We have been in Penang, Malaysia for about a week now and I can tell you that the way it is going right now this might be my favorite place on the Race thus far. Not only because of the beautiful scenery and the great food but also because of the kindness of the people.
Our first couple days here were off so we got to explore the island. We made it down to Little India for the day and found ourselves exploring the sites. One site in particular was a beautiful mosque in the middle of the city. We decided to go check it out and look at the beauty of this structure.
We guided ourselves around the mosque and decided to check out the information center. As we approached the door a young man about our age greeted us. It was a super hot day so he invited us in to the room and gave us some cold water. We sat down and started asking him some questions and asked him his story of how he became Muslim.
As someone from the West and living in country that fears Islam I was not sure how he would react to our questions. I was trying my best to keep my ignorance to a minimum but was honest with him that I didn’t know much and had a lot of questions. He sat with us for two and a half hours answering our questions with beauty and grace. Respecting our beliefs as we respected his. We chatted about the similarities of Islam and Christianity and the differences. We learned a lot. It was beautiful.
What I found most beautiful was that he was so gracious. He was not trying to distinguish the difference between us but the similarities. Not sure how much you know about Islam but there are a lot of similarities, to Christianity & Judaism. As I talked to our new friend he never once made us feel uncomfortable or unwanted. He let love and peace lead the conversation and never reacted to any of our ignorance or difference.
He then said something to us that stuck with me. He had mentioned that he had first discovered Christianity but decided that Islam was the more unified, loving and peaceful religion of the two. Now some of you reading this might be appalled at that statement but stay with me here. Religion is not the reason for evil. One is not evil because they are Muslim. Nor is one good because they are Christian. People do crazy ass things in the name of God every day. But as my friend said he believes that those people do not know the God he knows because his God is of peace, love and unity.
I was convicted by his words. I consider myself to be a lover of the rebels, the misfits, the outcasts, the people that are hard to love but I find it most difficult to love the oppressors or the self-righteous. I have a hard time loving the millions of people who gather in church on Sundays and live their lives unchanged. I have a problem loving people who are hateful, who deliberately hurt others, or put others in boxes. I have a problem loving people who never try to understand where another person is coming from or listen to the stories of another. I realized right then and there I was the person he was talking about.
There are so many different denominations. There are people who identity as evangelical or progressive. There are conservative Christians and liberal Christians. There are Christians that believe in science and ones that think those who believe in science are not Christians. There are people who struggle with accepting all of the stories of the Bible as fact and people who believe that the Bible is without error. I could keep going, but I think you get the point. We do a horrible job at showing people who our God is. And I am part of that problem. We are all part of that problem.
Now I don’t think the solution to this is decreasing in denominations, because let’s be honest that will never happen. I think the change comes within our hearts. I think the change comes with the words that we speak to each other. I think it comes down to showing love to our brothers and sisters that think differently than us and to learn from them. I think it comes down to listening to what others believe about Jesus or what their convictions are about the way they should live their life.
I believe that God is a God of many different convictions. What I mean by that is I think he is so much of a mystery to us that he allows some of us to be more comfortable with that mystery. I believe he reveals things to others that he wouldn’t want you to know. He is so much bigger than our denominations. Our style of worship. Our thoughts on how the earth was formed. He holds it all together, whether he holds it together through your Calvinist leanings or your progressive beliefs. He is still God. He is still constant, strong, love, just, beautiful. He is a mystery and truthfully none of us know all of who He is.
We try to explain Him in our human language. We try to relate him to our lives here on earth. We try to box him in our beliefs so that when things are not going well at least we can KNOW who God is. We try to make the Creator of the world understandable in our finite minds.
I believe that God wants to be set free from the box you understand him to be in. From the box we put him in. Jesus said in the garden that his hope is that we may all be one, just as him and the Father are one. We tend to believe other things he said but this one doesn’t come as easy to us. So how are you doing being one with your liberal friend? Your conservative friend? Are you letting your personal convictions of God get in the way of loving your brother and sister? Let’s be with each other. Because I have to say that I am with you. I am with you, you who live a life called to God’s purposes. I am with you, you who our just trying to live a life of faith in someone you can’t see. I’m with you, you who have questions and can’t just take everything at face value anymore. I’m with you, you who can’t understand why people with the same beliefs act so differently than you. I am with you. Now let’s be with each other. Let’s be for each other. Because no matter what category we put each other in we are all still called to be one. So let’s be one.
