reminded that my broad sense of God's desire and God's purposes can be challenged by some of the OT passages that deal with punishing Israelites for marrying outside of the Israelite tradition.  Synchretism, the blending of different faiths, is sometimes acceptable in the OT, and other times it is forbidden.   I recognize that the context of the Israelites trying to survive as a people in their world is different than our context, but it does offer some challenges to tendencies toward universalism.

A colleague of mine has had the amazing experience of having his son marry a Muslim.  He not only has experienced several interfaith gatherings with her family (including a wedding), but also has, as he puts it, "fallen in love" with his daughter-in-law.  As I have seen photos of some of the gatherings and read his reflections on this experience in his life, it has helped me both broaden my understanding and also recognize the reality that interfaith issues are becoming more commonplace.  I give thanks for his willingness to share about his experiences as a Presbyterian minister with a Muslim daughter-in-law with me and others.  

"What About Everyone Else?" Acts 17: 22-31; I Timothy 2: 1-7; Oct. 6, 2013; FPC, Troy; Presbyterian mini-series

Introduction:  “A priest, a minister. A Muslim imam, and a rabbi walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, ‘What is this, a joke?’” (Adapted from a joke found in Christian Century, Sept. 7, 2004, p. 7). 

The likelihood of seeing all four of these people in the same bar is greatly increased these days as we live in a world where we see and hear more about other faith traditions than we used to.

It is hard to walk down a city street in a metropolitan area in the United States without seeing people whose attire points out that they are part of another faith tradition.

As Presbyterians, how do we engage people of other faiths?  For some, this is a natural extension of last week’s sermon on being saved since the goal of interacting with others faith traditions is to save them; for others, relationship, not salvation is the goal.

This morning I share some reflections on how we Presbyterians (with a reminder that when I began this series on Presbyterianism, I noted that I don’t speak for all Presbyterians, but am trying to share what I believe is a fair representation  approach people of other faiths.

Move 1:  Discover what we have in common with other faith traditions.

            a. We see this as the beginning point for Paul in his conversation with the Athenians.

1. Paul makes the connections with those who worship other gods by noting that the unknown God they already worship is the same God that he worships.

2. While we may not always make the claim that the God of other faith traditions is the same God we worship, we recognize the power of establishing what we have in common with people of other faiths.

3. In fact, when we engage Muslims or Jews, we do in fact share a faith in one God and have a shared history with that God.

b. Obviously, other faith traditions do not worship the God of Israel, but we can still find things we share in common.

1. Maybe both faiths call for its followers to be peacemakers. 

2. Or to care for their neighbors.

3. Or to serve the poor.

4.  Certainly Gandhi from his Hindu faith and Martin Luther King, Jr. from his Christian faith discovered their non-resistance approach to change crossed the lines of their religious divide.

By beginning with what we have in common, we are reminded that in our common humanity we are connected and it creates possibilities for being in relationship with one another.

Move 2:  We also need to lay claim to our Christian faith.

            a. Note that Paul does not give up his own faith.

1.      The only way Paul knew how to proclaim his faith; the only way I know how to proclaim my faith is through the lens of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

2.      Even as we try to connect with other faiths, we do so from the context of our own faith.

2.  Giving up our faith in the name of connecting with other works does not work either party.

            b. Too often it leads simply to reducing God to the lowest common denominator.

1.        Something like common agreement to be nice!

2.        While that might sound good, think about how little power that has in it, especially, when we know the power of Jesus Christ as our Savior and are called to respond.

3.        Being nice does not cut it.

4.        Reducing our Christian faith to some benign statement does not do justice to the God we worship. 

5.        Likewise, the same can be said for the Muslim, or Jewish, or Hindu, or Buddhist faiths.

c.        We should not give up our faith claims, nor should we expect others to give up theirs.

1.      Colin Chapman, in a lecture given at Near East School of Theology, November 15, 2012.  “Is Dialogue Going Anywhere?” Presbyterian Today, May, 2013, 26-29.  “Sheikh Muhammad el-Haji of the Transcendental Theosophy Institute of Beirut.  A Presbyterian pastor asked him, “What do you think of evangelism?  “I suspect that the pastor expected the sheikh to say, “I don’t like evangelism, and you Christians should stop it!” but what Sheikh Muhammad actually replied was that: ‘I have no problems at all with evangelism – provided two things:  firstly, that you realize that while you’re trying to evangelize me, I’m trying to evangelize you; and secondly, that when you realize that I’m not immediately going to become a Christian, that isn’t the end of the relationship.’”

2.      When we claim our faith and engage faithful people in other traditions, it allows us both to grow in understanding our own faith claims.

As we engage others, we lay claim to our own faith and expect the same out of them.

Move 3:  Sense of humility

            a. IN a way, it is hard to be humble when we live out our faith from a position of power.

1.         We kid, ourselves if we think that we are the first group of people to live in religious diversity.

2.         Remember Paul and the early church as they tried to carve out their place in a world filled with numerous faiths and worship of multiple gods.

3.        But, those early Christians were professing their faith as a minority group in a world with religious diversity.

4.        We proclaim our faith in the United States where Christianity is the majority religion, not the minority faith. 

5.        How easy it is to be coercive as we try to engage people of other faith traditions.

6.      Again, we can learn from Paul.  I suspect that Paul did not speak to the Athenians in a condescending way -- "I have the answer dummies, so get on board!" – if he had, he would have driven the Athenians away.  Instead, he points out what they have in common and invites them to hear about the God whom he worships.

7.      When we approach people of other faith, we have a long history of how Christians have extended themselves to other faiths (which is a mixed bag, to say the least) and we come with the background of Christianity being the majority faith in the United States.

8.      In order not to be coercive, we have to be humble in our approach.

9.      Much like our Lord and savior who chose not to force the world to bow before him, but instead chose to love and offer himself as a sacrifice so the world might choose to follow him.

Move 4:  Finally, we cling to our hope in God.

            a. In the first Letter to Timothy, the author insists that God desires everyone to be saved.

1.        If that is God’s desire, why do we create a worldview that believes that God only wants to save us or people who believe just like we do?

2.        In a lecture given a few years ago at UTS, Bishop William Willimon was asked if he believed that all people will be saved?  Willimon responded:  By our tradition, we are not permitted to believe that all are to be saved; but, he goes on, we are encouraged to hope that all will be saved.  Willimon, Evangelism interview, United Theological Seminary, Dayton, OH, fall 2009

3.  His comments leave me with the question: Does hoping in the God who desires to save everyone drive us to demand that everyone believe in Jesus Christ, or does it open us up to considering how God might save others in ways we cannot yet imagine or understand?

b. It seems to me that as we engage people of other faiths, we should profess the God of grace who saves us and show forth that God in our actions.

1. If people of other faiths can find that God in their own faith traditions, perhaps we should celebrate that the God we know is at work in their lives.

2.  If they cannot find God’s saving grace in their tradition, then our testimony stands as a witness to the God they ought to know and who desires to know them.

            Conclusion:  We come to our Lord’s Table on this World Communion Sunday celebrating how connected we are with our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

It also reminds us of our differences with people in our faith traditions.

So we come to meet the Risen Christ and hope that he will show us how to be in relationship with all of God’s people.