Building the Kingdom

I admire the heck out of Samir Selmanovic. Formerly a teaching pastor at CrossWalk, he has taken a huge leap of faith to start a big, hairy, audacious project called Faith House Manhattan. The idea is to create a space where Muslims, Jews, Christians and atheists can come together to build understanding and work together for social justice. Seems to me that something like this would be right down Jesus' alley.

As a lifelong Adventist who's attended mass nearly every Sunday for the past three years (after being taught that the Catholic church was the Beast of Revelation incarnate), I can testify that there are many admirable and beautiful things about the Catholic faith, and rather than weakening or testing my Christian experience, my contact with Catholicism has strengthened it. I've had similarly eye-opening encounters before, delightedly discovering that God can be found in a Sikh house of worship, in Shinto shrines, in Buddhist temples, Zen gardens and Muslim mosques.

Isn't what Samir is doing what we are all called to do as Christians? To step out of our comfortable, insulated lives and learn to see the face of God in everyone with whom we come in contact? Rather than beating them over the head with our version of "the truth," shouldn't we be taking them by the hand and seeking God together as equals - His beloved sons and daughters? By discovering and focusing on what we have in common with people of other faiths, we can deepen our understanding of how big our God really is - and how He can use any faith (or even a lack thereof!) as a means to draw us to Himself.

If you have a few minutes, take a look at Samir's web site and sign up to receive his bi-weekly newsletter - he always has interesting things to say, and includes insightful articles, beautiful poems, etc. that will challenge your mind and edify your spirit. And if you like what he's doing, send him an encouraging e-mail. I'll leave you with a lovely "Sabbath Poem" from his collection:

WITH THAT MOON LANGUAGE

by Shams-ud-din Muhammad Hafiz (c. 1320-1389)

Admit something:

Everyone you see, you say to them, "Love me."

Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.

Why not become the one who lives with a full moon in each eye

that is always saying, with that sweet moon language,

what every other eye in this world

is dying to hear?

(from the Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, translation Daniel Ladinsky - Penguin Compass, 2002)