January 22, 2012

 

St. John United Church of Christ, Arlington Hts., Illinois

January 22, 2012 – Ecumenical Sunday

1 Kings 10 and 11 (selections)

Rev. Jeffrey Phillips, Pastor

 

Visit of the Queen of Sheba (chap. 10) – curiosity, encounter with the other

 

Are the rumors true about Solomon’s wealth and wisdom?

How do they relate to his God and his conduct as king?

 

Exchange of presents, exchange of views.

 

            She had to see with her own eyes and ask the hard questions.

 

She was overwhelmed by the experience.

Returning home, how was she changed?

 

Solomon’s unfaithfulness (chap. 11)

 

            Didn’t cling to his own faith, but strayed

            Became so close to other faiths that he lost his own

 

Interfaith relations today: Reality today (multi-faith world)

 

            Fear of talking to people of other faiths about their faiths

            Popular misperception that religion causes war

 

            Joke

 

            Dispute/confusion within Christianity

            Our church is unique in this regard

            Three ways to understand this

 

            Video

 

            Three ways again

                       

Third way one holds to one’s own faith (unlike Solomon) while maintaining openness to other faiths (like Queen of Sheba)

 

My experiences in interfaith learning, exploration, conversation

 

            Thailand (2x): Buddhism (learned how to be a better Xian)

Zimbabwe: Sirdar (learned how to think about the Trinity)

            Zimbabwe: ancestor veneration (learned about the communion of the saints)

 

India: the vitality of worship, meeting people who experienced rebirth of their faith as adults

 

India: divinity-saturated universe and inclusivity of Hinduism

            India: the hospitality and suffering of the Sikhs (learned about…)

            From Muslims I’ve learned…

            9/11 anniversary service

 

Bottom line

 

If I open my ears and heart and venture to learn (like queen of Sheba), then I will be rewarded.

 

Yet if I abandon my faith (like Solomon), I have no means to access the divine.

 

Gandhi: “the Truth as you understand it.”  Hold onto that Truth fiercely.  Live it.  But be open to other truths as they come to you.

 

Your truth is your truth.  It gives you life, hope, guidance, but it is not the truth for others.  Their truth functions for them as your truth functions for you, and their truth may have something to teach you about your truth.

 

But don’t give up your truth (Solomon), even as you venture to learn new truth (Queen of Sheba).

 

Rather, share it.  Because just as you have something to learn from others about their unique truth, others have something to learn from your unique truth.

 

In the end, who’s right and who’s wrong?  Which is the best religion?  Either Jesus is the Son of God, or he’s not.  Either Mohammad is God’s final prophet, eclipsing Jesus, or he isn’t.  Either it’s the Buddhist way or the Hindu way.

 

            False choices.

 

I know God through my own religion, but God and Truth are too big to known ONLY through my religion. 

 

There’s also the choice of accepting other faiths as different ways of exploring and expressing a Mystery that is ultimately beyond one religion.

 

Yes, each way is different.  Each system is incompatible with the next if you assume that each is a closed system of belief and practice. 

 

But maybe each religion is more open than we think – open to dialogue such as the one we had a few years ago during Ramadan.

 

Maybe knowing God is beyond religion, too.  We know God through art, through nature, and those aren’t religious systems. 

 

So if God can be experienced and expressed in art and nature, why not in Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and the rest?

 

Magi coming to see Jesus – another interfaith curiosity resulting in spiritual growth

 

            Returning home, how were they changed?

 

Jesus and the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28)

 

That’s why the video suggests that the Xian way is not imperialistic chauvinism, but openness and appreciation of the faith of others.

 

There’s an openness in our faith because Jesus was open to the faith of others, including those who did not share his faith.

 

We who represent the various religions are all different, but we are all believers.

 

This evening at Church of the Incarnation. 

 

My goal: we are different (and the differences are important), but we are all believers.

 

There are common values in the world’s religions: faith, belief, justice, kindness, human rights, peace, forgiveness.

 

The best way to access them is to learn about each other – both our differences and similarities.  Both are important.

 

Queen of Sheba asked the hard questions.  We shouldn’t be afraid to talk about faith to our neighbors of different faith.  We shouldn’t be afraid of offending, of asking “dumb” questions.

 

We’re probably afraid to reveal how little we know of our own faith, but in that dialogue is the possibility of learning about our own faith by meeting people of different faiths.

 

Encountering the “other” is hard, even when it has nothing to do with religion.

 

When you eat a dish from another culture, you may find yourself asking yourself, “Why do we cook our food the way we do?”  “Why do we use these spices and not others?”  “This foreign food reminds me of something my mother used to make; I think I’ll try that.”

 

God has put us in a world of vast cultural and religious differences.  Xity is just 1/7 or 2/7 of the world’s population.  There’s so much more out there.  And the “out there” is increasingly “in here.” 

 

Like the Queen of Sheba, let’s go see it for ourselves and ask the hard questions. 

 

But unlike Solomon, let’s not lose our commitment to what makes us unique and makes our faith something to treasure and value – and even share with others.