The Yada-Yada Book Club met at our house in November. The book under discussion was The Faith Club and I attended because I had actually read the book. I don’t know why I decided to read this particular book – I think it had to do with the Soup and Study series on the Holy Land. The subject of The Faith Club relates to the Holy Land. The book is about three bright (and photogenic) women. In many respects they are similar – all are wives and mothers living in the New York metropolitan area. But in one respect, they are different – one is a Christian, one a Muslim, and one a Jew.

Indeed, that was the reason they began to meet – Ranya Idilby, the Muslim, had been facing questions about Islam and its place in American society, so she reached out to two other mothers (Suzanne Oliver, a Christian, and Priscilla Warner, a Jew) to write a picture book for young people to describe their respective faith traditions. What emerges, however, is a touching and honest story about how much the three women needed to learn (and unlearn!) in order to share their understandings of their own and each others’ faiths. I won’t say much more about the book, except that you should read it for yourself.

One more introductory thought. I was looking at a survey with the following interesting finding: 54% of ELCA Lutherans agree that “All religions are equally good ways of helping a person find ultimate truth” but only 9% of ELCA Lutheran clergy would agree. Apparently Lutheran ministers have an investment in a special revelation or a unique understanding that Lutheran church members don’t completely share. Or it could be that Lutheran church members are characteristically modest about their unique point of view.

As we enter December, we can expect to hear concerns that other faith traditions are trampled by the seasonal marketing juggernaut that modern Christmas (“Xmas,” if you will) has become, and these concerns are real. One response is that we all join hands in an entirely secular celebration of consumer debt and ignore the deep and legitimate faith underpinnings of the season. A second response is to cling to the delusion that at Christmas we all become Christians (except for a few stubborn outcasts who we can safely ignore).

There is a third way. We can joyfully celebrate a God who reaches beyond our categories, who loves all of creation and who offers reconciliation to all people by entering fully into human life. Now, pastors can be a little stubborn about this – we don’t assume that all ways of talking about God are equally valid just in order to “get along.” But neither, I hope, do we refuse to talk with people who don’t share our faith commitments at Christmas or any other time. Rather, we recognize that our God has spoken to us through Jesus Christ, but also has the capacity to surprise us and to reach out to sheep of other folds with mercy and grace.

The three women of the Faith Club all spoke of becoming more rooted in their own faiths as they became more knowledgeable about and tolerant of their friends’ faiths. As I have been thinking about and teaching about the Holy Land, that tortured stretch of land that bears the weight of the hopes and fears of these three different and mutually wary faith traditions, I continue to pray that peace, a real peace of mutual sharing and engagement with integrity, remains a possibility. But peace with integrity is only a possibility when we recognize and celebrate both our diverse faiths and our common humanity.

Pastor Greg

P.S.  Muslim-Christian dialogue on the issues that divide us has recently entered a new stage with the publication of a 29-page open letter, "A Common Word Between You and Us," signed by 38 Muslim scholars.  The letter calls for Muslims and Christians to work more closely together for peace (see www.acommonword.com).  Our own presiding bishop, the Rev. Mark Hanson was one of the Christian leaders to whom the letter was addressed.  For his reply, see www.elca.org/bishop/messages/m_071012.html