Finding Common Ground
- Though historically speaking, religion was the primary motivation of 6-8% of wars, 90% was not religiously motivated.
-Though there is no question that religion has been used as a support of war and has played a key role in fostering division among nations;
religion can be part of the solution to world peace or the center of conflict that destroys lives.
Why and how can our faith lead us to love our neighbors and across the religious divide?
- As human beings we seem wired to focus on our disagreements. Even the early church was constantly caught up in conflict.
-Every book in the new testament addresses a particular conflict taking place in the church
-I have seen people come and go from congregations I have served over things I or someone else has said.
It can be painful at times and I am grateful for those who realize Jesus didn’t call us to agree on everything
- Jesus speaks quite a bit about unity, but he never calls for uniformity
-Jesus’ own disciples had radically different politics. There was Simon the Zealot and Matthew the Tax Collector...
that would be like Jesus calling Presidential candidates Kamala Harris AND Donald Trump to be among the 12.
-It's no wonder he had to teach so much bout forgiving and loving your neighbor and doing unto others
Acts 17:22-28
Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely spiritual you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, He who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all peoples 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 fumble about for Him and find Him—though indeed He is not far from each one of us. For ‘In Him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we, too, are His offspring.’
- Matthew 7:1-5—judge not so that you won’t be judged
Do you have a magnifying glass and micro tweezers in your hand to remove a sliver from someone’s eye while there is a tree in your own?
- Paul lists a number of things that churches at the time divided over
...Should we eat meat or vegetables?
...Are certain days more sacred than others?
Romans 14:19-- Strive for things that bring peace and build each other up
- Not far from Salem was Marion Methodist Church, Rev. James Parks is the new lead Pastor
-I have known James for nearly 20 years and consider him a friend. When I was appointed in Marengo, he served the Williamsburg UMC. We became very close friends and share a deep respect for each other as colleagues. Just very recently, we met for coffee. James and I could not disagree more on the topic of human sexuality, a main factor in the denominational split of the United Methodist Church. However, both of our churches went through an incredibly painful process where people left over this disagreement. We spoke of how in many ways, our congregations are leading the way in Cedar Rapids for Methodist expressions of the Christian faith. We long to and look forward to continuing to meet and find ways to do cooperative ministry together... though we may not share the same logo any longer.
- I believe in the spiritual law of relativity
-The more we grow in Christ; learn of his grace, his love, his warm welcome; the more recognize our own sinfulness and realize how small our 3 pounds of gray matter atop of heads really are. The more we know, the more we realize how much we have to learn.
-Spirituality is not about being right it is about being able to love. We need to see each other through the lens of grace with a focus on love
-Jesus does not say, they will know you are my disciples by your correct doctrine, your party affiliation, or your denominational allegiance...
He says, they will know you are my disciples by how you love one another
That is the measure. Period. Full stop. End of list.
- Christians, as a whole, can be really good at putting other things in front of the love of Jesus.
-Here at Salem we focus on what we agree on. We centralized the historic teachings of the Bible and doctrine.
-And at the same time, we face our differences with humility, and most of all, show love
-We bless those we disagree with… and grace by grace; I pray that you and I getting the hang of this.
- How does God look at people of other faiths
-The most famous passage in scripture is John 3:16----THE WORLD
-God has a deep love and longing for all of humanity….not just Christians
-All people are part of God’s family descendants of both Adam and Eve
-God demonstrates His concern for people of other faiths multiple times in the Bible
-He sends Jonah to preach the good news to those in Nineveh
-Its why magi/wisemen (Zoroastrian priests) we invited to among the first to bear witness to the Christ child.
-In our scripture today from acts, it capture’s Paul’s presentation of Christianity before the Greek philosophers of his day
-Acts 17:26-27
- My point:
-I am not making a case for inclusivism as much as I am making a case for love
-Our love is reflected in our actions, of blessing, showing kindness, and offering care for one another…
including those of other religions - God is not apart them either.
o Move the Fence
o Draw the circle wider
