Jesus and the Muslims

4/7

Baby Jesus surrounded by the Holy Spirit

Stop by the church before heading out to Yankee Stadium with Ric for Yankees opening day. It’s a cold raw day. Back at the church after the game, Martin is proud of the new floor he’s added to the studio. Easier on the knees, quieter. Mitchell and I talk weather. And a little baseball. As I go in to get ready for Bible Study, Jeremy G and the Work Center choir and Seed group are arriving.

Tonight’s Bible Study is not exactly Bible, but more a look at the Quran and what the Muslims have to say about Jesus.

First of all, Jesus is seen as a SIGN (Aya). This term is highly technical and specific. It is that which evokes knowledge of and dependence on God. If you look at a sign, you see  God. It can be scripture, nature or human. (Very spiritually in tune people can see aya in nature, just like Taoists who see hexagrams in nature, all around them. )  As far as scripture goes, every verse in a text is an aya. (Only the Arabic original is considered the Quran.) As far as people in the Quran, Jesus and Mary are the only aya in Quran.

Next, Jesus is a PROPHET, a MESSENGER. An Abd  is a servant of God. The highest calling a human can have is to be a prophet. Nabi means prophet.   Moses, Joseph and Adam were all nabi. Prophets are faithful messengers of God. And in this regard,prophets don’t fail. It’s we who fail to listen. Being a servant of God  is an ideal human role.

And now for the first big question. Was Jesus the CHILD OF GOD? And the Quran’s answer is clearly No. The question answered after a section on the  Annunciation to Mary. The Quran states directly that it would not be fitting for God to have a child.

The focus is  always on the  omnipotence of God. There must always be a separation between creator/creation. This is a major difference between Christianity with its theology of incarnation, God in human form, God in the flesh, God in us, and Islam with the separation between creator and creature. Our appropriate response must always be Taqwa, or awe of God, piety, righteousness.

The next issue is that of MESSIAH. Isa, (Jesus), the son of Mary, is the only Messiah in Quran. The Messiah is historical, anointed. The friend of God, always in awe of God, and possessed with the spirit of God. In Islamic art, Jesus (and Mary) are always shown with flames, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. (Just like the flames on the official seal of the PCUSA).

PC(USA) seal

While  Islam traditionally does not use human imagery, the restriction is more to houses of worship where this would be idolatrous. In both the Persian and Asian Islamic tradition, pictures of Jesus…and other prophets…are not uncommon.

Most of what the Quran say about Jesus focuses on his birth and childhood  years. As prophet, Jesus was one of 24 prophets in the Quran. In the exegetical tradition however, there are more than 124000. Jesus is a Musadiq, one who is  (TRUSTWORTHY) one who comes to confirm. One who God sends us to remind us. Jesus was filled with taqwa, ie, piety, mindfulness, God consciousness. And the mission  of Jesus was also to remind us that for a Muslim, it is not enough to pray, one must also be socially conscious.

Jesus is important in Islam. In fact, the Quran talks more about Jesus than Mohammad. However, the need for Christ as (personal) Savior does not exist in Islam. Much like in Judaism, there is no fall. No basic sinfulness of humanity that must be redeemed by a blood sacrifice. In this regard, Islam has an optimistic idea of human capacity. We are capable of living pious, righteous lives.

In Islam, there is NO passion narrative or suffering, only RAISING. Jesus is taken away, not crucified. A substitute is placed on the cross. Jesus is taken up to heaven to live with God until his apocalyptic moment comes time. He will return for a  second coming. The Mahdi, like Elijah in Judaism  comes first, then Jesus will fight and defeat the Dujjdl (anti-christ). Jesus will convince all to become Muslims. Jesus will tip the scale on the day of standing on behalf of humanity.  Then he will marry, move to Medina,  have children, die and be resurrected like all other faithful.

Christians often assume that people of other religions ask the same theological questions and can’t understand why they can’t see Jesus as the answer. The point is, it is NOT different answers, but different questions that are at stake. In Judaism, the Messiah comes for the community, not individuals. It may even be about a messianic era, not an individual messiah. In Islam, the Messiah comes to point humanity in the right direction and again, tip the scale.

We talked a lot about how Islam emerged from an environment where Christianity and Judaism already existed. How its optimistic view would be appealing. How much of its predecessors is absorbed into its sacred text and theology. And the process of new religions emerging, like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or  Mormonism, one of the only 19^th century American cultic communities,
(including Christian Science and Jehovah’s Witnesses) to survive into our own time. Only time will tell whether later phenomena like Scientology and Unification (Rev. Sun Myung Moon) will eventually become mainstream or whither and die out.

We talked about the different branches of Isalm, Sunni, Shia, the more extreme and conservative branches, the mystical, ecstatic Sufism and the dervish tradition.

For many of us, before 9/11, we mostly knew Islam from the Nation of Islam. We talked about Malcolm X’s journey to Mecca which led him to become a Sunni and take on the name el Malik Shabazz. How Mecca gave him a vision of a multiracial community. How this may have led to his death. How Elijah Muhammad’s NOI is not mainline Islam. How his own son, Wallace, now Warith Deen, became a Sunni. And how Louis Farrakhan replaced Wallace as Elijah Muhammad’s spiritual heir. And how today, most African-American Muslims are Sunni.

We also talked about how Mohammed had borrowed significantly from the gospels he was familiar with, including many that didn’t make it into the official canon which raised for us what gospel means. From the Roman evangelium, or good news, usually announcing military victories, it came in to use to describe an alternative victory, a subversive alternative so usually no what a Christian connotation.

Marsha says that much of her theology comes from the gospel of Lynn, that is her mother. And I responded that this is right in line with what James Cone argues in God of the Oppressed, that our canon includes not only scripture, but the sermons we hear, the hymns we sing and the prayers we hear and are taught. As I say this, I see heads nod. And for many of us, our theology began with our mothers.

Much of the above comes from the lectures of Jerusha Tanner Lamptey, PHD, from Union Theological Seminary and author of Never Wholly Other: A Muslima Theology of Religious Pluralism  (http://interfaithcenter.org/archives/6718)

.

The retreat: renewing a commitment, rediscovering hope

4/7

So after church we gathered for our retreat. Led by Pat O. Members of Session and the Center Board. We met with anxiety, discouragement, frustrations, some mistrust, and in the end, hope.

Pat and Mim and I had worked very hard on the agenda. We also wanted to build on the work that had been done by the Session on Saturday. Mim brought us all sandwiches for lunch, typical of her graciousness. But she brought something more important.

She had volunteered to bring a flip chart tablet for our meeting. What she found was the results of our first retreat at least two years ago. When Pat saw what was on the chart, he said, Our work is done. What was both amazing and sad was how a propos the work we had done still was. We had known exactly what had needed to be done. The engagements with various white knights had led to the Center board sitting on the sideline waiting for us to figure out what we were going to do. Now it’s time to return to the original vision, of the Center being the vision that drives the building redevelopment project of the church.

Here is what Pat found on the flip charts:

Copy of strategy meeting

Sometime in 2011 or 12

First Page

Complementary but separate  (referring to church and Center)

Sharing Social Justice Concerns

The mission of the Center would include:

1. Arts and Culture

2. Social Transformation

3. Intergenerational Education

4. Spirituality (interfaith)

(Repeating these four has become our mantra)

Intentional Collaboration: we would look for all groups who wanted to rent or be part of the Center to be committed to intentional collaboration.

Second Page

Center

- Controls (changed to “Manages” at 4/6/14 retreat) space

- Invites partners

- Coordinates

- Develops programming

- Raises funds (added “for Center” at 4/6/14 retreat)

    - Public

    - Foundations

    - Individuals

    - Others

    - Rentals

Third Page

Center (continued)

- Restoration (added “Interior” at 4/6/14 retreat) and maintenance of building

- Cultural heritage of community

- Participate in investments in improvements

Forth Page

Strengths

Creative people

Experience

Space!

Community relationships

Commitments to collaborate

Openings to engagement

Shared values among group

Church’s diversity

Weakness / threats

No infrastructure

Lack of money

Too few people

Needs of Church development / stability

Missing skill set

Building in need of repair

Lack of diversity

Political challenges: City - Church

Fifth Page

Opportunities

UWS artistic wasteland (with many creative people)

Nexus for many constituencies

Artists need space like West Park

Create resource of dialogue for immediate community

Improve neighborhood values

Be integrative force

Forums for increased social justice

Sixth Page

Threats 

Other institutions competition

Politics

Economy

Exhaustion

Little capacity to deliver

Time is passing

Distractions

Stabilization / vulnerability of Church (3-5 years)

Gradual development

Seventh Page

Goal

Short-term

 - Decide how to program spaces

 - Work on infrastructure

 - Bring in money  feasibility

 - Build Board

 - Action plan

 - Clear definition of relationship

Reviewing these old pages provided  us with everything we needed to move our discussion forward. It was an open and frank discussion. Certainly the viability of the church is on the table. As is the pastor (that is me!) ‘s capacity to lead the congregation to rebirth. Serious doubts are raised. Including the ones I often wrestle with.

But what emerged at the end was a renewed sense of energy and hope. A willingness to put before the congregation a proposition for the church and center to work together for six months on a DIY project to see if we can produce sufficient income to continue moving forward. We were rediscovering our commitment to one anther. Small subgroups were created to move the agenda forward. What had begun as nearly despair had ended in hope. Now for the next step…..

Geoffrey had been asleep in the sanctuary throughout our meeting. I had to tell him it was time to go. I guess he was a silent witness.

The fifth Sunday in Lent: Resuscitation or resurrection

4/7

Yesterday, as we went about our work, we were entranced by the sound of rehearsals for the CD release party of Lullabies for Falling  Empires, with an 11 piece orchestra and electronics. (http://fallingempires.com/)

The steps are quiet when I arrive today. But I still have to sweep up. Set up. Get the elements for communion.

It’s the last Sunday in Lent. What’s on the agenda for today is resuscitation vs. resurrection. So we open with the classic dry bones story from Ezekiel 37: 1-14. What the prophet is talking about in this valley of dry bones is of course a community. A community that has nothing g left but very dry bone. Totally without life. They can only com to life gin when the spirit breathe breath inti them, like the breath that blew over the water on the very first day  of creation. And that’s what THe spirit does and breath by breath, the bones come back to life again. The question of course is the one that is aways haunting us, Mortal, can these bones live? The challenge of course is to believe that they can.

Of course, we follow the reading with the old song we remember from childhood, that part Bible lesson, part anatomy lesson dry bones…

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones,

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones,

Ezekiel in the Valley of Dry Bones,

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Toe bone connected to the foot bone

Foot bone connected to the heel bone

Heel bone connected to the ankle bone

Ankle bone connected to the shin bone

Shin bone connected to the knee bone

Knee bone connected to the thigh bone

Thigh bone connected to the hip bone

Hip bone connected to the back bone

Back bone connected to the shoulder bone

Shoulder bone connected to the neck bone

Neck bone connected to the head bone

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around.

Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around.

Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around.

Now hear the word of the Lord.

Romans 8: 6-11, is another Pauline trope on body and spirit winding up with a resurrection affirmation:

. ¹¹If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

We wind up doing the Gospel, John 11: 1-45 the story of Lazarus, in a reader's theatre style, from  a new translation called the Voice. (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+11:1-4511)

There are of course, lot of issues to deal with here…

We start by discussing resuscitation vs. resurrection. Resuscitation takes another human. (AND their breath?) and the person lives to ultimately die. Resurrection, on the other hand, is by spirit and is forever.

* a reference to Mary’s anointing of Jesus, noting that this is not Mary Magdalene

*Jesus apparently delaying his return, just so Lazarus would actually be dead.

* Jesus makes another daylight/nighttime darkness metaphor (v.9)continuing the theme we have been following in Lent of not hiding, of bringing things out in the open.

* Jesus plays around with sleep/death imagery, of course confusing the disciples. And when he explains it, they’re sure he’s heading to his death and impulsively say ¹⁶ Let’s go so we can die with Him.

* There’s a whole back and forth with Martha and Mary about resurrection with Martha expressing the traditional view of her time about resurrection  at the end of time and Jesus claiming to be the resurrection. It ends with Mary making this statement :

if only You had been here, my brother would still be alive.

If only…,if only…..How many if only’s are there in our lives?

* Jesus waits until the fourth day. That’s to make sure that Lazarus is good and dead. People would go to the tomb to visit on the third day, just in case, but by the fourth day, no question.

* Jesus wept. The shortest verse in the Bible. Favorite of kids forced to memorize a verse of the Bible. But why did Jesus weep? Of course, some always go to the human side, Jesus feeling the pain of others, his own sense of loss. But why, especially if he knows he’s going to raise him up again? On this, we seem to agree with what my clergy colleague friends said last Wednesday…Jesus is weeping for himself. The road he knows he must now travel. Where it will lead. A Garden of Gethsemane moment. This raising of Lazarus will begin the final conflict that can only end in crucifixion.

* There is a heavy stone sealing the grave, as there will be for Jesus. As Jesus commands the stone be rolled away, Martha is seriously concerned about the likely stench that will follow.

* The raising of Lazarus is dramatic. Jesus calls to him in a loud voice, Come Out!(41) And he comes out, still wrapped in grave clothes. This conjures up all kinds of images. The first sermon I remember about this, when I was an intern at St.Paul’s Episcopal in New Haven, the Vicar Ike Miller remembered the movie the Mummy, the wrapped up figure wobbling out. If he’s been in there for 4 days, already beginning to decompose, you wind up with a Walking Dead kind of image. Stench and all. The Jesus has to call out, Unbind him, set him free. It takes a village to unbind someone.

* And then look at it from Lazarus’ perspective. There’s that powerful scene in Scorsese’s Last Temptation of Christ when you see this from inside the tomb, through Lazarus’ eyes. It must be terrifying to force your eyes to see the light again, to give up the safety and quiet of the grave to go back out to the noise of the street. And what will life be like now?   Can he really go back? To live for any amount of time only to die again?                                                                                

* This is not the Lazarus of the story of the Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16: 19-31. Nor San Lazaro.

* In 1978, my seminary friend Chris was denied ordination as he would be for 30 years because of his orientation. He began a project fro LGBT people in West Hollywood called the Lazarus Project, based on Jesus’ call to come out of the grave, and that not coming out is a from of death.  It was also the purpose of that ministry to unbind people, to free them to walk the earth as fully themselves again, or fro the first time. (http://www.wehoucc.org/the-famous-chris-glaser-returns-to-wehoucc)

   This raises questions for us. What binds us up? Which grave are we afraid to come out from? How can we help unbind one another?

In the end, I suppose Lazarus was resuscitated more than resurrected. He will ultimately die again. We, who are still to die, however, have our own bindings, hidings. To come out for us is to be born again, or for perhaps the first time , to be fully alive. May this season help us find that courage. And may we help unbind one another.