When We’re Not Alone

Some of us nurture the notion that if we tell people what we really believe, we’d be looked at as strange … or worse, we’d be left alone.  Even so, when we’re in the presence of others who will give us honest feedback, I think we learn some new things from the exchange.  And we find we’re not so alone after all.

Yet, developing the trust necessary to be “open” and honest with our thoughts and feelings (and not having to be “right,” you understand) takes effort.  Some of us may need to find the words to convey our thoughts and feelings.  We’re not in the habit of sharing.  Some of us fear getting it “wrong” … being misunderstood.  Some of us have been told that it’s so important to agree … to “get along” … that we have a deep fear of expressing a different idea.  Some of us simply don’t like feeling out of control.  We like to be right and may push our own ideas too hard.  This business of sharing and listening takes time, courage, humility, forgiveness and patience.  Being alone is much easier.

During our book study on The Faith Club we have observed three women from three different faith traditions in dialog … getting in touch with what they both cherish and doubt as Muslim, Jew and Christian.  In the sharing process they learn more about their weaving job … some of their assumptions that just don’t pan out.  They are surprised to find ideas about God, family and life that can unite them at a deep level.  They become friends.  

The other day I received a letter from our ELCA bishop, Rev. Mark Hanson, who had responded to a letter written by a large number of Muslim scholars … a letter sent to churches of various denominations all over the world.  They were reaching out to build a bridge based on two common planks:  love of God and love for neighbor.  Our bishop’s welcome reception of their letter was heart-warming.  We’re not alone when we yearn for open sharing with others. 

The need for such dialog is great.  Very recently I read an article by Cal Thomas in our Times News which said that the Muslims and Christians do not worship the same God.  In addition, I got another e-mail from a friend who received photos of a rally in England which was held following the blowup over the cartoonist who made fun of Mohammed some time ago.  “They’re out to convert or kill us” was the concern. 

Jesus entered the prejudice of his day telling stories to nurture compassion and bring healing and hope.  Even at 12 years of age he was dialoging with the religious thinkers of his day.  Yet Jesus found faith in the strangest of places and celebrated it.  He sought to connect the diverse people of his day to God despite the resistance of those who thought God was only in their corner.  “Go learn what this means,” he cried, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”  Jesus gave his life to bring us together.  Even so, we know that it took time for even Jesus’ disciples to embrace the non-Jews with his kind of love.  They had to suffer many a misunderstanding along the way.  But Jesus persisted till they got it.  Now we gather … even peoples formerly at war … under one roof and around a common table. On our knees we pray to our Lord for forgiveness and the courage, compassion and love to help us seek the ways of compassion and love.  Truly, we’re not alone because we do belong to God and each other.  That’s the mission that embraces us and teaches us to love as we have been loved.  We’re not alone.

Pr. Dan