Devotion - Thursday, April 11

Several of you participated in the interfaith events hosted by the Gantt Center.  I am sorry I could not attend - the calendar fills up too fast.  Over Tuesday Lunch, we were talking about this and there was one part of the conversation which came back to me in my prayer time.

It is the issues of whether the various religious traditions of the world pray to the same God.

The response to which I want to build is this:  I am not prepared to say that all religious pray to the same God, but I my study of scripture would affirm that followers of Jesus are not to condemn the prayers of other traditions.

Jesus speaks of sheep in other folds.  Jesus talks about uniting the nations of the world.  Jesus speaks of a way which maintains and respects the universal vision of God as something unattainable by mortals.

As a follower of Jesus, I will always share the way of Jesus and the words of Jesus.  Were I to turn the words of Jesus into a condemnation of someone who is striving to see the universal vision of God, that would be inconsistent with the way of Jesus.

Following our lunch discussion, I hopped into the Blood Connection Bus to donate a pint.  Jacked up by our conversation, I responded with more detail than she wanted when the young woman taking my vitals asked about "Lutherans."  She said something along the lines of "So, you all are very different from Christians."  Horror!  "No," I told her, "this is what it means to be Christian.  Some have simply hijacked the name."

The Jesus we follow has some very specific and essential things to say.  But none of those things - none of those things - should be used as a stumbling block or impediment to others.  Speak to those who follow other traditions of the unimaginable joy of knowing the love of Jesus and always remember that that love is has not come into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might have life and light.