Devotionals Detail

Reading: Romans 12:9-18

“We who formerly… valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions, now bring what we have into a common stock, and communicate to everyone in need; we who hated and destroyed one another, and on account of their different manners would not live with people of a different tribe, now, since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them and pray for our enemies.”

These are the words of Justin Martyr (ca. 100-ca. 165) describing the early Christian church known as followers of “The Way.” Living in the way of Jesus mended lives in an inclusive faith that brought diverse people together. Early Christians insisted that love, not rationality or politics or even virtue was the primary bond between God and human beings. We have to wonder – what happened? How did we Christians, as followers of The Way of living like Jesus, stray so far from this original intent?

The way of living outlined in Romans sets this path out clearly naming genuine love as honoring others, pursuing hospitality, blessing those who persecute, living in harmony with others, not being arrogant, not claiming to be wiser than you are, never paying someone evil for evil, considering the noble path of action, and living peaceably with all. But in the name of Christ, people have waged wars, misused Biblical interpretation to cause harm and utilized doctrine to exclude. It is essential for Christianity to be true to its intent that we revisit some of our basic ways of living in love with each other.

Our Mr. Rogers Neighborhood series has been inviting us to explore loving our neighbor as ourselves and this week focuses on the theme : “It’s You I Like.” Our special guests to the neighborhood this week will be two of my dear friends from the chaplaincy program at Children’s Medical Center in Plano – Chaplains Samra Ali and Nosayba Mahmoud. As two Muslim women who are actively engaged in caring for children in hospitals, serving their community with compassion, and actively involved in national peace initiatives, I deeply admire their faith journeys. Learning what I like and admire in them so much has helped me to become a better version of myself and encouraged me to draw deeper into loving Jesus in the Christian path. This is outcome of interfaith dialogue – not to convert one to another religion - but rather to be able to learn more about God’s presence in one another’s faith journey. Through conversations that develop into friendships, each one of us can see how the diversity of God’s creation is expressed in many religions, and deepen our own. I believe it is as we draw our diverse beliefs together, we see how love encompasses all religions, and invites us to live in love and respect for each other.

So I hope you will join me this Sunday to meet my friends Samra and Nosayba and learn more about the Muslim faith traditions and their expression of loving God and neighbor. I believe our conversation will help our church to be more faithful followers of “The Way.”

For more information on the United Methodist Church commitment to caring for our Muslim neighbors, please click here.