BEING PENTECOSTAL IN A MULTI-FAITH ENVIRONMENT

There was a day when I would have felt adversarial to the notion of coming to the table with people of other faiths.  In my youthful zeal I would have approached such an encounter as an opportunity to magically present a Christian witness that would cause them to see Jesus in a new light and be converted.

Or, if I believed that I would be outnumbered and outsmarted I would imagine that I needed to learn more to defeat their arguments against my faith.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Wiccans, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Unitarians were all frighteningly mysterious to me and frankly… I did not know people of other faiths.

In my college years I briefly knew a Mormon named Paul, but he was not practicing his faith.  So, basically I mostly knew people that were just like me.

From the lofty tower of ignorance and separation I lacked trust and respect for people who believed in another god.  I think I was afraid that a deliberate involvement with others would somehow compromise my faith.  I wanted to be true to God and avoid syncretism of any kind.

But then I was hired as a chaplain.

In approaching ministry to a diversity of belief and non-belief, I have learned to listen more, judge less and rest securely in my faith.  Is it possible that my recognition as a follower of Jesus might be greater by learning to listen and be kind to people with whom I have less in common with?

Some of the flowery rhetoric around multi-faith would suggest that all religions are basically paths to the same god and we should agree that everyone is right in their own way.  Let’s put all the religions in a giant blender and make a spirit-smoothie!  (Yuck!).  It reminds me of the time I tried to be creative at the stove and put pickles in a casserole.  Some things do not belong together.  They may both serve purposes and be appealing on their own, but don’t put gravy on your ice-cream.

The mature view in multi-faith relationships tends to focus not on syncretism (blending of religious ideas) but on having a respectful understanding of differences.  I do not have to become a pagan to have understanding and cooperate with pagans around just causes.  We can both agree that picking up litter in a park is a good thing.  Or feeding the hungry… or advocating for the underdog.

As a Pentecostal, I believe that the Holy Spirit of God dwells within and reveal the heart of God to my daily life.  Today, God’s Spirit reminds me that my Savior did not come to condemn the world but to save.  Jesus functioned in a multi-faith environment and encouraged his followers to love neighbors with the same strength applied to loving God.

I cannot love neighbors that I have decided to be offended by.  I cannot love neighbors who I have avoided over the property rights of their faith.

DINING WITH THE IMAM, JAMAICAN ANGLICAN, BAPTIST & BAVARIAN LUTHERAN

In July 2009 I had lunch with a Muslim ‘imam’ (the Islamic equivalent of a pastor but with distinctions). I learned that you don’t call him an ‘iman’. That is a girl’s name.

I sit on a regional committee for the Ontario Multi-faith Council[i] . Part of my role as the chaplaincy coordinator with my church district is being a liaison to Christian chaplains in Western Ontario. The committee was gathered to interview a possible new chaplain for the Sarnia and Chatham jails. The committee is represented by several religious groups.

After our meeting we headed out for lunch being mindful of the dietary requirements of the Muslims in our midst. I shared the table with another Egyptian Muslim, a Jamaican Anglican, a Bavarian Lutheran and a Baptist. We ate a feast at Windsor Palace Restaurant[ii], a place of incredible halal food.

Beyond the small talk, we had some rich theological discussions. Ahmed (the imam) is a graduate of Al-Azhar University[iii] in Cairo, the premiere learning center for Muslim clergy.

Imam Ahmed had questions about how Christians can claim that Jesus was God when he was clearly a human being. He recognizes that Jesus was a great prophet.

I also learned that Muslims consider the imam to be a holy man. Imam Ahmed asked why so many of the key figures of the Old Testament were guilty of terrible sins. He cited Noah getting drunk, Lot getting drunk and having sex with his daughters, David with Bathsheba and so on...

Imam Ahmed expects that the prophets of God and holy men should be above reproach.

My Bavarian Lutheran friend responded well by pointing out Christians view people as being sinners in need of God’s mercy. It is this inherent fault that requires that we turn to God through Jesus to find forgiveness and to be changed. (I’m likely grossly paraphrasing what he said, but you get the idea).
Since that lunch I have thought about the challenge that adherents of any religion face when it comes to living up to their professed ideals. I know that Christians face a very real crisis when they preach one thing and find themselves living less than they should. I suspect it haunts most of humanity’s religions.

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[i] www.omc.ca

[ii] www.windsorpalacerestaurant.ca
[iii] http://www.sacred-destinations.com/egypt/cairo-al-azhar-university.htm

SUNRISE ON THE SIDEWALK SKYLINE

Jazz legend Hoagy Carmichael had a song ‘Big Town Blues’. A phrase he sang paints a vivid picture.


‘I’m in a bargain basement with a sidewalk skyline.’


Children growing up in the core of urban centers may look out the window of a basement apartment and see the sidewalk.  I want to invite you to be part of the sunrise on the sidewalk skyline. 




Over 85% of Canadians live in urban centers in major population hubs.  The gap between the haves and have-nots is a growing chasm. The rich get richer and the poor get by with less.


If Canada were the rich man in Jesus’ parable, then the urban poor are our beggar by the gate. You may not see them, though. We have great security systems, geographic barriers and locked up churches to keep the beggars out at the street.


City planners and business people work hard to create presentation on the major downtown streets.BIAs’ (Business Improvement Areas) are cooperative efforts between city hall and the local business people of a given neighbourhood. Both want to see taxpayer dollars spent to beautify and improve the face of the city. When people go downtown, they need to feel safe, visually intrigued and interested in spending their money. Sculptures, murals, architecture, and green space combine with public transit systems, traffic routes, entertainment and parking garages to give people a pleasant face on the city. To the chagrin of some city fathers the homeless, the mentally ill and the ill-equipped also show up to share the space. Police, social services and missions dot the streetscape to facilitate the neediest and the most unfortunate.


When you get behind the ‘movie set façade’ of downtown, you encounter the real ‘downtown’ where the poor live.


I pastor New Song Church, one of Windsor’s tougher neighbourhoods with its share of social challenges. My building is an old bar on a dingy street. There is more plywood on the buildings of my neighbourhood than there are windows.


When you go on the backstreets and alleys of our cities, you discover the living conditions not visible to the passerby.


In Windsor, the AIDS committee has a needle exchange program that collected 200,000 used syringes last year from drug users exchanging dirty needles for a clean kit. That is 200,000 needles that would have otherwise been dropped in alleys, parks and garbage containers.


A friend of mine who used to work for Compassion was with me when we visited a couple who lived in the neighbourhood. The living conditions were deplorable. The furnace was not working, the bathroom lacked hot water and the clutter and filth was overwhelming. My friend remarked afterward that it was worse than the poverty he had seen in third world countries, where they at least managed to keep things reasonably clean and tidy.


When you get to the real downtown, there are children like Kenny who at 10 years of age has tried crack and steals everything he can. Kenny goes with his mom in the wee hours of the night to make drug deliveries. Kenny drops by the church to drink coffee. Kenny came to camp with us and still needs Jesus.


When you go downtown, make a detour. Behind the façade you will find the real downtown. Pray for the sun to rise on the sidewalk skyline.

IN THE LIVING ROOM WITH THE LION AND THE LAMB

Restorative Justice (RJ) is not a program, but a way of looking at crime. It can be defined as a response to crime that focuses on restoring the losses suffered by victims, holding offenders accountable for the harm they have caused, and building peace within communities.[i]

Karen was sexually abused as a child.  Now in her fifties, she sat in the chair across from me and told her story.  Decades had passed without resolving the tension adequately with her father.  As a grown woman, she was able to instantly lock into her feelings of betrayal from a daddy forever stuck in the past.

Her new friend Wayne sat on the couch to the left listening attentively with somber reflection.  He had served time in prison for abusing his own children.   He had not seen his own wife or children for a few years.  Here was a troubled man wanting to examine his heart to understand why he had failed so horribly.

As they recounted their experiences and asked each other the tough questions, I saw understanding grow as both discovered a landscape not marked by history and fear.   Karen was able to see a picture of remorse in Wayne.  He was able to see the horrible impact that another had made on Karen.  Both caught sight of what their lives could become beyond the offenses.

I was transfixed as I saw two people communicate fearlessly.  They were both able to sit and listen without becoming defensive.  A holiness settled into the living room.  For a few moments, we experienced the lion and the lamb at peace together.  What if Karen had this opportunity with her own father?  What if Wayne were able to be make peace with his family?

Imagine a new reality where a toddler can play with a cobra and not be bitten.  Picture a wolf falling asleep next to a lamb or a lion resting by a calf.  Isaiah saw a vision of a time when there would be peace between perpetrators and victims.[ii]

The trigger for changed nature is found in the arrival of the Messiah.

‘They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.’[iii]

Jesus’ mission includes restoring safety to relationships.  The violent will experience a peace that removes their need to devour and destroy.  The timid and defenseless will live fearlessly alongside the powerful.  The presence of Jesus is transformative.

In our lives, the knowledge of the Lord does not fill the earth.  But occasional glimpses and moments of knowing break through like sunlight in a wintry, overcast sky.  Karen and Wayne caught a glimpse and felt the warmth of what Jesus wants to do in their lives.

There is a great place of restorative justice to be established in the community of faith.  We can find that place and we can invite others to live there.

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[i] Restorative Justice In Canada, p.1, http://www.crcvc.ca/docs/restjust.pdf

[ii] Isaiah 11:6-8

[iii] Isaiah 11:9

CHAPLAINCY AT VANCOUVER OLYMPICS 2010

Rev. David Wells served as the chaplaincy coordinator at Vancouver Olympics 2010.  He is the General Superintendent for the Pentecostal Assemblies Of Canada.

The Vancouver Sun published an article on the service provided through chaplaincy.

Read about it at http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Canadian+Pentecostal+performs+rare+multi+faith+role+Games/2579654/story.html