One of the most important documents to emerge from the Vatican II
council that met from 1962 to 1965 is entitled Nostra Aetate,
usually rendered in English as The Relation of the Church to
Non-Christian Religions. Rejecting centuries of anti-Semitism and
Christian-Muslim antagonism, the document declares that people who
follow other faith traditions also have light from God in their
religions, light that can benefit Christians if they will enter into
dialog with their brothers and sisters from other faiths. In today's
reading from Genesis, God says that Abraham will be the ancestor of many
nations. Both Jews and Muslims take Abraham as their literal ancestor,
and Christians take Abraham as their spiritual ancestor in the faith.
And while Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and others do not belong to one of
the three major Abrahamic religions, the principle that all people on
earth are part of the human family, and that people of faith share
something important, even vital, with one another, applies to them as
well. The enduring legacy of warfare between Christians and Jews,
Christians and Muslims, Jews and Muslims, Hindus and Muslims, Hindus and
Buddhists, etc., is a great blot on all of the world's religions. Here
is where people of faith can learn something from people who claim no
allegiance to any divinity yet strive for a world of peace and
acceptance among people with different beliefs and practices. The
ecumenical movement has been active within the Christian community for
about a century, and it continues to grow. The inter-faith movement is
younger, but for the sake of world peace, and for the sake of our
individual souls, it must grow and be supported by people of all faiths
as well. It is true that Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists,
Sikhs, Jains, atheists, and followers of other religions and systems of
belief do not agree on many things, but surely there is one thing we can
all agree on. We only have one world. It is a gift--many would say a
gift from God--and we, as a single human family, must learn to live
together on it.
Psalm 22:23-31 (first published 16 March 2003)
This psalm, which begins with a shriek of abandonment, echoed by
Jesus on the cross, ends with a song of thanksgiving for answered
prayer. God, the psalmist says, did not despise the affliction of
the afflicted. Those who suffer will be comforted, the poor will
eat and be satisfied, and all the nations, even future generations,
will bow down before God. This is truly an idyllic picture, but
how realistic is it? Our present world is full of sorrow,
suffering, and poverty, much of which is needless, and most of which
could be alleviated if people began to act as the psalmist says God
acts. Is someone hungry? Feed him! Is someone in need? Provide for
her! Do hundreds of millions of people go hungry, while a select
few gorge themselves at the trough of plenty? Give to the poor, and
urge governments to do the same! Most of the world's poverty and
suffering is the direct result of human sin and greed, and the whole
world will never bow to a God whose followers are perceived as
beneficiaries of that greed. However, if we will give to the poor,
work for the poor, and advocate with our governments for the poor,
then there's a chance that the world will believe that the God we
claim to serve is really someone worthy of worship and praise.
Romans 4:13-25 (first published 16 March 2003)
A poster on the wall behind Fox Mulder's desk in the basement of
the FBI building in Washington, DC, says, "I Want to Believe." As
Mulder and Scully investigate all sorts of strange phenomena in
The X-Files, the themes of faith and skepticism underlie
almost every episode. What seems an overwhelming amount of evidence
to Mulder is capable of other explanations in Scully's mind. How do
we know where to draw the line between faith and gullibility? How
can we distinguish healthy skepticism from obtuseness? Just
believing in something doesn't make it so, but neither does denying
it make it go away. Abraham had faith that God would bless his
descendants, and Paul says that those who share Abraham's faith
likewise share his blessings. There may well be certain traditional
beliefs that modern people would do well to let go of in light of
advances in knowledge, but doing so does not mean that we must also
let go of our hope. Abraham "hoped against hope" that God would
fulfill his promise to him, and we are likewise called on to be
people of hope. We can hope for a day when all legalism will be set
aside and people will be free to worship God as they feel led. We
can hope for a day when all the children of Abraham will be able to
live in the same city, and even sit at the same table, in peace. We
can hope for a day when people of faith acknowledge and respect the
commitment of other believers, even those who believe differently.
Until that time, it is up to us, as spiritual descendants of
Abraham, to live out our faith in such a way that we promote
righteousness and justice to all with whom we have contact.
Mark 8:31-38 (first published 16 March 2003)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian, believed that the authentic Christian life was one lived in the shadow of the cross. "The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die" (The Cost of Discipleship). Most of us prefer the view of Peter, who thought Jesus had lost his mind when he began to talk about the suffering he must endure. And who can blame him? Someone who actively seeks to suffer must be considered unbalanced, or at least immature. When Origen, the third century theologian, was a teenager, his father was incarcerated for being a Christian, and he was scheduled for execution. Origen, in his youthful zeal, planned to turn himself in to the authorities as well, but when his mother got wind of it, she hid his only set of clothes, and because he was too embarrassed to go outside naked, his life was spared. Origen went on to become the greatest theologian of his generation, and one of the most original thinkers in the early church. As a young man, he was wrong to think that taking up his cross meant that he had to die a literal death, although many people of his day were killed for their faith. However, he was right to recognize, even at a young age, that being a Christian means something more than just being a member of a social club. It is much more than professing to hold certain fundamental beliefs. Following Christ by taking up one's cross means to be willing to sacrifice one's time, one's efforts, one's career, and possibly even one's life, if circumstances demand it. Eight years after writing the words quoted above, Bonhoeffer, having left the security of England to return and minister in his native Germany, carried his cross into a Nazi prison cell, where he was executed for his opposition to Hitler just a few days before the end of the war. We have not only the example of Jesus, but also the example of people like Origen and Bonhoeffer, who were willing to give up everything they had to follow Christ. What sacrifices are we willing to make?