C3/CCC Sermon Transcript for August 3, 2008 I often begin with the Hindu greeting Namaste. No other single word carries such universally recognizable good wishes and connectedness. You and I are related, and the more we live as if we are related, the greater the peace that will pervade your life and the world. There is a Sufi chant that conveys the same sense. From you I receive, May this sermon be a sharing in life, and an exploration into the mysteries of love. Your Spiritual Path is a Wave in the Ocean Today I ask you to consider again your relationship to people and traditions that are less familiar. You can enjoy your spiritual path no matter what form it takes. Consider it a wave upon an ocean. It has its own shape and form, and no other wave is quite like it. At the same time, the wave never ceases to be part of the ocean; rising and expanding for a time before merging back into what it came from, the ocean. The ocean is a symbol for spirit in many traditions. Your Spiritual Tradition is a River to the Ocean As well as waves in the ocean, the metaphor of rivers to the ocean is also profound. Your spiritual tradition is a river. Maybe it’s Christianity. Maybe it’s Islam. Maybe it’s universalism. Maybe it’s spiritual and no particular religion, or spiritual and a blending of many religions. Whatever it is, it is the river that flows most smoothly for you. It’s familiar and comfortable. You know its currents and enjoy its temperature. Maybe it feels like the river you grew up camping beside, fishing and telling campfire stories under the stars. But even though it resonates for you, you also know that it’s no better and no worse than the other rivers; some of which you have experienced and some of which you haven’t experienced. They all flow in and out of the same ocean that is the source of life and love. The ocean refuses no river. So there are two important principles out of the ocean metaphor that might guide any interfaith dialogue.
Today, we experience a little of the river called Islam. Water in Islam Islam was a religion born in arid desert regions of Arabia 1400 years ago. It then spread to equally harsh climates in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Water was both a survival necessity and a symbol of inner refreshment; an oasis for the spirit. The Gardens of Paradise, or Heaven, were described as flowing rivers, fresh rain and flavored drinking water. Water flowed within and beneath the gardens of paradise making them cool, green and lush. Typical Islamic gardens are a visual attempt to re-create the ambience of Paradise; running waters, flowering and fruiting trees and a deep appreciation for symmetry. The gardens of the Alhambra in Spanish Granada, the Bagh-é-Tarikhi in Iran’s Kashan, and the gardens of the imperial palaces in Morocco’s Marrakesh all testify to this desire to emulate Paradise on earth. The same appreciation for natural beauty that pervades these garden pavilions inspires the Muslim love of decorative arts, textiles and carpets throughout the world. Muslim poetry is also filled with references to nature and water. Sufi Poet, Rumi, said- This morning as we baptized little Isabella, I couldn’t help but sense the unifying quality of water. Water shows no preference or partiality according to religion or race. Do you think that baby Isabella knows any religious division? She knows only the love of family and friends, and this love is the Water of Life, revealing to her the beginnings of an experience of Love beyond boundaries. Water flows where it flows and blankets the earth with its sustenance. Water is the symbolic elixir that nourishes the unfolding rose petals of your heart, bringing alive the wonders and beauty of nature. So may it be for Isabella and for all. May your spirit always drink the water of life. One last connection between water and Islam. The word “Sharia” may be familiar to some. It’s the word often associated with the essence of Islamic law, a little like the Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule, but far more detailed. The literal meaning of the word “Sharia” is the “path to the water source.” Sharia, like the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule, is less about moral absolutes, and more concerned with directing spiritual seekers to the source of life and love. This source resides within, and it is there no matter how arid and parched your experience of life leaves you. In all religions, Islam and Christianity included, there is the danger of literalizing Sharia or religious law and turning it into a means of division rather than peace. That was not its intention. Contemporary Christianity Struggles With Islam Some Christians have a hard time accepting that other spiritual paths are valid. Islam seems to be particularly difficult for some Christians to accept. Islam is one of the least understood and most feared of religions. Maybe the greatest challenge facing the modern world is the uneasy relationship between Christianity and Islam. At the same time, one of the greatest opportunities facing the world is that 55% of the world’s population is either Christian or Muslim. That’s a large proportion of the population to be working together. Imagine the peace that would prevail if a meaningful exchange of understanding and respect could emerge between Christians and Muslims. Some evangelical Christian leaders are not helping this process. Rod Parsley is the pastor of an evangelical mega church in Ohio. Presidential nominee, John McCain, described Parsley as a spiritual adviser so he is a significant leader in this nation. Parsley has been calling on Christians to wage war in order to eradicate Islam. He said this in a sermon in 2005- "We have no choice. The time has come. In fact, we may be already losing the battle. As I scan the world, I find that Islam at this moment is responsible for more pain, more bloodshed, more devastation than nearly any other force on Earth." In his book, Silent No More, he wrote this- “The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.” He’s not alone in spreading this sort of hatred, although to have a spokesperson for Christianity preaching such violence is an embarrassment and it’s shameful. There is increasing fear of Islam in the west. In the most recent Pew Forum Research, it was found that 50% of non Muslims surveyed knew very little about Islam, and this number has not changed significantly since 9/11, even though you might expect and hope that it would have changed. 50% of those surveyed also held an overall negative feeling towards Islam. Twice as many people used negative words as opposed to positive words to describe their impressions of the Muslim religion (30% vs. 15%). The most frequently used negative word to describe Islam is "fanatic," followed by "radical" and "terror". This is not good enough. The onus is on progressive Christian communities such as ours to shift the balance away from ignorance and fear and towards understanding and collaboration. Where does the fear of Islam come from? Consider this Sufi story, which could be a parable for modern day Christian/ Islam relations- A thirsty lion, having found his way to a lake, was startled when he bent over to take a drink, to see (as he thought) another lion looking back at him. He roared at it but it didn’t go away, and the other animals watching nearby laughed at him. Finally he charged into the lake to attack the “other lion,” to discover that there wasn’t any other lion there at all it was his own reflection. (Told by Idries Shah in the “Dreamwalkers” program of the BBC TV series, “One Pair of Eyes.”) Islam is the new Soviet Union. Since the end of the Cold War, the West has demonized Islam as the new evil force in the world. This may be because some darks qualities within have been so frightening to Christians that they needed to project it out on to some other “enemy”. Some Muslims have done the exact same thing; projecting their deepest fears onto the materialism of the west. Christians and Muslims who project their own fear onto the other are floating in a river called denial. They are attacking what they see as the enemy, when it is really their own reflection that is frightening them. Since 9/11, the fear of terrorism has distracted this country from addressing the real source of insecurity; the failure of affluence to address the deepest human yearning for peace. It’s ironic that Islam has been the scapegoat, when you consider that the word Islam means “surrender”. Islam is at its essence a religion of love and peace, no matter how Islam is misrepresented by radical extremist Muslims. There are a number of myths about Islam that need to be debunked. Some resources that are helpful include Karen Armstrong’s Islam; A Short History, and Robert Darr’s The Spy of the Heart. The Spy of the Heart is written by an American who spent many years in the 1980s and 1990s doing humanitarian work in Afghanistan. He offers a fascinating account of the beauty of the Afghan people, the rise of a literalistic and violent branch of Islam and the depth of Islam as a tradition. He was very drawn to Islam, but refused to convert because he worried how it would affect his Christian family. The story also describes this tension between his Christian heritage and the resonance he felt with Islam. It’s a book that helped to inform me, as well as debunk some myths around Islam. Myth No. 1- Islam has An Agenda of Global Dominance The idea that Islam has always spread by the sword and always will spread by the sword is a myth. Islam most often spread, like Christianity, at times when the religion was contributing most to society by way of literature, architecture, art, science and medicine. There is a verse in the Quran that captures the spirit of Islam, “There is no compulsion in religion.” The essence of Islam is that once someone finds peace in Islam, this person should not force their religion on any other person. There is another verse in the Quran that commands Muslims to protect from harm not only mosques, but also monasteries, synagogues, and churches -- because "God is worshipped therein." Many Muslims have discovered that if you go deep enough into any religion, you come to a common place. Robert Darr came to this realization in Afghanistan. After a time of deep introspection and questioning, he came to this conclusion- “Things became clear. I laughed out loud. The truth of the waves being ocean and the ocean appearing as waves became completely obvious. I was not better or worse than anyone. My ideas were no more compelling or true than anyone else’s ideas. My life was no more and no less important than anyone else’s life.” P. 119 Myth No. 2- God Requires Violent Loyalty During the week I was reading The Spy of the Heart. The front cover has a picture of the author, and the faded image of one of his heroes, a Sufi poet. The poet looks very distinguished and also very much at peace. My six year old daughter came up to me and said, “Hey, there’s God!”, pointing to the Sufi poet. I had to smile. I asked her why she thought it was God, and she said, “It just makes me think of God.” There are as many portraits for God as there are people to draw them. It’s not surprising that in Islam, there are those who see God as violent Judge, and those who like the Sufi poet manifest God as peace and poetry. The Quran says there are 99 beautiful names for God. This is not to say that there are literally 99 names for God. There are countless names and portraits for an experience that is beyond description. Like Jewish and Christian thought, in Muslim understanding, God is beyond sight and understanding, yet at the same time "nearer to us than our jugular vein" (Qur'an 50:16). It is a myth that Islam encourages a view of God as wrathful and violent. God is most often seen as merciful in the Quran. The important point in Islam, as in Christianity is that God is unnamable and ultimately unknowable. Islam says that there is only one true God, but this God is known by many names and portraits. Rather than say there is only one God, it might be more accurate for all the monotheistic religions to say that there is nothing that is not God. Life is Both Visible and Hidden Let me end with a reference to Plato’s parable of the cave. The parable says that a group of people were held prisoner in a cave, shackled and unable to even move their heads from side to side. They face the cave wall and see ever changing images and shadows on the wall. They have no idea that the images are their own shadows, and that behind them is a fire that creates the light of various other images that project onto their wall. Voices and sounds are also created behind them. So the prisoners put two and two together and decide that the sounds are coming from the images on the wall, images that they assume to be real. They even name the images amongst themselves. Plato says it is easier for these prisoners to remain in the delusion of their naming and projections than it is to turn around and face the source of the images. The light would be blinding. But if they were bold enough, free enough, they would eventually come to experience and appreciate the true source of light. Early Muslim scholars were greatly influenced by Platonic thought, as were the authors of the Christian gospels. Here is the essence of all religions, Islam and Christianity included. Seek a direct experience of the light. Do not be distracted by a dogmatic and narrow attachment to your names and ideas for reality. Seek a direct experience of reality itself. Waves and rivers are important time bound and culturally relevant ways of manifesting reality that is Oceanic Love. Oceanic Love is timeless and universal.
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