Grace, Again

I am interested in the concept of grace. Just what do we think it is? Why might we think it’s available to us? Can we earn it? Here are two of the many references to grace in the Qur’an, the Holy Book of Islam, in chapter 4:

[4.173] Then as for those who believe and do good, He will pay them fully their rewards and give them more out of His grace;... and

[4.175] Then as for those who believe in Allah and hold fast by Him, He will cause them to enter into His mercy and grace and guide them to Himself on a right path.

Muslims are told they must believe, AND they must also “do good.” But modern Christians believe that God’s grace is a gift, a continually present state, and is not something that can be earned by what they do. Must Christians “do good” to earn their rewards? According to one source, in Matthew 20: 1-16, the parable about working in the vineyard, “[Jesus] directs his disciples to what is their true reward--the inheritance of eternal life which is a reward of God's grace that is given equally to all his disciples who labor in his kingdom.” (http://www.christianinconnect.com/matthew.htm) The lesson here seems to be about God’s grace, and God’s reward for working in God’s vineyard (doing good). Recall that those who were hired late in the day to work in the vineyard were paid the same as those who had worked all day long:

Although Christians can’t earn grace, they’re still required to do good works. So, perhaps grace has two faces: Pastor David Reagan writes that grace is both “God's unmerited favor” and also “God's sufficiency or God's fullness in the life of the believer.” (http://www.learnthebible.org/q_a_what_is_grace.htm) In other words, Christians believe that God will forgive them whether they deserve it or not. Moreover, God provides strength for Christians to lead their lives according to His commands. Through His grace and their belief, they can “labor in his kingdom.” Sounds very much like the words from the Qur’an above. “...He will cause them to enter into his mercy and grace, and guide them...”

So, belief in God and doing good seem inextricably linked to grace for both Christians AND Muslims. Maybe it’s not exactly the same, but it’s so close... The Qur’an also says,

[4.122] As for those that have faith and do good works, We shall admit them to gardens watered by running streams, and there they shall abide for ever; and

[4.124] ...the believers who do good works, both men and women, shall enter paradise. They shall not suffer the least injustice.

Wishing you grace and peace, as you labor in the vineyard...

Who Are "They?"

I recently purchased John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed’s book, WHO SPEAKS FOR ISLAM?: WHAT A BILLION MUSLIMS REALLY THINK. (New York. Gallup Press, 2007) Their writings are based on “...the Gallup World Poll’s massive, multiyear research study...tens of thousands of interviews with residents of more than 35 nations that are predominantly Muslim or have significant Muslim populations.” The book’s title awakened me once again to the reality of that awful human tendency – we too often view an entire group of people based on some very small representation (or misrepresentation) of that population. Is this how we love our neighbors?

Too often many of us Westerners speak of people from the Middle East as “them.” “They” do such and such; “they” believe such and such; and “they” feel such and such about “us.” As a boy, I talked about “them.” Back then, “they” were girls, older people, the other race, the other religions, the other political party.... Like most boys, I “knew” all about girls. As a teen, I suspected grownups of nefarious stuff. We white teens knew all about the Black kids who lived on the other side of town, and the Hispanics in New York City. I knew all about the voters in the other political party. In EVERY case, of course, I didn’t really know these people well enough to understand what they really did, or believed, or felt. BUT: I didn’t even bother to ask them.

Growing up in a Lutheran family, I knew about “them” other Christian groups in my small town. The Methodists and Presbyterians were mostly OK folks, and the Baptists, though more energetic in their worship, were not a threat. At that time, the Catholics were, to me, strange folks indeed, with all their ritual prayers, and worship of saints, and fasting on Fridays and during Lent, and their statues everywhere... Many Protestants around me were truly worried when we elected our first Catholic president in 1960 – where would his allegiance be?

“Them?” I knew no one from any of the Eastern Orthodox churches. I didn’t even know the Eastern churches were really Christian churches. I knew nothing about Islam, or about Muslims, or about Jews. How could I know that, “Muslims, like Christians and Jews, believe in the God of Abraham and recognize biblical prophets such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.” (p. 28)

Too few of us know much about “them.” So I’m not surprised that Esposito and Mogahed report many troubling conclusions from their many interviews and surveys. Here’s just one:

“Diagnosing terrorism as a symptom and Islam as the problem, though popular in some circles, is flawed and has serious risks with dangerous repercussions. It confirms radical beliefs and fears, alienates the moderate Muslim majority, and reinforces a belief that the war against global terrorism is really a war against Islam.” (p. 166)

I can identify with the majority of “them,” our Muslim sisters and brothers: “The majority of respondents in predominantly Muslim countries condemn the events of Sept. 11, 2001.” (p. 97) I hope that Christians might reflect on this and conclude for themselves that Muslims too seek to love their neighbors. Meantime I also hope that many in the West read this book. Moreover, I hope that someone writes the companion for “them,” reporting what a billion Christians really think.

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This year, Rosh Hashanah begins at sunset, September 29. Wishing you many blessings.

What Are You Looking Forward To?

The other day a good friend asked me, "What are you looking forward to?" I responded, without much thought, about finishing the little renovation at home, and about the next music festival. Others might have spoken about the coming school year, or retirement, or the birth of a child.

Giving the question more serious thought later, I realized that the whole idea of "looking forward to" some future event often eclipses for us the idea of living in the moment. The song, "No Day But Today" from the musical "RENT" expresses the idea this way:

There is no future. There is no past. I live this moment as my last.
There's only us. There's only this. Forget regret or life is yours to miss.
No other road. No other way. No day but today.

Unlike the characters in RENT, many of us have some considerable lifetime ahead of us. Still, we're mindful of how important living today is, and how it impacts our futures. Since my college years I've carried this quotation with me, ascribed to an unknown, perhaps Hindu, writer:

"Look to this day, for it is life, the very life of life, and in its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence: The bliss of growth, the splendor of beauty, the glory of action. Yesterday is already a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this day. Such is the salutation of the dawn."

If you believe there is no day but today, you'll no doubt wish to live this day well. As a true believer -- whether Muslim, Jew, or Christian -- you'll consider following the commandments of your faith to be living "well." I mean to include here ALL the commandments. That probably means for some Jews, living according to the laws of the Torah. Muslims will testify, pray five times a day, help the needy, fast and reflect during Ramadan, and make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Christians will focus on living out the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.

Living "well" this way fits appropriately with belief in the Day of Judgment. "The three Western monotheisms share the belief in an end to history and time at which point occurs the resurrection of all who have lived, the judgment of those now resurrected, and their entry into heaven or hell." (Clark, Malcolm, ISLAM FOR DUMMIES. New York, Wiley Publishing, 2003. P 68)

Judgment Day is probably not something that most of us "look forward to," but it is something that the faithful among us recognize and accept. Paradise or heaven is desired by most of us (as opposed to hell) and so, at some level, we are looking ahead to that. And while many of us believe that the unearned or unmerited Grace of God will save us, many of us also believe that "good works" will help too. "Throughout judgment, however, the underlying principle is that of a complete and perfect justice administered by Allah . . . . similar to some Protestant theologies that state that salvation is by the grace of God, and not by deeds. Islam, however, emphasizes that grace does not conflict with perfect justice."

A local billboard advertisement for a bank might motivate us to look toward our futures as we help the needy (love our neighbors) while having faith in the grace and perfect justice of God: "Make the most of your someday." Between now and someday, may we each live "well" today.

Wishing you Ramadan Mubarak (a blessed Ramadan) September 1 to 30, 2008.

Churches and Nations

On Independence Day this year, the United States of America commemorated its 232nd birthday I was happy to celebrate, although I was singing songs of peace that day, not songs of war and victory. “This is my song, O God of all the nations...”[2] Here are some thoughts about “all the nations.”

Our Scriptures help explain to us why we have nations. For example, to search for God:

Acts 17:26-27. From one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him--though indeed he is not far from each one of us.

The Qur’an speaks of nations being tried, and competing in good works:

Qur'an 5:48: "If God had willed he would have made you one nation. But He did not do so, that he may try you in what has come to you. So, compete with one another in good works; Unto God shall you return, altogether, and he will tell you the Truth about what you have been disputing."

How many of us search for God, and find God, in the service (“good works”) we do? I think it’s fair to say that some of us do this regularly, and many others of us have done this or will do it. But could we say with certainty that our nations “compete in good works?” Probably not, or probably not very often. Wars seem to be nations’ most common way of competing, but neither trade wars or shooting wars seem to me to be good works, nor a way of finding God.

Churches and nations intersection and often overlap. In Genesis 12:2, YHWH tells Abram (Abraham), “I will make a great nation of you.” Perhaps Israel provides the easiest example of overlap, because for modern-day Israel, Judaism is the state religion. Israel, it is believed, was created by God for the Jews. In fact, a large portion of the book of Leviticus relates the “technology” of how Judaism was/is supposed to work for the Jews – both the priests and the laity.

Later, in Genesis 17:20, YHWH tells Abram that He will make a “great nation” of Ishmael too. Two great nations, and each developed its own strong religious heritage. And today, nations and religions get tangled up around how we humans try to govern ourselves. Many in countries in the Middle East, who might be descendents of Ishmael, want their governments to govern according to the Qur’an. In their view, God’s law, revealed in the Qur’an, should be the basis for governing. Likewise, some in America want our government to reflect Christian values and teachings. A few want our government to evangelize. I’m not one of those.

Nations beget nationalism. According to Dr. Muqtedar Khan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware, “Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion and nationalism in its extreme form begins to subvert the very idea of One God...God is blind to nationality, ethnicity and race.”[3] Dr. Khan is saying that we must beware extreme nationalism, because the nation can take the place of God for some, becoming the object of worship and adoration.

So when we pledge, “...one nation, under God...” we’re reminded of what we adore and worship. We’re also reminded that, while we are one nation under God, we’re not the only nation under God. From my perspective, extreme nationalism gets in the way of our worshipping the one God Abraham proclaimed. Also, it gets in the way of us (and our nations) searching for God, and competing in good works.

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[1] This is one of a series of occasional columns in which the author, raised in the Christian tradition, searches for common ground and common history among the teachings, beliefs and practices of adherents of the Abrahamic faiths -- Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

[2] “This is My Song” (Finlandia) Music by Jean Sibelius (1899) / Words by Lloyd Stone (1934)

[3] from http://www.ijtihad.org/Mosques-Flags.htm

Churches and National Flags

On Memorial Day weekend this year, I attended a United Methodist church service, in a church sporting the American flag to the left (from the congregation’s perspective) of the altar, and just behind the pulpit. Although that was the norm where I grew up, I was startled to see the flag in that church. Imagine my surprise when the choir sang their anthem, “America, The Beautiful.” And what happened next? The offertory was – you guessed it – our National Anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner.” Worshippers stood to sing, and to salute the flag.

Why was I offended by a practice that, as a child, I accepted without thinking? Perhaps I was made uncomfortable by the mixed message: Whom do you serve?

“The display of a national flag can be intended to convey [one of] several distinct messages:

1. The person flying this flag is acting under the authority of the sovereign the flag represents.

2. The place where this flag is flying is under the authority/sovereignty of X.

3. The person flying this flag owes allegiance or obedience to the sovereign the flag represents. Its display is an expression of loyalty or submission.

4. The person flying the flag wants to show respect, hospitality, genealogical connection, linguistic facility, etc., etc., having to do with the country the flag represents.“[1]

The interesting and important distinction here is: “under the authority” of a sovereign vs. “owes allegiance or obedience” to the sovereign, vs. “show respect” to the country.

“In the United States, people tend to gravitate to messages 3 and 4. In other words, an American Baptist congregation that puts the stars and stripes inside the church is not asserting the government's temporal power over the church but expressing the allegiance that the members of the church as U.S. citizens owe to the country.”[2]

Perhaps I am simply over-reacting to the presence of the American flag (or its image) seemingly everywhere I turn. It’s found in lapels, and on car bumpers and truck windows. Still, it feels to me the flag in that church says that church owes allegiance and obedience to the President. But Christians also claim to owe their allegiance first and foremost to God alone. We’re warned (Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13) against trying to serve two masters.

When Muslim leaders in Australia called for support to fly the Australian flag outside (not even inside) mosques in that country, as a symbol of loyalty and commitment to their nation, some Muslims labeled the idea as “politicizing a place of worship.”[3]

The Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Ill., took down its Israeli and U.S. flags about five years ago in response to a congregant’s petition to the synagogue board. “He said they were political symbols, and the sanctuary is sacred space,” Rabbi Brant Rosen recalls.[4]

I wonder. Would Jesus have stood and sung our National Anthem with us that Memorial Day morning? I think he was clear about which master he served, as were Moses and Mohammed.

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[1] See http://flagspot.net/flags/rel.html#sanct. Written by Joe McMillan. Retrieved 5 June 2008

[2] Ibid.

[3] http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21239882-601,00.html

[4] http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/32512/edition_id/604/format/html/displaystory.html

Modest Dress

I recently attended a family funeral in central Wisconsin. Both Amish and “English” (the word used by Amish to refer to non-Amish) members of the community attended. We could easily identify who was who – Amish men in beards, hats, dark suits with suspenders; and Amish women in dark long dresses, with long sleeves and caps covering their hair. We also saw Amish women working at their farms and walking to church services. They were cloaked with their heads covered and their hair pinned up. No other conclusion could be drawn than that these women were dressed “modestly.” The Amish men were also dressing modestly. As a practice they retain the dress code of the time of their founding.

I was reminded of how we can identify ourselves today – Orthodox Jewish men with their black suits, hats, beards; and Muslim women with their hijab or head scarves. Dressing as a kind of identity is old as in this example from Iran: “Fadwa El Guindi, in her book on the history of hijab, locates the origin of the Persian custom in ancient Mesopotamia, where respectable women veiled, and servants and prostitutes were forbidden to do so.” [2]

When I was growing up, Roman Catholic Nuns who taught at nearby Catholic schools, or nursed at the city’s Catholic hospital, wore “modest clothing.” Their habits were long and black; their hair was covered. We could see only their hands and their faces – the rest of them was clothing. What was “religious uniform” to me back then was really Christian women dressing modestly, according to their beliefs.[3]

Like the Nuns, the Amish women and men I met or saw in Wisconsin also trace their heritage to the Roman church, but the Amish come from the Mennonite Anabaptist tradition.

“The Amish are a Christian religious group who originated in Switzerland around 1525. They were known as Swiss Anabaptists . . . The Swiss Anabaptists were persecuted because of their refusal to follow the Swiss Church requirements on baptism. In 1690, some Anabaptists broke away from the Swiss Anabaptist Church, which are now the Mennonite. The group that broke away was lead by Jacob Amman. The Amish migrated to North America in the 1700s because William Penn was promoting religious tolerance.”[4]

Although Christian, the Amish look, live, and dress very differently from most of the rest of us Christians. They appear more different from us than do some our Muslim and Jewish sisters and brothers.

Dressing modestly has changed over time, not for the Amish, but certainly for most of the rest of us. Cole Porter[5] wrote, “In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking but now, God knows, anything goes.” Nuns seen now in the USA often do not wear the black habits common in my youth. Many modern Mennonite women no longer wear the dark, long-sleeved and long-skirted clothing of earlier generations.

Similarly, Muslim women dress according to local norms as they try to meet the Qur’an’s requirements for modest dress. “It goes by many names -- hijab, niqab, abaaya, burqa, chador. It can be anything from a simple scarf draped around the face and neck to a shawl...”[6] For example, for Persians, hijab becomes chador, a full-length semi-circle of fabric open down the front, which is thrown over the head and held closed in front. Traditionally, light colors and prints have been used, but now in Iran, black is a favored color.

It’s not just culture or religious authority either. Some women are just choosing to dress more conservatively.

"It's not only Muslim women who are making attempts to be modest when they go out . . . There's also a contingency of Christian women and Jewish women and others who just don't feel that they need to show their bodies. Other women are striving to be modest as well." [7]

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[1] This is one of a series of occasional columns in which the author, raised in the Christian tradition, searches for common ground and common history among the teachings, beliefs and practices of adherents of the Abrahamic faiths -- Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

[2] El-Guindi, Fadwa, Veil: Modesty, Privacy, and Resistance, Berg, 1999. Cited at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chador

[3] For example, see 1 Corinthians 11:5

[4] http://ezinearticles.com/index.php?The-Amish---A-Step-Back-in-Time&id=1127006

[5] from his song, “Anything Goes” for the show of the same name, first produced on Broadway in 1934

[6] http://www.post-gazette.com/headlines/20011028muslimwomennat3p3.asp

[7] http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0427_060424_muslim_sports_2.html

Be Not Afraid

During the Easter sermon this year, it was pointed out that, when Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (perhaps the mother of James)[2] approached the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, they found not the body but a heavenly presence, the “Lord’s angel.” That angel admonished them, “Do not be afraid.” The women were “frightened.” When they encountered Jesus, He too said, “Don’t be afraid.” (Matt. 28:5-10)

When the angel Gabriel first spoke to Mary about Jesus’ birth, he said, “You are truly blessed....Do not be afraid.” (Luke 1:30) When the angels announced to Joseph that he should marry Mary, who was pregnant, they said, “Do not be afraid to take Mary...” (Matt 1:20) We can understand how that marriage could have frightened Joseph. When the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, they said to the shepherds, “Do not be afraid.” (Luke 2:10) In fact, Luke tells how Gabriel also visited Zechariah to announce that Elizabeth, his barren wife, would have a son, John (the Baptist). In Luke 1:13, Gabriel begins, “Do not be afraid.” In verse 19, he says, “I was sent to tell you this good news.”

This all got me to thinking about fear, about being afraid and what it might mean in the Gospel context of receiving good news. Do not be afraid of what? Angels? Good news (which might not seem so good at the time)? Perhaps it just means, “do not be afraid” of the unexplained, the unexpected bright light, the “presence.”

But how about being afraid of God? Many citations in the Qur’an admonish us to fear God, and those admonitions often point to the consequences of disobeying the commandments. Many places in the Old Testament also advise us to fear God. Psalm 33:8, for example, tells us to “Fear the Lord everywhere,” or “Let all the earth fear the Lord.” The warning to be fearful is widespread in the Psalms. Yet, my Contemporary English Version says, “Everyone in this world should worship and honor the Lord!” Does “worship and honor” equate to “fear?”

Robert Darr,[3] who was raised a Christian, writes of his experiences in Northern Afghanistan when he was doing relief work during the war between Soviet Union and the Afghan rebels. He has studied Christianity and Islam, and the Sufi way, and he says that “Religious people usually are afraid of their God. They fear punishment from God.”[4]

Perhaps “Do not be afraid” was needed when most people were (are?) fearful of God. Yet Jesus taught us to love God and to love your neighbor. Moreover, the Torah tells us 36 times to love (not fear) the strangers among us as well as our neighbors. The Qur’an requires that we care for ”our kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves” out of love of God. (2:177). According to Darr, the Sufi poet Rumi became, “a teacher of love . . . he treated everyone the same...”[5]

Christians are taught that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8 & 16) Can we/Should we fear the God of Jesus, the God he might have called “Abba?” Or “Yahweh,” a vengeful and jealous God “I am a jealous God...” (Exodus 20:5) Yahweh punished whole races of people. For example, He caused the floods. (Genesis 6:7) How can we simultaneously NOT fear such a God? Or are we really talking about fearing one God and loving another?

The Sufi way points inward, to God who dwells within each of us and is always with us. Closer to us than we can accept sometimes, perhaps especially when we feel far away from God. So, is it that we should we fear the God which is outside us, and removed from us, and greater than we are? Can we love the God within us? I’m thinking we should not be afraid to love as God (by whatever name) has commanded; AND we should not be afraid of receiving God’s good news, even if unexpected or unexplained. But we should be afraid of God and the consequences if we don’t love, and if we don’t receive and act on His good news.

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[1] This is one of a series of occasional columns in which the author, raised in the Christian tradition, searches for common ground and common history among the teachings, beliefs and practices of adherents of the Abrahamic faiths -- Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

[2] The Gospel of Mark includes Salome here; and Luke mentions Joanna and “some other women.”

[3] Darr, Robert, SPY OF THE HEART. Louisville, KY, Fons Vitae, 2006

[4] Darr, page 51

[5] Darr, page 98