Wednesday, May 9, 2001
|
Wednesday, May 9, 2001 |
|
Maybe we should follow the Pope's example ... By REV JOHN HATCHER If I were a Catholic, I would be exceedingly blessed by the example of Pope John Paul II, as he became the first pope ever to enter a Muslim mosque as he pilgrims the journey of the Apostle Paul. Since I am not a Catholic, I am blessed anyway! Many give the Pope part credit for the destruction of the Berlin wall. Now, he moves to take down the walls of suspicion and incivility between Muslims and Christians. He took off his pontifical shoes and walked into the Omayyad Mosque in Damascus. Wow! A historical first. Some may fear that John Paul is less of a Christian or even less of a Catholic. No, he didn't recant his belief that Jesus is Christ and Lord, nor the authority of the Bible and tradition of the church, and not even his belief that all people need to come to know Jesus Christ personally. The Pope's visit demonstrated the strength of his convictions not any sort of vacillation. When anyone, held by any set of beliefs, is able to reach out to others of opposite beliefs to extend love, respect, friendship, that person has himself modeled Jesus Christ. Far too many religious groups have not caught on to this concept in which the Pope is light years ahead of the rest of us. It seems that far too many religious groups are paranoid about their encampments. They correlate reaching out or letting someone else reach in would be a breach of doctrine. It should be easiest for the Christian to reach out to other religions and faiths because we believe we are all related. How so? We believe we all have the same mama and daddy. If you trace the lineage of every Hindu and Buddhist, it would intersect with my family tree at the beginning with Adam and Eve. This we believe. We believe that God made a covenant with all people of the whole world when he preserved Noah through the Great Flood. God cut a deal with Noah and said he would never destroy the world again by flood and God hung his hunting bow in the sky as a sign of this covenant with all peoples. We believe that Jews, Muslims, and Christians can trace our lineages back to Abraham. Muslims and Christians hold that John the Baptist was a great prophet. Folks, I am not talking about soteriology, the study of salvation. I am talking about getting along with one another on the planet. I am talking about being Good Samaritans. I am talking about Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist talking with one another. And if from no other perspective, I am talking about Christians taking on the psyche of our God revealed in Jesus Christ: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whosoever would believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Our faith teaches us that God initiated contact again with humankind out of love. Can we not also initiate that same kind of contact out of love? Perhaps it would be well if we started in kindergarten with ostensible brothers and sisters getting together first, cousins later. Perhaps we should see a hard core Methodist buddy up with someone else other than another Methodist. Or, in the spirit of Pope John, some local priests take a chance and initiate some relationship with a Baptist minister. Why, it could be Damascus all over again!
The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community Church in Fayetteville.
|
