Living Well Amongst Religious Diversity - CRC Network

We need to be challenged to live well in a pluralistic society. 

We need more conversation on living well amongst religious diversity in our inter-religious global community.  All that this means is simply being willing to share what we believe as we listen to the beliefs of others in openness and love.

How do we apply the principles of love, hospitality and civility in our interactions with believers of other faith traditions.

How can we increase peace between these diverse communities?  Todd Johnson and Cindy Wu suggest four ways that we can live better in the midst of diversity and plurality.

1. Lower suspicion. In both Canada and the United States, there is increasing rhetoric about the dangers of Islamic terrorism. Yes, groups like ISIS/L are a serious problem, but most Muslims distance themselves from these extremist groups. Let us not allow this present climate of fear to keep us from listening to the felt needs and concerns of this community.

2. Become more informed. Learn more about the faith groups in your community and take time to meet practitioners of those faiths. (It's also well-worth learning the truth about the religious extremism that has been/continues to be problematic within your own faith).

3. Encourage inter-faith dialogue. Often this can only happen with an official invite and some planning around a simple meal, and perhaps a brief dialogue centered on a basic question, such as “tell us about the founder of your religion.”

4. Practice hospitality. This comes naturally to us and so we shouldn’t shy away from practicing it.It does depend though on number 1 above. Number 2 also helps in knowing what is culturally appropriate. Number 3 can be the vehicle for practicing hospitality.

We need to be challenged to live well in a pluralistic society.

The full article is available here

Subversive Little Crumbs - Joe Kay in Sojourner's

Jesus broke bread in radical ways. No wonder the self-important wanted to get rid of him.

He broke it and gave it to whoever wanted some. He transformed an ordinary loaf into something extraordinary: A moment of unqualified love for whoever needed love at that moment.

 He invited those who were treated as outsiders to join the meal as VIPs.

In that day, meals were a reflection of the social order. The self-important sat in the favored spots and received the best food — kind of like today. They looked down upon everyone else, perhaps deeming them lazy or unworthy. Someone who should be ignored instead of loved.

That’s not how he saw it.

He shared the loaf equally and unconditionally. He challenged the notion that some of us deserve the bread more than others, or that some have earned it in some way. He adamantly opposed those who ignored the needy and judged others as unworthy.

Jesus broke bread in radical ways. No wonder the self-important wanted to get rid of him.

The full article is available here

Benediction: In God's World, Let's Listen and Reach Out (based on Isaiah 30:21)

As we go out into our parts of God’s world; let's listen for God’s voice, let's reach out and support one another, and let’s remember that God is always at work and making all things new in everything that surrounds us.

Responsive Call To Worship: We Have Come, Seeking (based on Proverbs 2:1-5)

Reader: We have gathered today, seeking
All: God, once again speak with wisdom that guides us

Reader: We have come to hear God's voice.
All: May we open our ears and our hearts. 

Reader: May God once again respond with love deepens our compassion
All: For this boundless, we have come to give thanks together

What If Jesus Wasn't The (An) Answer - Cindy Brandt in Sojourners

Any time we try to confine God into a simplistic message small enough to fit onto a tract, a slogan for t-shirt or bumper sticker or a 3-minute, feel-good Praise and Worship diddy, we cut out too many important details.

I get it. The world continues to be troubled and broken. But Jesus as the answer? Too simplistic. The complexities of brokeness don't fit neatly into the problem/solution formula.

Brokeness is sometimes the moral failing of an individual’s choices. But those choices are almost always inextricably bound in relationship with other individuals, which together form a web of complex dilemmas making it impossible to pinpoint where the moral responsibility lies.

Other times brokeness is invisible and systemic. We are ensnared corporately on a daily basis — our complicity in a consumer society feeding upon greed, our participation in corrupting our environment, and our everyday purchases tainted by child and slave labors.

Answers are clear cut and devoid of mystery. Love is murky and nebulous, but endless in profound beauty. Answers are definitive and effortless. Love requires labor with no guarantees. Answers set up parameters and boundaries and gatekeepers. Love erases dividing lines and flings open gates.

Any time we try to confine God into a simplistic message small enough to fit onto a tract, a t-shirt or bumper sticker slogan or a 4-minute, feel-good Praise and Worship diddy, we cut out too many important details.

Jesus wasn't an answer. Jesus was love — a sentiment, or action, or spirit, that has been elaborated by poets and artists throughout the history of humanity, boundless in its outworking, limitless in its applications. In his time on earth, Jesus entered into our problem and he sat down and told us stories riddled with nuance and complexity, open to the interpretations of his listeners. Jesus entered into our problem and doled out not just one solution, but many different sorts.

The full article is available here

Habitual Compassion - James Finley

Revised Lyrics: Arise My Soul Arise by Indelible Grace

the original version

Lent and Fossil Fuels - Do Justice!

Almost 3 billion people, mostly the poor, depend on fish for a large part of their daily protein. I care about the poor. So I care about acidic oceans.

I can only handle so much alarming news in one day. But I have found room in my alarm-quotient enough to care about this: our oceans are becoming more acidic.

Here’s what’s happening: as humans use more fossil fuels, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, and much of it is absorbed by the ocean. It eventually dissolves there, making the water more and more acidic.

There are tiny organisms in the ocean called foraminifera. These little guys have shells that acid can gnaw right away. The more acidic the oceans have become, the harder it is for my foraminifera friends to create their shells.

Calcium-shelled species like foraminifera are a vital link in the marine food chain. That food chain travels all the way up to humans. Almost 3 billion people, mostly the poor, depend on fish for a large part of their daily protein. I care about the poor. So, suddenly, I care about acidic oceans.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the alarming news we have to stomach. It’s easy to tune out certain reports, or refuse to engage. I can’t de-acidify the oceans. I can’t rescue the family on my street who is losing their home to foreclosure. I can’t fix our immigration system or solve my friend’s addiction.  I can’t do much to set the world right.

Thank God it’s Lent. Thank God that it’s the season of remembering our limits. We are a sinful people. We follow a crucified Christ. We live in an imperfect world. And yet, there is still hope. Somehow, we’re always forgiven. Somehow, Easter always comes.

The full article is available here

Reading The Bible How Conservatives Read The Qur'an - Mark Sandlin in Patheos

If you're unwilling to apply the same scrutiny to your own faith that you insist on applying to other people’s faith, then at some point, you are going to have to admit that your issue is not with their actual faith but with the fact they are different from you.

There's a been quite a tempest in conservative circles since President Obama talked about the problems of extremism in all kinds of religions at the National Prayer Breakfast last month.

Conservatives, and specifically the Religious Right, have been cherry picking verses from the Qur’an to argue that Islam is necessarily and uniquely more violent than Christianity in their hierarchy. They have gone this route as opposed to than a larger understanding of the overall text.

Just to show the folly of approaching a text in such a simple-minded and shortsighted way, I thought it might be interesting to pull a few verses from the Bible, apply the same kind of cherry-picking and consider the results.

• Kill all those who do not worship God. -- 2 Chronicles 15:12-13
• If a town begins to not worship God, kill them all! -- Deuteronomy 13:13-19
• Kill relatives if they try to lead you away from worshipping God. -- Deuteronomy 13:6-8
• It's ok to have slaves, you can beat them as long as you don’t kill them. -- Exodus 21:20-21
• You can sell daughter as sex slave if she's tread better than other slaves.-- Exodus 21:7-8
• Spanking is probably good, but never rule out death. - Exodus 21:15
• The only penalty for unfaithfulness is death. -- Leviticus 20:10
• Premarital sex is punishable by death! Well, for women. -- Deuteronomy 22:20-21
• It’s fine to rape an unmarried woman, but if caught give her Dad 50 shekels and marry her. -- Deuteronomy 22:28-29 

If conservatives really want all Muslims to renounce the most horrific verses in their holy text, it would seem that Christians will need to do the same.

If you're unwilling to apply the same scrutiny to your own faith that you insist on applying to other people’s faith, then at some point, you are going to have to admit that your issue is not with their actual faith but with the fact they are different from you.

Like the Bible, the Qur’an has an over-arching theology which, ultimately, overrides the worst parts of the text.

 

The full article is available here