tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68977773219806549532024-03-13T01:58:55.936-07:00Qur'an and JiveThis is a sister blog to Bible and Jive and Shuck and Jive. This blog is a guide for reading the Qur'an cover to cover in 2009.John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-16360063776290075802009-12-28T07:54:00.001-08:002009-12-28T07:54:29.424-08:00The Way of Eloquence--A Sermon<div style="text-align: center;">The Way of Eloquence<br />John Shuck<br />First Presbyterian Church<br />Elizabethton, Tennessee<br /><br />December 27th, 2009<br /><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=129014285">Luke 2:41-52</a><br /><a href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/QURAN/19.htm">Surah 19:16-34</a><br /><a href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/QURAN/55.htm">Surah 55:1-4</a><br /></div><br />Today we are finishing our reading of the <a href="http://quranandjive.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Qur’an</span> cover to cover</a>. Beginning in January we are going to read the <a href="http://www.bhagavad-gita.us/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Bhagavad Gita</span></a> cover to cover in 2010. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Qur’an</span> is the scripture central to the Muslim tradition. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Bhagavad Gita</span> is of central importance to the Hindu tradition. What I find interesting in exploring other faith traditions is that if I allow myself to come to them with a Beginner’s Mind or an open mind, I find that there are many points of contact between faiths. <br /><br />We share many symbols that are deeper than the meaning each faith attaches to them. The life of Krishna and life of Christ are similar in many ways. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Qur’an</span> has a high reverence for Jesus. Today we are reflecting upon a story of the infant Jesus in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Qur’an</span>.<br /><br />These religious texts, whether they be the Bible, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Qur’an</span> or the <span style="font-style: italic;">Bhagavad Gita</span> are rather mature. The common symbols and archetypes much earlier than what we find in these established religious texts. For instance the precocious divine child is an archetype found in all of the religious texts yet is more primal than any of them.<br /><br />Exploring other faith traditions enables us to see the larger archetypes and symbols at work in the stories that are common to us. I hope that becoming familiar with the sacred texts and traditions of others will enable us to understand our neighbor, perhaps be more sympathetic to them, and to discover and strengthen bonds of commonality.<br /><br />Today, stories of the child Jesus take center stage.<br /><br />When I was a child I remember being disappointed that the Bible said very little about Jesus as a child. We have him as a baby, then when he is twelve and in the temple and that is it. It wasn’t until I was in college that I discovered the <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/infancythomas.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Infancy Gospel of Thomas</span></a>. That shouldn’t be confused with the <a href="http://users.misericordia.edu//davies/thomas/Trans.htm"><span style="font-style: italic;">Gospel of Thomas</span></a>, which is a sayings gospel of Jesus. The <span style="font-style: italic;">Infancy Gospel of Thomas</span> tells stories about Jesus when he was a child, before reaching the age of twelve.<br /><br />Here are a few stories from the <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/infancythomas-a-roberts.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Infancy Gospel of Thomas</span></a>:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This child Jesus, when five years old, was playing in the ford of a mountain stream; and He collected the flowing waters into pools, and made them clear immediately, and by a word alone He made them obey Him. And having made some soft clay, He fashioned out of it twelve sparrows. And it was the Sabbath when He did these things. And there were also many other children playing with Him. And a certain Jew, seeing what Jesus was doing, playing on the Sabbath, went off immediately, and said to his father Joseph: Behold, thy son is at the stream, and has taken clay, and made of it twelve birds, and has profaned the Sabbath. And Joseph, coming to the place and seeing, cried out to Him, saying: Wherefore doest thou on the Sabbath what it is not lawful to do? And Jesus clapped His hands, and cried out to the sparrows, and said to them: Off you go! And the sparrows flew, and went off crying. And the Jews seeing this were amazed, and went away and reported to their chief men what they had seen Jesus doing.</span><br /><br />He was "being reported" at an early age!<br /><br />And another:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">After that He was again passing through the village; and a boy ran up against Him, and struck His shoulder. And Jesus was angry, and said to him: Thou shalt not go back the way thou camest. And immediately he fell down dead. And some who saw what had taken place, said: Whence was this child begotten, that every word of his is certainly accomplished? And the parents of the dead boy went away to Joseph, and blamed him, saying: Since thou hast such a child, it is impossible for thee to live with us in the village; or else teach him to bless, and not to curse:4 for he is killing our children.</span><br /><br />Jesus is dangerous. But helpful:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A few days after, a young man was splitting wood in the corner,11 and the axe came down and cut the sole of his foot in two, and he died from loss of blood. And there was a great commotion, and people ran together, and the child Jesus ran there too. And He pressed through the crowd, and laid hold of the young man's wounded foot, and he was cured immediately. And He said to the young man: Rise up now, split the wood, and remember me. And the crowd seeing what had happened, adored the child, saying: Truly the Spirit of God dwells in this child.</span><br /><br />And handy to have around in the carpenter's shop:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And His father was a carpenter, and at that time made ploughs and yokes. And a certain rich man ordered him to make him a couch. And one of what is called the cross pieces being too short, they did not know what to do. The child Jesus said to His father Joseph: Put down the two pieces of wood, and make them even in the middle. And Joseph did as the child said to him. And Jesus stood at the other end, and took hold of the shorter piece of wood, and stretched it, and made it equal to the other. And His father Joseph saw it, and wondered, and embraced the child, and blessed Him, saying: Blessed am I, because God has given me this child.</span><br /><br />And smart!<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />And Joseph, seeing that the child was vigorous in mind and body, again resolved that He should not remain ignorant of the letters, and took Him away, and handed Him over to another teacher. And the teacher said to Joseph: I shall first teach him the Greek letters, and then the Hebrew....And Jesus said to him: If thou art really a teacher, and art well acquainted with the letters, tell me the power of the Alpha, and I will tell thee the power of the Beta. And the teacher was enraged at this, and struck Him on the head. And the child, being in pain, cursed him; and immediately he swooned away, and fell to the ground on his face. And the child returned to Joseph's house; and Joseph was grieved, and gave orders to His mother, saying: Do not let him go outside of the door, because those that make him angry die.</span><br /><br />A power every child wishes to possess! And finally:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And after this the infant of one of Joseph's neighbours fell sick and died, and its mother wept sore. And Jesus heard that there was great lamentation and commotion, and ran in haste, and found the child dead, and touched his breast, and said: I say to thee, child, be not dead, but live, and be with thy mother. And directly it looked up and laughed. And He said to the woman: Take it, and give it milk, and remember me. And seeing this, the crowd that was standing by wondered, and said: Truly this child was either God or an angel of God, for every word of his is a certain fact. And Jesus went out thence, playing with the other children.</span><br /><br />Jesus is the precocious child. These stories don’t tell us much about Jesus, I suppose, but they do tell us about our fascination with The Child Archteype. These stories as well as the one in <span style="font-style: italic;">Luke</span> and in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Qur’an</span> feature the eloquent or wise child. Jesus, speaking with wisdom and authority astounds the scholars.<br /><br />Where does this eloquence or wisdom come from? According to the stories it is not from learning. It is not human wisdom. It is from God. It is a gift. Its source is Divine Creativity. There is a mythology of innocence at work here. We think of a child’s purity before being corrupted by learning and by living. The wise child who teaches adults reflects our desire for innocence. <br /><br />We think of the newborn is closer to God. You might have heard the story of the five year old girl who looks into the crib of her newborn baby sister and asks her:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Tell me about God. I forgot.</span><br /><br />We often say that prejudice is not innate but learned. Also, true enough. The precocious or eloquent child celebrates the innocence--the goodness--of children before the corruption of culture. The shadow of this kind of thinking is that you can end up with a devaluation of education in favor of superstition. We see this in religious leaders who put down education in favor of charisma, being caught up in the spirit and so forth.<br /><br />The child archetype has its shadow. It can lead us to become childish as well as childlike. How can we draw from the child archetype and use it as a constructive aspect of our personality? <br /><br />Caroline Myss (Mace) has some instructive ideas regarding the child archetype. I don’t know much about Caroline Myss. She has written some popular books and appears on the Oprah show frequently. I am neither recommending her or not recommending her. I did find this helpful. These are some of her thoughts on the child archetype. <a href="http://www.myss.com/library/contracts/four_archs.asp">She writes</a>:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The mature personality of the Child archetype nurtures that part of us that yearns to be lighthearted and innocent, expecting the wonders of tomorrow, regardless of age. This part of our nature contributes greatly to our ability to sense playfulness in our lives, balancing the seriousness of adult responsibilities. The balanced Child is a delight to be around because the energy that flows from this part of our personality is positively infectious and brings out the best in others, as well as in us.</span><br /><br />Subsets of this archetype include the wounded child, orphaned child, eternal child, magical or innocent child, and needy child. We all have within us a child. It is an archetype or a personality blueprint that we work from usually unconsciously. We can be aware of this archetype by being conscious of our dreams, of telling the stories of our childhood, by connecting with the values we learned. Particularly it is important to pay attention to what is "shaming" as well as what makes for “good little boys and girls.”<br /><br />It might be odd for me to talk about this today, because it could be right on the surface. At Christmas many of us reconnect with family. The rule of thumb here is that your family remembers you as you were not as you are. Not only as you were but as you were in their eyes. So you can be 40 but go back home and you are ten again. These can be humorous episodes or painful but they can be learning.<br /><br />What is it that pushes our buttons?<br />What keeps us from growing up?<br />What sense of childlikeness have I lost in a desire to keep the hurt child protected? <br />Do I never let the child out—that is the playfulness, spontaneity, creativity—because if I do she or he might be hurt?<br />Do I not trust because I may end up being orphaned or abandoned? <br />Is there unfinished business, needs not met by my parents that I want others to meet?<br /><br />I know we make a lot of fun about the inner child and the pseudo-psycho self-help industry that surrounds it, but actually it is a good thing to do this child work. Doing the important, and sometimes painful childhood work, can save some wear and tear on current relationships.<br /><br />When Jesus said,<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“Unless you become like a child, you won’t enter the kingdom of God,” </span>what was he talking about? The assumption here is that he wanted his followers to be childlike not childish. <br /><br />The Apostle Paul said, <span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />“When I was a child I thought like a child, reasoned like a child, spoke like a child. When I became an adult I put away childish things.” </span><br /><br />Fundamentalisms of all kinds are childish. They come from the needy child who desires authority. Give me all the answers. Give me the magic book. Give me a savior. You don’t have to grow up. You don’t have to take responsibility and think for yourself. You just have to obey. That is what children do in authoritarian households. They obey. That may be fine when you are five. But not when you are 25 or 45 or 75.<br /><br />Even societies can get stuck in childish ways. Jesus in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Infancy Gospel of Thomas</span> is a scary individual. He has all the power of divinity but none of its maturity. He is a terror to the neighbors. <span style="font-style: italic;">“Teach him to bless and not curse. He’s killing our children!”</span> <br /><br />Because he is the divine child he is supposedly innocent and pure. That is a dangerous combination. Power and innocence or more accurately power and perception of innocence.<br /><br />Think of the United States and its citizens. We are the city on the hill. Manifest destiny. God's chosen. Pure and innocent. All of our forays into other countries are for benevolent causes. Our history is one of goodness and mercy. We have a childish self-perception. Even when we are faced with facts of our non-innocence, we cannot see them for the over-arching shadow of the myth of innocence. <br /><br />The challenge of the <span style="font-style: italic;">via creativa</span> the way of creativity, the way of eloquence, is to move from childishness to childlikeness. <br /><br />At the beginning of the sermon I mentioned the importance of the Beginner’s Mind. Zen teacher <a href="http://www.cuke.com/Cucumber%20Project/lectures/srl%20la%20beginners%20mind.html">Shunryo Suzuki-Roshi said</a>:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few."</span><br /><br />So part of the childlikeness that we want to move toward is to be teachable. To approach life with awe, wonder, openness, and possibility. To do this we use our imagination, our creativity, our confidence, our skills, and our eloquence. <br /><br />Eloquence is to speak truthfully in such a way that evokes beauty. The eloquent uplifts as well as informs. Sometimes that speech seems childlike in its simplicity, such as the parables of Jesus or a Zen koan, but actually comes from a long history of living.<br /><br />May we discover eloquence in all of our speech.<br /><br />I will let the Qur’an have the last word:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The all-Merciful!<br />He taught the Qur’an,<br />He created humankind,<br />He taught them eloquence.</span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-87855680626663758502009-08-23T18:28:00.000-07:002009-08-23T18:29:11.923-07:00Say "Yes" To What Is Within: A Sermon<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Here is the text of today's sermon. This weekend marks the beginning of Ramadan.</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;">Say “Yes” To What Is Within!<br />John Shuck<br /><br />First Presbyterian Church<br />Elizabethton, Tennessee<br />August 23rd, 2009<br /></div><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >O believers, the fast is ordained upon you, as it was ordained upon those who came before you—perhaps you will fear God—for a number of days. Whoever is sick among you or on a journey, then a number of other days. Upon those who can bear it, a penance: the feeding of a poor person. He who willingly proffers good, this would be better for him. To fast is better for you, if only you knew. The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Qur’an was sent down—right Guidance to mankind, and clear signs of Guidance and Distinction of truth from false-hood. Those among you who witness it, let him fast therein.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Surah al-Baqarah 2:182-5</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Christ passed by a group of people who hurled insults at him, and he responded with blessings. He passed by another group who insulted him, and he responded likewise. One of his disciples asked, “Why is that the more they insult you, the more you bless them, as if inviting this upon yourself?” Christ said, “A Person can bring forth only what is within him.”</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Tarif Khalidi, ed. <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/KHAMUS.html">The Muslim Jesus: Sayings and Stories in Islamic Literature</a> (London: Cambridge, 2001), p. 106.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Yesterday marked the first day of Ramadan. This is a month of fasting and worship for our Muslim sisters and brothers. For thirty days Muslims will fast during daylight hours. After the sun sets they will eat and socialize. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is believed that during the month of Ramadan, on the 27th day of this month to be precise, that Muhammad received his first revelations. It is also during this month that God determines the course of the world for the coming year. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When I first heard that I had a visual of God in his study with his yearly planner, charts, newsprint, and markers as he plans the universe for the next year. A couple of hurricanes, maybe a pandemic, some pretty sunsets, and a bumper corn crop. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Or maybe God is She on the beach with her doodle pad wondering if she ought to so something nice and provide world peace this year or at least universal health care. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I thought it was fun to think of God using the month of Ramadan as a planning period for world events. With our modern consciousness the idea of gods and goddesses or even God with a big G planning things seems rather, well, antiquated. Things seem to take care of themselves. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The major consequence of modern science for religion was to put God in the unemployment line. The universe handles itself and there was nothing left for God to do. Nevertheless, it is fun to think of God out there planning things. I guess it provides some sort of comfort. Somebody has planned this mess. Perhaps that idea makes the mess bearable. Whether we find it all believable or not, religion is a tribute to human imagination. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">During Ramadan, observers may spend more time than they usually do praying or reading the Qur’an. Or maybe they just feel guilt for not praying or reading the Qur’an as much as they think they should. This period of fasting is similar to Lent for Christians in that it is a time of spiritual and personal renewal. Observers are to avoid telling lies, being greedy, and gossip. Instead, they are to be kind, do well to the less fortunate, and so forth. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The idea is to be conscious about doing good and to avoid being mean. It would seem to be a swell idea to do good and avoid being mean all the time of course. But setting a time a part helps us to remember. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Here is an </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northeastwales/hi/people_and_places/religion_and_ethics/newsid_8214000/8214796.stm">explanation of Ramadan</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> from a woman in the United Kingdom. Her name is Arfana and she lives in Wrexham in the UK:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Ramadan is the holy month for Muslims all over the world and it's a very important month. We fast for 30 days - we can't eat after sunrise and then all day until after sunset. Prayers are most important at this time. It's a spiritual journey more than anything.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >It is difficult not eating during the day especially in the UK as it's not a Muslim country and you still have to go about your day to day life, like going to work where your colleagues might be sitting having fish and chips for dinner! Whereas in a Muslim country all the shops would be closed during the day and it's easier, but it's still a challenging thing to do.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >I work in Wrexham and my colleagues are fascinated by Ramadan! They ask lots of questions and think it must be a difficult thing to do, for anybody.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >In Wrexham we all get together on Friday, which is a holy day, and break the fast together at the Mosque. Generally people in their own homes would invite each other round to break the fast together. It's a tradition to invite people to your house and break the fast together.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >At the end of Ramadan comes Eid, which is a celebration of Ramadan, and it's when we all have a big feast.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Every year Ramadan starts 10 days earlier so it starts at a different time every year. Obviously it's harder when it's during the summer as the days are longer. We've had fasting over Christmas too which has been interesting.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Fasting is only observed by healthy individuals. They have to be of an age that they know what they're doing. Pregnant women or people who are unwell or on medication don't fast and children have to reach a certain age before they can fast.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Notice that in her explanation of Ramadan, she included no theological speculation. There was no mention of God. No reference to God planning the upcoming world events or Muhammad receiving the Qur’an. I am not saying she doesn’t believe in that. Whether the theology is important or not, she doesn’t mention it. What is important from what she says is what is done--30 days of fasting and all the perils and challenges associated with that. Then come the evening meals, celebrations, and socializing culminating with the big feast at the end of Ramadan. That is the important stuff.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Ramadan is a month long celebration of tradition and human connection. There is perhaps a theological mist behind it, but the real value is the party. If God is to be found, it is in the interaction. God is in the feast and in the fast.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">One of the most important sayings of Jesus, or perhaps I should say a saying of Jesus that resonates with me is found in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Gospel of Luke</span>. In response to the question of when folks should expect the kingdom of God, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you.” It could also be translated, “The kingdom of God is among you.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I don’t know for sure whether that statement originated with Jesus or was placed on his lips by creative storytellers. Whatever the case, it represents a huge step in the evolution of God. In this one sentence of Jesus, God made a monumental shift. God, or the kingdom of God, is within you. This is in opposition to an external authority or reality out there in time or in space, or even outside of time and space. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Leo Tolstoy was so moved by that saying of Jesus that he wrote his famous, radical, too-true-for-us-to-handle book, and titled it </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingdom_of_God_Is_Within_You"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Kingdom of God is Within You</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. It is a book about Christian pacifism. His book was banned in his home country of Russia. In it he claimed that all war and violence was against the will of Christ. If humanity was going to survive it would require us to take Christ’s message, "turn the other cheek," to heart and to live it. The kingdom of God is realized as people of conscience refuse to cooperate with all forms of violence and oppression.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Peace arises from within the individual, that is, the Christ within.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A new book I recommend is Robert Wright’s </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://evolutionofgod.net/"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Evolution of God</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. It is a fascinating book that traces the development of the concept of God as human consciousness changes. He shows how “God” has evolved throughout our religious past and into the present day. This is a very important book regarding how we think about God and how we use God to control our surroundings including other people.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">You can tell a lot about a person by the God they believe in. For example a God…</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• who desires you to kill in his name,</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• who sends the unbelievers to hell,</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• who makes you recite a list of 160 commandments before breakfast,</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• who sends tornadoes to Minneapolis as punishment on the Lutherans for welcoming gays,</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• who says Jesus was tortured on the cross because you are really, really bad,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">is not God or reality at all. It does say a lot about those who invent that God and evangelize for that God. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We are no better than the God we invent for ourselves.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The kingdom of God is within you.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Just in case there might be one person who has not heard this Cherokee fable, I will share it with all of you.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >He said, "My son, the battle is between two "wolves" inside us all.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >"Which wolf wins?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >The old Cherokee replied, "The one you feed."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The kingdom of God is within you. What wolf--what God—will we feed? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Religious celebrations, like Ramadan, give us an opportunity to be conscious about the God we feed.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Even for those of us who are not Muslim, yet out of respect for Muslims, Ramadan can be a month of observance. This is a good thirty day period to learn about the Muslim faith, to make connections with our Muslim neighbors, to search for common ground, and to do things that make for peace. An act as simple as taking a moment of silent meditation and offering it as a gift to our Muslim sisters and brothers is a gift of peacefulness.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Compassion, creativity, joy, peacefulness--the kingdom of God--is within us and among us.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">That for me is a God I can believe in. </span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-9136506175768108902009-08-21T18:23:00.001-07:002009-08-21T18:23:53.461-07:00May You Have A Successful Ramadan!<a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqv1PFk04Lan4T9Y6RsEWthUEbtdzHEA7z-X-_6P2GcufEm7IzN4yrMSFeVGJ3coEFo3xpaUQlFbabRtMuQpXMbYiTbX8-99k5oklNGNgxCFPEY1kMlWzL0ZO4S2brNg4gO_1ZC6V0s54/s1600-h/ramadan2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 156px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqv1PFk04Lan4T9Y6RsEWthUEbtdzHEA7z-X-_6P2GcufEm7IzN4yrMSFeVGJ3coEFo3xpaUQlFbabRtMuQpXMbYiTbX8-99k5oklNGNgxCFPEY1kMlWzL0ZO4S2brNg4gO_1ZC6V0s54/s400/ramadan2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372589816235237794" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" >Tomorrow marks </span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" ><a href="http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Islam_28/Islam_Ramadan_will_begin_on_August_22_2009.shtml">the beginning</a></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" > of </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.holidays.net/ramadan/story.htm"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><a>Ramadan</a></span><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" >.</span><br /><blockquote><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is during this month that Muslims fast. It is called the Fast of Ramadan and lasts the entire month. Ramadan is a time when Muslims concentrate on their faith and spend less time on the concerns of their everyday lives. It is a time of worship and contemplation.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">During the Fast of Ramadan strict restraints are placed on the daily lives of Muslims. They are not allowed to eat or drink during the daylight hours. Smoking and sexual relations are also forbidden during fasting. At the end of the day the fast is broken with prayer and a meal called the</span><em style="font-family: arial;"> iftar</em><span style="font-family:arial;">. In the evening following the </span><em style="font-family: arial;">iftar</em><span style="font-family:arial;"> it is customary for Muslims to go out visiting family and friends. The fast is resumed the next morning.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">According to the Holy Quran:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >One may eat and drink at any time during the night "until you can plainly distinguish a white thread from a black thread by the daylight: then keep the fast until night."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The good that is acquired through the fast can be destroyed by five things - </span><br /><ul style="font-family: arial;"><li> the telling of a lie</li><li>slander</li><li>denouncing someone behind his back</li><li>a false oath</li><li>greed or covetousness<br /></li></ul><span style="font-family:arial;">These are considered offensive at all times, but are most offensive during the Fast of Ramadan.</span></blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">This sounds like a good idea for anyone regardless of one's religion. <br /><br />Do good and avoid being mean.<br /><br />Best wishes to all my Muslim friends for a successful Ramadan! </span></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-70355310872323748822009-07-26T19:34:00.001-07:002009-07-26T19:34:21.976-07:00Created from Water: A Sermon<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Here is today's sermon on the theme of water. I shared some things learned on my study leave. It is also Qur'an Sunday (we have been reading the Qur'an </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://quranandjive.blogspot.com/">cover to cover</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> in 2009). I chose a reading from Surah 25 that states that God created humankind from water. </span><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;">Created from Water<br />John Shuck<br /><br />First Presbyterian Church<br />Elizabethton, Tennessee<br />July 26th, 2009<br /><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=115637302">John 4:7-14</a><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Water may not be something we think about on a day to day basis. We turn on the faucet. We flush the toilet. We wash our clothes in a machine as well as our dishes. We turn on the shower. Water appears. That wasn’t the case, of course, for those who lived when the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Gospel of John</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> was written. Nor is it the case for many in the world today.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Our story from John’s gospel features a woman among many women who went daily to draw water from a common well. Fresh water was not taken for granted. Gathering water took time and labor. Water was not plentiful or easy to access. We know the value of water amidst its scarcity. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This is a poem from Wendell Berry entitled, “Water.” </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">I was born in a drought year. That summer</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">my mother waited in the house, enclosed</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">in the sun and the dry ceaseless wind,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">for the men to come back in the evenings,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">bringing water from a distant spring.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Veins of leaves ran dry, roots shrank.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And all my life I have dreaded the return</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">of that year, sure that it still is</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">somewhere, like a dead enemy’s soul. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Fear of dust in my mouth is always with me,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and I am the faithful husband of the rain,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I love the water of wells and springs</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and the taste of roofs in the water of cisterns.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I am a dry man whose thirst is praise</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">of clouds, and whose mind is something of a cup.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">My sweetness is to wake in the night</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">after days of dry heat, hearing the rain.</span><br />--Wendell Berry, <a href="http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/wendell_berry/poems/143">“Water”</a></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">It is not surprising that in the Bible and in the Qur’an water is both a metaphor for the spiritual life and a material reality. The Bible begins with water. Water is so important that God controls it:</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">In this ancient cosmology, the sky or the dome kept the waters above it and the waters on the flat earth. When it rained, they thought that the portals were being opened in the dome to allow the water to fall.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the Qur’an, God also separates the waters. In this case it is the salt water from the fresh water. In our reading from Surah 25:</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">…It is He Who merged the two seas,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This one fresh and sweet water,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">That one salty and bitter.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Between them He erected a barrier, an impassable boundary.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">It is She Who, from water, created humankind,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Conferring on them kinship, of blood and marriage.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Your Lord is Ever-Powerful.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">In the Qur’an human beings are created from water. Human beings are created from dust and clay in the Bible and from water in the Qur’an. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Gospel of John</span><span style="font-family:arial;">, Jesus offers “living water.” </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” </span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">Later in the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Gospel of John</span><span style="font-family:arial;">, Jesus cries out to the crowds:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">Lest there be any doubt, from our ancient texts, water is sacred. Water is the symbol for life. Wetness is spiritual. The opposite is dryness, lifelessness, deadness. This dryness is the abode of the unclean spirits. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus said that when an unclean spirit leaves a human being:</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">“it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting-place, but it finds none.”</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">That is a memorable image for spiritual death: an unclean spirit wandering through the waterless regions.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">All four gospels bring Jesus on the scene with the water of baptism. His ministry begins with a ritual cleansing and the promise from the sky, “This is my son my beloved.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There is a reason why water has spiritual significance, why it is used as a metaphor for joyful, conscious, celebratory, refreshing, life. The reason is that water has material significance. We can get along without shopping malls. We will survive without cars, computers, and churches. Human beings can live without oil, gas and coal. But we cannot live without water. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• Available fresh water is less than ½ of 1 percent of all the water on Earth.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• Seventy percent of our water use is for agriculture. The vast majority of that water is used to raise livestock (meat) and to produce biofuels.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• Eighty percent of the global population relies on ground-water supplies that are dangerously depleted, if not exhausted, as they are mined beyond natural replenishment. (Kostigen, p. 170)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• On top of that, our streams and rivers are increasingly polluted with toxins. We have created “dead zones” in the Gulf of Mexico from all the agricultural chemicals that have flowed down streams to the Mississippi and then into the gulf. P. 68 (</span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.readthespirit.com/explore/2009/07/faithful-earth-friendly-strategies.html">50 Ways to Help Save the Earth</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, Rebecca Barnes'-Davies)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">• The largest landfill in the world (90 percent of which is plastic) is in the Pacific Ocean. This garbage patch is between California and Hawaii and is twice the size of Texas. P. 68 (50 Ways)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Lack of access to fresh, clean, water could be the biggest threat to humanity in the coming years. It already is a threat for much of the world. One of every six people on Earth, that is one billion people, lack access to safe drinking water. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Journalist Thomas Kostigen has traveled to many places in the world including Mumbai, India, Linfen City China, and Borneo in Southeast Asia and has written about the environmental situation in these places. His latest book is </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.readyouarehere.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">You Are Here: Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That Does to Our Planet</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. He writes about water:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">Most residents of the developing world get by on a little more than five gallons of water per day; the average global citizen uses about thirteen gallons per day; all the while, water use in Western Europe and the United States ranges between 50 and 170 gallons per person per day. Think we can get by on using a little less and putting a little more into the hands of people who need it? P. 169</blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">When we hear or read this information there is a tendency to become numb to it. We may feel both a sense of helplessness and hopelessness. We feel helpless in that we don’t think we as individuals can do anything to change forces seemingly beyond our control. We feel hopeless in that the problems are so vast we wonder how can we possibly solve them.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We don’t need to be immobilized by either.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I spent the last two weeks at two conferences. The first was </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.prcweb.org/">Presbyterians for Restoring Creation</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and the second was </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://originalblessing.ning.com/">Creation Spirituality Communities</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> with </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.matthewfox.org/sys-tmpl/door/">Matthew Fox</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. From both of these conferences I took away this truth. </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />Everyone is now an environmentalist. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Being green isn’t just for hippies and tree huggers. The creativity, concern, and compassion for Earth and all of its creatures are becoming part of our consciousness. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">People are not only becoming aware of the issues but are thinking creatively about how to address them. We are recognizing that we are interconnected. We are realizing that everything we consume affects people around the globe and vice versa. Our little steps, using a little less water and eating less meat, have huge impacts. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We are far from helpless. We are after all human beings. We are the consciousness of the Universe. It took 14 billion years for us to get here. We aren’t going to throw that away. We have done some pretty incredible things and made amazing discoveries. As we awaken from our slumber, we will discover that the creativity of the universe is within us. We are survivors. It is in our genes. Each of us is here because our ancestors learned to adapt. Helpless? Hardly.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Nor should we be hopeless. Matthew Fox reminded us to remember our ancestors. We appeared on the scene about 100,000 years ago in Africa, our home. We nearly went extinct, but we didn’t. Just as human beings began to emigrate from Africa to Central Asia and to Europe we ran into the ice age. Talk about climate change.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There were no manuals available to deal with it. No books for our ancestors with titles such as </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Securing Your Financial Portfolio During the Coming Ice Age Crisis</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. There were no internet sites offering </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >101 Ways to Hunt and Kill a Woolly Mammoth</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. They had to figure it out for themselves. Somehow they did. They learned to adapt. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Here we are again. We are certainly facing crises we have never faced before. But with our tools--our awareness, creativity, and inherited wisdom--we will manage. Our descendants could enjoy hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of years of life. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But we need to step up and not zone out. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">One way to be conscious is to celebrate the sacredness of water. Water is spiritual. Let us drink of the spring that gushes up to eternal life. When we drink, when we eat our green things, when we bathe, when we wade in the water, we are engaging in a sacred and holy act. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Let us celebrate the wetness of it. Let us each honor with our mind, spirit, and body the pure, clean, dripping, life-giving goodness of H20. The Qur’an reminds us that we are created from water. It is life, our sacred treasure. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As we eat, as we drink, let us honor and be grateful for this gift.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Let us imagine a world in which there is enough fresh, clean water for all. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Because as we imagine we make it so.</span><br /><br /><blockquote><object width="325" height="244"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BOTa7GAV9Wc&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BOTa7GAV9Wc&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="325" height="244"></embed></object></blockquote>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-72806575900621591502009-06-28T19:37:00.000-07:002009-07-26T19:40:45.223-07:00Let There Be Light!<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">We have been reading the Qur'an cover to cover and this month we are reading Surahs 19-24. We chose some prayers and readings from the Sufi tradition. The sermon was based on loosely on the theme of Light as a symbol for the via positiva, the way of celebration, awe, and wonder. Sometimes you just have to accept joy and say it's good.<br /><br />After the benediction, Katrina and the Waves <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eONhto0x_nI">danced us out of the church</a>.</span></span><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;">Let There Be Light<br />John Shuck<br />First Presbyterian Church<br />Elizabethton, Tennessee<br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We are in the season of summer. The days are longer. It is a season of Light. Light could be the most popular symbol for Divinity. In the Gospel of John, the Cosmic Christ is the Light that shines in the darkness. And the darkness did not overcome it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the Qur’an, Allah (which is simply the Arabic word for God) is the Light. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree (which in English means light or enlightenment). The Enlightenment is a name we have given to a period in Western intellectual history for the light of reason overcoming the darkness of superstition.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am not sure if there is any wisdom tradition that doesn’t make use of Light as a symbol for awakening, insight, and joy. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the Hebrew scriptures, the first sentence placed on the lips of God was, “Let there be Light.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As I was re-reading Matthew Fox’s 95 theses for the reformation of the church, he referenced physicist David Bohm, who said that matter is frozen light. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">All matter, including human matter, is light. You could think of it theologically in that all matter, all flesh, all nature, all stuff, is frozen Divine Light. Not only do we have it in us, it is us. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We use the term Light as a symbol for creativity. It is a symbol for joy. It is a symbol for healing. It is a symbol for awe, wonder, and celebration.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This first week of summer invites us to celebrate Light. This is the via positiva, the way of looking at life, and saying, “It is good.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We do need to bask in the Light. To let the Light soak in us. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When we moved from upstate New York to Montana about nine years ago, I had forgotten about how Light it is out in the high and dry desert. Upstate New York is beautiful. East Tennessee is beautiful. Lots of trees, lots of green, lots of rain that makes it so. So here in the East, in the land of the trees, there are many overcast days.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But I remember those first several weeks when we had moved back to Montana how light it was. I have this same experience when I return for a summer visit. The sun shines most of the time. There are few clouds. According to Montana’s state song, “the skies are always blue.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I remember for several days spreading my arms and saying, “Give me that sun.” I wanted the Light, not so much the heat, but the light to sink into my bones. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We have had some beautiful bright light days here recently. Good days to soak it up (with the proper application of sunscreen of course). </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">My theme for this morning’s sermon is soak it up. Soak up the Light. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It’s time to feel good.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Now I know that we need permission. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We ask ourselves how can we feel good when we have so many disappointments? </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">How can we feel good when there is so much to do? </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">How can we feel good when there is so much suffering in the world, in our community, in our families, in our own lives?</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">How can I feel good when my friend is in pain?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There is so much darkness, isn’t it a sin to celebrate the Light?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If we waited until there was no more darkness, suffering and sin, we would never feel good. There is a time for everything writes the poet in the biblical book of Ecclesiastes:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">a time to be born, and a time to die;</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">3a time to kill, and a time to heal;</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">a time to break down, and a time to build up;</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">a time to weep, and a time to laugh;</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">a time to mourn, and a time to dance;</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Today is as good a time as any to laugh and to dance. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">That Light of laughter—that dancing Light is necessary to make all the other stuff worth it. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is a sacred act to take delight in the beauty around us and in the beauty within us. There is beauty within you, don’t ever forget that. You are God’s beauty, God’s Light.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We do weep with those who weep. There is a time for that. There is a time in the midst of the weeping to notice beauty—beauty that is surrounded and illuminated by Light.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Taking notice of the beauty is the highest act of worship. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Over the weekend my Lovely and I watched a wonderful film, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. The film is based on a wild idea. Benjamin Button was born in 1918. But he was born old. He had age in his baby body, but his mind was that of a baby. As he grows, his body grows younger. He ages backwards. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I won’t give away the plot or the story if you haven’t seen it. It is a good film. It is a via positiva film. Throughout the film we get the sadness about change, but within the reality of impermanence, the joy of the characters is found in accepting what comes, the strangeness, the unpredictability of life itself. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Benjamin at one point says:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">Along the way you bump into people who make a dent on your life. Some people get struck by lightning. Some are born to sit by a river. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim the English Channel. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people can dance.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">And at another point, as an old man, or actually a young man as the case is, he has become younger even as he has lived a long time, he offers this advice:</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span><blockquote style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.</span></blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> is a great film that may inspire us to take notice of the Divine Light in all of life.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the midst of it all, in the midst of a constantly changing existence, we could do well to give ourselves permission to enjoy it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I suppose we also need permission to allow ourselves to be joyful. This has to do with that nagging feeling of guilt or unworthiness that puts very nasty and very wrong thoughts into our heads that we don’t deserve joy. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It could be that we need the Divine Light of forgiveness. The Light accepts us as we are. There is no reason to beat up on ourselves. No reason to deny joy. The Light has accepted you. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The world needs people who recognize the Divine Light within themselves. If no one gave themselves permission to be joyful, at least for one day—there would be no joy at all. Sometimes we just need to say, “Forget the rules (and who made them anyway?) I’m going to happy.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I love this quote from </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.marianne.com/">Marianne Williamson</a><span style="font-family:arial;">: </span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.<br />Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.<br />It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.<br />We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?<br />Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.<br />Your playing small doesn't serve the world.<br />There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.<br />We are all meant to shine, as children do.<br />We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.<br />It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.<br />And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.<br />As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.</blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">Soak up the Light today. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When you go out for lunch…</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If you hike with us on Roan Mountain…</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If you visit with relatives and friends…</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If you mow the lawn…</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If you go to the store…</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If you fix supper…</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Soak it up!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Notice how difficult all those things would be without Light! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Our lives are bathed in Light.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">You are the Light. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Let it shine! </span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-12543449694728916052009-05-24T12:17:00.001-07:002009-05-24T12:17:37.115-07:00Return to the Source<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Today was Qur'an Sunday. We are reading the Qur'an cover to cover in 2009. The reading for June is Surahs 14-18.</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;">Return to the Source<br />John Shuck<br /><br />First Presbyterian Church<br />Elizabethton, Tennessee<br />May 24th, 2009<br />Qur’an: Surahs 14-18<br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We are about half-way through the Qur’an. The readings for June are Surahs 14-18. The Qur’an is not very long. It is about the length of the New Testament. So if you haven’t started yet, now would be a good time. You could read it during the summer. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I like the translation by </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jun/21/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianreview26">Tarif Khalidi</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. It doesn’t have any notes or explanations. It is like reading a book. I highly recommend Lex Hixon’s, </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/excerpts.php?id=14321"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Heart of the Qur’an: An Introduction to Islamic Spirituality</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Also, Michael Sells, </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.whitecloudpress.com/product.asp?specific=jnpqhsf0"><span style="font-style: italic;">Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> is a helpful guide. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Lex Hixon’s book is particularly helpful in understanding the tone of the Qur’an. In the English translations, God comes across as harsh. But Hixon and Sells bring out the compassion and the sadness of the Qur’an. Sadness in that God sees humanity refusing to return to the Source of Life. Compassion in that God never ceases to give up on humanity.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I noticed in reading that the Qur’an seems to repeat itself. It says the same thing in different ways, sometimes in the same way. At first it was annoying. I wanted a plot or if not that, at least a thesis statement with an orderly argument. But that is not what you get. It swirls and spirals, going back and forth from contemporary events in the time of Muhammad to stories of the earlier prophets to reflections on nature and pronouncements on the human condition. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is more like a long conversation. If you have ever stayed up all night with your partner in order to clear the air you will know what I mean. Those conversations are not orderly. They move in terms of emotion. You repeat yourself. You tell a part of a story from the past, then argue about something, then tell part of another story, then back to the first. On and on, a dance throughout the night. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Qur’an then, is a conversation with the Source of Life. I hesitate to use the word, “God” as it is bigger than God, if we think of God narrowly as a supernatural being. It is the Universe, Life itself, the Source of All, speaking in human terms. The conversation is from the Source of Life to us, through the prophet Muhammad. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Qur’an as book is only a piece of the Qur’an. The Qur’an is really the Source of Life itself. Hixon uses the term, Cosmic Qur’an. Everything is the Qur’an. Everywhere is the voice of God, the voice of the Source of Life, if we will listen. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">From Surah 16: </span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">“He it is Who made water descend from the sky, of which some is for you to drink and some for trees from which you eat. With it He causes vegetation to sprout for your benefit: olives, palms and vines, an all types of fruit. In this is a sign for a people who reflect.<br /><br />He made the night to serve you as also the day, the sun, the moon and the stars—all are made to serve by His command. In these are signs fro people who understand.<br /><br />Behold what He created for you on earth, diverse in colour. In this is a sign for a people who remember.” 16:9-13</blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">As I read through these revelations it came to me why they seem so repetitive. That is because the Source of Life is trying to penetrate my veil of ignorance. From various angles, with numerous parables, with repetition, the Source of Life, like my conversation partner with whom I converse all night, is trying to get something through my thick skull. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The compassion is reflected in that the Source of Life never gives up. The Qur’an whether it be the Cosmic Qur’an or the words on the page of a poor English translation, is the ongoing attempt by the Source of Life to wake me up so I will return to Life.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A church member gave me a cd this past week by folk singer, Susan Werner. The cd is entitled, </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.susanwerner.com/music/m_tgt.html">“Gospel Truth”</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and it contains a number of songs about spirituality. She is delightfully irreverent. She jokes that she is an evangelical agnostic—passionate yet ambivalent. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am going to play a song from that cd. This one is not irreverent, however. I found it to be deeply meaningful. It is about conscience. I don’t know if she had the Qur’an in mind when she wrote it, but it seems to me to reflect the wisdom at the heart of the Qur’an. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Qur’an is the invitation to return to the Source. This is not a return to religion, but to the Source beyond all religion, beyond all science, beyond all knowing. It isn’t about believing in things. It is about transformation. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Susan Werner expresses that in this beautiful song about the Divine Troubler. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is called, “Did Trouble Me”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >When I closed my eyes so I would not see </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord did trouble me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >When I let things stand that should not be</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord did trouble me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >When I held my head too high too proud</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord did trouble me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >When I raised my voice too little too loud</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord did trouble me</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Did trouble me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >With a word or a sign</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >With the ringing of the bell in the back of my mind</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Did trouble me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Did stir my soul</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >For to make me human, to make me whole</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >When I slept too long, slept too deep</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord did trouble me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Put a worrisome vision into my sleep</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord did trouble me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >When I held myself away and apart</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord did trouble me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >And the tears of my brother didn’t move my heart</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord did trouble me</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >And of this I’m sure, of this I know</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord will trouble me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Whatever I do and wherever I go</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord will trouble me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >In the whisper of the wind, in the rhythm of a song</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord will trouble me</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >To keep me on the path where I belong</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >My Lord will trouble me </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We forget who we are. We don’t see the Divine imprint on everything we see. We are too busy, too clouded, too sleepy, too desirous of our own agendas and goals. We aren’t even sure why we have these agendas and goals. They keep us busy I suppose. They give us the illusion that we are doing something important. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Amidst all of this, whether we are conscious of it or not, the Divine Troubler is at work. The Divine Troubler messes up our plans on a daily basis. She puts holes in our carefully constructed theories and does all kinds of mischief. She does this not to be mean or cruel, but to remind us to return. She does this from compassion.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">At the Source is Divine Peace. We will be troubled until we return. We will be troubled by beauty, troubled by suffering, troubled by someone in need, troubled by success, troubled by failure. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In chapter 18 there is a parable of two men. God gives to one of them a fruitful garden, surrounded with palms and a gushing river. The harvest is bountiful. The man who enjoys this harvest says to his neighbor: “I am greater in wealth than you are and more powerful.” He enters his garden and says to himself: “I imagine that this will never become desolate. I doubt that the Hour shall come. And if I am ever returned to my Lord, I shall find something even better that it as a final destination.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The neighbor tells him to be careful for what he is saying. He tells him, “Are you blaspheming against Him Who created you from clay, then from a sperm, then fashioned you into a man? Assuredly, it is God my Lord, and I associate none with Him. If only you had entered your garden and said: “This is the will of God! There is no strength save in God!”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Sure enough. The arrogant man’s fruit was withered and his orchards became barren. The point of the parable, as all parables, is to cause us to reflect. They are designed to trouble us. In what sense are we like the arrogant man? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When we refuse to recognize the Source of Life and to recognize our interdependence with all of creation, we become arrogant. That arrogance manifests itself in contempt for others and for creation. We think we own something or deserve something or have a right to something. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When that happens, the Qur’an, because of Divine Compassion, will trouble us.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am discovering that there is not a great deal of speculation in the Qur’an. There is not a list of things we are supposed to believe. It is an invitation to be aware of life and to be conscious of our surroundings. It is a call to walk lightly and to take time to notice this incredible mystery of creation. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Everything is a sign. Every created thing is a parable for the Source. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This Source is Divine Love and Peace. This Source embraces us as we are, as beloved.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I will close with this quote from </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/books.php?id=2116"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Illuminated Prayer: The Five-Times Prayer</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> of the Sufis:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">What the world needs now is not more religion and dogmas but a stream—a torrent of warm heartmelt that cuts through the ice cap of our mental hardness. God surely reveals Himself to all who can prostrate themselves before His unknowable reality. Can we give ourselves over to the possibility that we, too, are something so marvelous that no one has ever been able to say it? Something so outrageous that knees could actually give way. We could drop to the ground, fall prostrate, fall within the center of the word humility, and disappearing, live with in it. P. 96.</blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">That is what it means to return to the Source.</span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-88093170579511230442009-04-26T11:21:00.000-07:002009-04-26T18:25:27.602-07:00Abode of Peace--A Sermon<div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;">Abode of Peace<br />John Shuck<br /><br />First Presbyterian Church<br />Elizabethton, Tennessee<br /><br />April 26, 2009<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Surah 10:24-25</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The likeness of this present life is like water We made descend from the sky. The plants of the earth, such as men and beasts are wont to eat, grow diverse because of it—until, when earth has assumed its ornament and is decked out in all its finery, and its people think they hold it in their power, Our command descends upon it by night or day, and We turn it into stubble, as though yesterday it had never bloomed. Even so do We make clear the signs for a people who reflect.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">God calls to the Abode of Peace and guides whomsoever He wills to a path that is straight.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">On Friday the confirmation class visited the Muslim Community Center of the Northeast. We attended Friday prayer. On Friday afternoon at 1:30 the call to prayer is sounded and people gather at the musalah (place of prayer). In addition to prayer a sermon is given.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I don’t think all of them are the same, but at this particular musalah, there is a separate place for women and men. The guys and I were in the front part and the women were behind a window. It is a one way mirror. The women could see and hear, but the men couldn’t see them. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We were given a brief tour beforehand by Taneem Aziz. Friday is not like Sunday for Christians. After the prayer, they return to work. They have education classes on Sundays. On the wall of one of the children’s classes I could see where they were learning about the principles of Islam and the Prophet Muhammed (peace be upon him). To say “peace be upon him” is a sign of respect. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Next to Muhammad’s name were his qualities, “trustworthy, kind, loyal.” Muhammad is a model for how to live in the world. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Taneem invited us to either watch or participate. He said that before prayer, we should wash feet, hands and face. In the restroom is a place to wash your feet. The guys thought that was pretty cool, so they and I washed our feet and hands and face.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The speaker was from Texas. The Muslim Community Center doesn’t have an imam, so the person who is most familiar with the Qur’an is the one who gives the sermon. On occasion they will have a guest speaker like they did Friday. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We were introduced to him beforehand and he was impressed and pleased that we wanted to learn about Islam. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We went into the Musalah, the call to prayer was recited by Taneem, and people began to gather. We sat on the carpet. The sermon was interesting. He was encouraging Muslims to make relationships with non-Muslims. It is important to do that so that non-Muslims can overcome stereotypes about Islam. These stereotypes include equating Muslims with terrorism.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">“Terrorism does not have a religion,” he said. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">He mentioned us with gratitude. It is important for Muslims and non-Muslims to find common ground and to work together for peace he told us.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">After the sermon, we gathered in two parallel lines, shoulder to shoulder. The guys asked me what to do, and I said, “I don’t know, just follow along.” Following the lead of the others, facing Mecca, we bowed, kneeled and prostrated when they did.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I found it to be moving. There is something that binds people when they pray together, especially close together. We were connected beyond the differences of culture, class, and religion to surrender to the Source of all that is.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When the prayer had finished Taneem and his college-age daughter, spoke to us in one of the classrooms. They answered questions and invited us to a potluck. On the second Saturday of every month, they have a common meal. I said I would bring this invitation back to us, and on a Saturday that works, we can schedule that time.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">His daughter wears the hijab, the head covering. Most of the time when she goes out with her mother to shop, they are treated with respect. But now and then they will receive comments such as “Go back to Iraq” or “Go back to where you came from.” She is born in the United States, so she already is where she came from. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">They never confront. They never return hostilities. That is part of their reality. Most of the time they are treated well, but hostilities against them can surface. He said to the youth that they can be helpful in speaking out against misinformation against Muslims. Now, we have prayed together. Now, we know each other, face to face. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I asked what it meant to be a Muslim. And his daughter put it quite eloquently and simply: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >“It’s a way of life. I begin each day saying, ‘Bismallah (in the name of God).’” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The youth will have their own interpretations of the day. For me, I felt another point of connection with our Muslim neighbors.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">What is Islam? What is this way of life? Islam means among many things to surrender or to submit. It is not to surrender or to submit to another human being or to a doctrine or to culture or to creation or any to created thing. Islam is to surrender to God. God (Allah in Arabic) is that which is beyond all names. God is the reality beyond all realities. A Muslim is one who surrenders to God alone. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A Muslim is more than a practitioner of a religion. It is a way of life. Taneem said something very interesting. “All children are born Muslim.” Traditional Christianity says that children are born in sin. Islam says the opposite. As we grow we forget who we are. Islam is the way of remembering who we are and whose we are.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When non-Muslims see Islam from the outside we tend to see practices, rituals, and rules.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Muslims believe this. Muslims believe that.</span> <br /><br />We compare what we see with what we believe or do. That is all we can see. That is OK as far as it goes. But that only gets us to the outside, to the external religious practices. I think it is possible if we allow ourselves to be vulnerable to see more than that. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">These external practices are a path or a way to the heart. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This is one of the reasons I am engaging us in reading a translation of the Qur’an this year as well as finding ways to connect with our Muslim neighbors. The goal is to search for and respect the heart, which is a metaphor for the sacred experience of surrendering to God. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The other reason is to become aware of stereotypes and to dismantle them. On Friday morning there was a message on the church answering machine. It was from a church in Johnson City inviting us to a conference on “Radical Islam.” I knew where that was going--a bunch of Radical Christians engaging in some fear-mongering. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Would you like to learn about Islam? Here is a novel idea. Talk to Muslims. This is why we took the confirmation class to the Muslim Community Center. When they hear negative things about Islam or Muslims, they can know and perhaps even say that isn’t true. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Surahs 9-13 is the reading for May. I chose today 10:24-25. One of the principles of Islamic spirituality is that the created order is a sign or a parable for the mystery of God. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Because we live inside the created order we take it for granted. When things go well we tend to think we are responsible. We think we hold it in our power. We are entitled. We think it is our right. This is human arrogance. The wise person, the one who reflects, recognizes that life is transitory. At times there is nourishing rain. At other times drought. This is not simply about weather patterns. This is about our own lives. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Sometimes life goes well. Sometimes it doesn’t. Life is change. The wise person does not put his or her life or value in that which changes, but in the Source beyond change. In the Bible story about Jonah, the prophet is on the hill, bummed that God does not destroy Nineveh but allows the people to live.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the story, God commands a plant to grow and provide Jonah shade. Jonah likes that. Then God tells a worm to destroy the plant. Jonah is angry, “angry enough to die,” says the text. Then God tells Jonah: </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >‘You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?’</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">Islamic spirituality is the invitation to consider the Source of life not just the circumstances. In so doing we will discover blessing, the “Abode of Peace.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A church member gave me this book. It is called </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/books.php?id=8509"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Heart of the Qur’an: An Introduction to Islamic Spirituality</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> by Lex Hixon. Neil Douglas-Klotz provides a forward and commentary. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Hixon take a number of passages from the Qur’an, meditates on them, and provides his own commentary from his own personal meditation. After I chose this passage, I discovered that Hixon commented on it. Here is his meditation:</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Contemplate life as fresh rain showered abundantly on receptive ground from the Ever-Present Source, Who is like the vast sky. This pure rainwater, mingling with the earth, causes the boundless variety of seeds to sprout and flourish, providing ample nourishment for all creatures. Imagine the spiritual blindness of those who deny the existence of the Original Source, the very sky from which life-giving water descends, and who insist that they alone have power over the fertile expanse of this earth, turned fruitful and beautiful by the rain of life. With terrible suddenness, during night or day, a ray of light like fire can radiate from the Source of Power and reduce rich orchards and pastures to fields of straw, without leaving a trace of the abundance experienced only moments before. For those who meditate deeply, this parable from the Source of Wisdom presents a clear teaching to rely upon the Ultimate Source alone. Thus the Voice of Allah invites human beings home into Divine Peace and guides them along the Direct Path of surrender. These souls return to the Single Source, along the noble way that is called Islam. P. 49</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">The heart of Christianity is similar. “Seek first,” said Jesus, “The realm of God.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There is, I think, a common word, a way of life that binds humanity beyond all of our differences. Our various religions and practices show us this way. It is a way to the heart of life, to the heart of God, and to the Abode of Peace.<br /><br /><br /></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-86865161127595669782009-04-12T19:54:00.000-07:002009-04-12T20:08:36.433-07:00Muslim Community Reaches Out<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">This is in today's </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/09/News/article.php?ID=68251">Johnson City Press</a><span style="font-family:arial;">:</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Newly converted Muslim Angie Travers has been asked what she can possibly get out of a religion espousing violence. </span><p style="font-family: arial;">Islam has nothing to do with violence, she must explain. Most people only see the violence attributed to Muslims on the news and not how the majority of the Islamic community live and worship. </p><p style="font-family: arial;">But it is only fair to learn about Islam from a Muslim, said Muslim Community of Northeast Tennessee committee member Ihab AbuZayda. And on Thursday and Friday, will be the chance to do that as MCNET hosts “Common Word Between Us: Islam in America.” </p><p style="font-family: arial;">“I’m sure there are many common things between us,” Ihab said. “And this event is to see the common things between the Muslims and non-Muslims. This whole idea is for the non-Muslims to come. We want our co-workers, our neighbors, the students we study for exams with, everybody to come.” </p><p style="font-family: arial;">The event will be held at East Tennessee State University’s Rogers Stout Hall, room 102, on Thursday at 6 p.m., and Friday at the newly built Islamic center at 3010 Antioch Road at 6 p.m. </p><p style="font-family: arial;">Speaking will be Yusha Evans, a former Christian youth minister who converted to Islam several years ago. Ihab and his wife, Deena, said Evans’ testimony should make it easier for non-Muslim guests at the event to learn about Islam. </p><p style="font-family: arial;">MCNET held a similar event this past November called “Bridge to Faith.” It was similar in concept, but different in the topics discussed. Travers said she found it hard to find a seat at those events because they were so popular. </p><p style="font-family: arial;">“Well it was very successful, actually,” Deena said of the November event. “And we had a lot of people from various communities come.” </p><p style="font-family: arial;">Listeners traveled up to two hours for November’s lectures. And that is encouraging, Deena said, because Islam is a rapidly growing faith. </p><p style="font-family: arial;">“This is definitely the opportunity for everybody to get educated on that, to break those misconceptions and misunderstandings.” </p><p style="font-family: arial;">The center on Antioch Road has been there just more than one year. MCNET serves Muslims in the entire Northeast Tennessee/Southwest Virginia area. Ihab said chances are good that most people know a Muslim. </p><p style="font-family: arial;">“And there are Muslims many people would interact with on a daily basis, but they do not know they’re Muslims.” </p><p style="font-family: arial;">Deena said everyone is invited not only to the program, but to the Islamic center anytime. </p><p><span style="font-family:arial;">“It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from,” she said. “You’re always welcome.” </span><br /></p><p><br /></p>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-44379683493520637032009-03-29T21:19:00.000-07:002009-03-29T21:30:46.921-07:00Islamic Call to Prayer<blockquote><object width="325" height="244"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EAvlimEYEpQ&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EAvlimEYEpQ&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="325" height="244"></embed></object></blockquote>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-8600029187885803502009-03-29T11:55:00.001-07:002009-03-29T12:14:50.549-07:00The Silence Beyond Idols: A Sermon<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Here is today's sermon:</span>
<br /></span>
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<br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;">The Silence Beyond Idols
<br />John Shuck
<br />First Presbyterian Church
<br />Elizabethton, Tennessee
<br />March 29th, 2009
<br />Fifth Sunday In Lent
<br /><a href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/QURAN/6.htm">Surah 6:74-79</a>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">One thing I miss about Montana is the sky. It seems to stretch farther there than in most places. As it stretches the blue deepens in the day and the stars brighten at night. The sky stretched to its limits allows more stars to be seen. All of them loom larger and brighter than they do in most places.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I miss the Montana stars. I remember many nights lost in them. I wondered about them. The desire to somehow go to them was so strong that I often felt trapped on Earth. At other times I felt at peace. Amidst all the struggles of life and amidst all our limitations, the unlimited vastness of it all was in a sense, a comfort. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I think that I might have entered a career in theology because of the stars. While astronomy might be a more logical choice for a person who worries about the stars, I knew I couldn’t get there physically. Perhaps through theology I could get there metaphysically. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In any case, I have been acquainted with the night, a star gazer.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">So I was delighted to find this story about Abraham contemplating the stars in the Qur’an. It is the story of Abraham’s spiritual awakening. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">On one level, the story is a communication to the Prophet regarding the truth of monotheism over against the polytheism of his adversaries. The point of the story seems to be that Abraham, too, discovered the truth of monotheism as opposed to the polytheism of his time. In the Qur’an, Abraham tells his father, “"Takest thou idols for gods? For I see thee and thy people in manifest error."</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In a similar way, Muhammad saw his father and his people in manifest error. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Monotheistic traditions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are suspicious of idols. To worship an idol is to mistake the created for the Creator. Theologian Paul Tillich talked about faith as the quest for the “ultimate concern.” In one of his </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=538&C=598">dialogues</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, Tillich said: </span>
<br /><blockquote style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;">“The object of ultimate concern has many names. And we call all what is not concerned with the truly ultimate — that is something finite but worshiped as ultimate — we call that idolatry.”</blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">Tillich also adds:</span>
<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;"> “…the decisive thing is that even monotheism can be idolatrous, which means that the God of monotheism, the theistic god…can become an idol.” </blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">We tend to worry about the speck in another’s eye, not seeing the beam in our own. I remember growing up and hearing and believing that Catholics were idol worshipers because they had statues of Mary and the saints and so forth. Likewise the many gods of the Hindu tradition were idols. I later realized that I misunderstood how those icons functioned. They were not idols. They were not ends in themselves but vehicles to the Mystery, the Ultimate Concern, beyond them.</span>
<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">
<br />We all make idols. We do this when we insist that our conception of God, our religion, our beliefs and so forth are ultimate. Spiritual awakening is the ongoing process of realizing that what we thought was ultimate is not ultimate. What we thought was permanent is temporary. What we thought was real is an illusion. </span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The story in the Qur’an of Abraham and the stars is larger than the movement from paganism or polytheism to monotheism, even though that may have been the historical situation in Muhammad’s time. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is a story of spiritual awakening. It is a delightful story. Abraham is shown the stars and he says, “This is it!” Then he realizes, “No, they are not it.” He contemplates the moon. “This is it!” Then he realizes, “No, this is not it.” He feels the warmth of the sun. “This is it!” Then, “No, this is not it.” </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Finally, he declares: "For me, I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah."</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In other words, he commits himself to the task of “setting his face” toward that which is Ultimate, not temporary. He will not allow himself be satisfied with confusing his temporary conception of God with God. Abraham is thus a hero. The quest of the hero is to discover the Mystery beyond all description of Mystery. Or as Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God.”</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This story in the Qur’an echoes another story about Abraham. It is found in the Book of Jubilees which was written about 100 years or so before Jesus and 700 years before Muhammed. In this story, Abraham sits all night watching the stars to see if they can tell him anything about the coming year. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In his intense contemplation, the text says, “a word came into his heart.”</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">What a wonderful phrase. That is the experience of insight. A word came into his heart and he comes to a realization that he doesn’t need to worry about it. “All are in the hand of the Lord” he concludes. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We aren’t told what that word was that came into his heart. Both the story in Jubilees and the Qur’an are wisely silent about the content. We just read the effects of it upon Abraham. Touched by the Mystery beyond words, addressed by the Sacred Silence beyond all the noise, Abraham submits. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Like Job, who wrestles, questions and demands, and finally, (finally!), the Holy One addresses him from the whirlwind and refuses to answer Job’s questions. But Job, is satisfied. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,</span>
<br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" > but now my eye sees you;</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Nothing else is needed. He is given that rare, fleeting, yet searing glimpse of the Mystery. Job, too, submits. “I repent in dust and ashes.” </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As I read these stories of the heroes who stay up all night….</span>
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name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <span style="font-family:arial;">Abraham who contemplates the stars until morning...</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Job who refuses to be satisfied by conventional answers to suffering…</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Jacob who wrestles with the angel and refuses to loosen his grip…</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Thomas who demands to see the marks in Jesus’ hands and side…</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Muhammad who waits for years in the cave for the word…</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Hagar with her son Ishmael, cast out into the wilderness….</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Mary, in the stable with her newborn, who ponders all these things in her heart…</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">All receive a word, but not an answer to their specific questions. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">They are confronted ultimately, I think, with the Holy Silence, the presence of Mystery beyond words, beyond answers, and beyond their idols.</span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">They are heroes because they don’t dismiss their questions. They don’t give up in asking. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">You and I, too, have many questions. Through our own personal struggles with illness, with uncertainty, with grief, with loneliness, with limitations, with idols… </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">May we too discover a word that comes into our hearts. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A word that is not an answer, but instead a Presence. </span>
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<br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Presence of the Holy in whom we live and move and have our being.</span>
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<br />John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-68351758458389065482009-03-28T11:11:00.000-07:002009-03-28T11:37:43.333-07:00April Reading<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Tomorrow is Qur'an Sunday. The text will be </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/QURAN/6.htm">Surah 6:74-79</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> where Abraham considers the stars, sun, and moon and realizes that God is beyond them all.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">For April, read Surah's 6, 7, and 8. The following summaries are from Abdullah Yusuf Ali, </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Holy-Quran-Abdullah-Yusuf/dp/0915957760"><i>The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an</i></a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Surah 6 "The Cattle" is from the late Meccan period. "The nature of Allah and the method by which He reveals Himself are first expounded, and the weakness of Paganism is exposed." p. 293 It contains the story of Abraham considering the stars.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Surah 7 "The Heights" is similar to the Surah 6 in terms of chronology and argument, "...but it expounds the doctrine of revelation and man's spiritual history by illustrations from Adam onwards, through various Prophets, and the details of Moses' struggles, to the time of the Prophet Muhammad, in whom Allah's revelation is completed." p. 344</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Surah 8 "The Booty" contains the lessons of the Battle of Badr and touches on "(1) the question of war booty; (2) the true virtues necessary for fighting the good fight: (3) victory against odds; (4) clemency and consideration for one's own and for others in the hour of victory." p. 413.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.muslimnextdoor.com/images/h/main_home.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 271px; height: 314px;" src="http://www.muslimnextdoor.com/images/h/main_home.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />Recommended reading: </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.muslimnextdoor.com/"><i>The Muslim Next Door: The Qur'an, the Media, and that Veil Thing</i></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> by Sumbul Ali-Karamali. (Ashland, OR: White Cloud Press, 2008). </span></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Synopsis: "What if you could sit down at a kitchen table with an American Muslim mom and ask anything you wanted about her faith and religious practice? The Muslim Next Door clears away the misconceptions about Islam and why they flourish--media distortion, confusion about what is cultural rather than religious, the language barrier, and the old tall takes that still persist after thirteen centuries."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">This is an excellent book that I read over vacation. She addresses the stereotypes, media images, and answers honestly and forthrightly questions that non-Muslims have about Islam. She concludes her book with this:</span></span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: arial;">I live inside my religion because it is sensible, simple, and it teaches good things like forgiveness, generosity, tolerance, and compassion. I live in America because I believe it can be a nation of many faiths. As people of all religions have urged, it is time for genuine understanding and dialogue, not media hysteria and anti-Islamic racism. If we can separate the daily distortions from the reality, perhaps we can break out of that medieval framework of domination and hostility. Instead of working toward a "clash of civilizations," perhaps we can avoid a "clash of ignorances." (p. 247)</blockquote>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-39696898909261593062009-03-01T09:54:00.000-08:002009-03-01T09:55:09.655-08:00Of Plots and Schemes: A Sermon<span style="font-family:arial;">Here is today's sermon. Jesus in the Qur'an and in the Gospels. </span><br /><br /><div face="arial" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Of Plots and Schemes</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">John Shuck</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;">First Presbyterian Church<br />Elizabethton, Tennessee<br />March 1st, 2009<br />First Sunday of Lent<br /><br />Mark 1:9-15<br />Sura 3:50-55<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and Allah too planned, </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">and the best of planners is Allah. Sura 3:54</span><br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the novel, the </span><a href="http://my.opera.com/philry4n/blog/show.dml/357668"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Life of Pi</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> by Yann Martel, the main character, Pi which is short for Piscene, is a young boy on a religious quest. As a teenager he decides to embrace Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Each of the religious leaders are pleased that he is so devoted to learning and practicing the faith.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Except of course, none of the religious leaders know that he is practicing all of them. Until one day he is found out. All three religious leaders meet Pi and his parents on the street. Here is what happens from Pi’s perspective:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">Alas, the sense of community that a common faith brings to a people spelled trouble for me. In time, my religious doings went from the notice of those to whom it didn’t matter and only amused, to that of those to whom it did matter—and they were not amused.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">“What is your son doing going to temple?” asked the priest.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">“Your son was seen in church crossing himself,” said the imam.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">“Your son has gone Muslim,” said the pandit.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">Yes, it was all forcefully brought to the attention of my bemused parents. You see, they didn’t know. They didn’t know that I was a practising Hindu, Christian and Muslim.</span><br /></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">The conversation that develops represents religion at its most divisive and superficial. </span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">After the “Hellos” and the “Good days”, there was an awkward silence. The priest broke it when he said, with pride in his voice, “Piscine is a good Christian boy. I hope to see him join our choir soon.”<br /><br />My parents, the pandit and the imam looked surprised.<br /><br />“You must be mistaken. He’s a good Muslim boy. He comes without fail to Friday prayer, and his knowledge of the Holy Qur’an is coming along nicely.” So said the imam.<br /><br />My parents, the priest and the pandit looked incredulous.<br /><br />The pandit spoke. “You’re both wrong. He’s a good Hindu boy. I see him all the time at the temple coming for darshan and performing puja.”<br /><br />My parents, the imam and the priest looked astounded.<br /><br />“There is no mistake,” said the priest. “I know this boy. He is Piscine Molitor Patel and he’s a Christian.”<br /><br />“I know him too, and I tell you he’s a Muslim,” asserted the imam.<br /><br />“Nonsense!” cried the pandit. “Piscine was born a Hindu, lives a Hindu and will die a Hindu!”<br /><br />The three wise men stared at each other, breathless and disbelieving.<br /><br />Lord, avert their eyes from me, I whispered in my soul.<br /><br />All eyes fell upon me.<br /><br />“Piscine, can this be true?” asked the imam earnestly. “Hindus and Christians are idolaters. They have many gods.”<br /><br />“And Muslims have many wives,” responded the pandit.<br /><br />The priest looked askance at both of them. “Piscine,” he nearly whispered, “there is salvation only in Jesus.”<br /><br />“Balderdash! Christians know nothing about religion,” said the pandit.<br /><br />“They strayed long ago from God’s path,” said the imam.<br /><br />“Where’s God in your religion?” snapped the priest. “You don’t have a single miracle to show for it. What kind of religion is that, without miracles?”</blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">And on and on it goes with each religious leader insulting the others’ religion by piling on the stereotypes and simplifications. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">According to Pi:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">It was hard to tell whose face was more inflamed. It looked as if they might come to blows.</blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">But they all agree on one thing. Pi cannot practice all three religions. He cannot be a Muslim, a Christian, and a Hindu. He must choose. Pi says:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">A silence fell heavily on my shoulders.<br /><br />“Hmmm, Piscine?” Mother nudged me. “How do you feel about the question?”<br /><br />“Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God,” I blurted out, and looked down, red in the face.</blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">It is with that mixture of amusement, sympathy, and sadness that we recognize ourselves in the character of Piscene. He just wants to love God. His heart is in the right place. Unfortunately, his idealism for and his embrace of the beauty and truth to which our religions point crashes into the stone wall of intolerance. He meets the real world in which religions represent not a search for truth but instead reveal our fearful tribalism.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Lest we think these religious squabbles occur only in only fiction, I point out a letter in the Kingsport Times-News this past week. It is one of a number of letters regarding the Qur’an and Islam. In it the author, a Christian, </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9012058">writes</a><span style="font-family:arial;">:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">In reference to the letter from Dr K.J. Awan, he states all good things are in Islam, and all evil is rejected by Islam. Re. demanding a woman cover herself from head to toe, just so men will not lust after them or decide to rape them, why don’t men practice self-control? Brainwashing young men and women to murder women and children, even their own people, with the foolishness of getting 72 virgins when they get to heaven. Do the women get 72 male virgins? Forcing Islam on people just because you have control of them. Saying Christ is not the son of God. And anyone that says he is, is committing an unforgivable sin, and also committing the worst crime, even more so than murder, rape, or any crime.<br /><br />I have read the Koran. I got only fear, indifference, and uncertainty out of it. Jesus Christ said to watch out for false prophets.</blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">The author here could be one of the religious leaders in the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Life of Pi</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The letter and others received many comments. </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9012078">Another letter</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> followed, in which the author, presumably a Muslim, wrote:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">In reference to columns…and letters…my suggestion to all parties is to take a breather and relax. Let’s act like responsible adults….<br /><br />….When I discuss Islam with someone, I do not recommend he read the Koran right away. Even some Muslims have interpreted it incorrectly. Therefore, it is unfair to expect a novice to comprehend it accurately.<br /><br />The Koran is a marvel like no other. Millions study it and find guidance because it is the book of guidance. Others read it and get lost. Intention is extremely important. We find in it what we look for. There is certain etiquette and some prerequisites for receiving guidance from the Koran. Without them, one cannot benefit from it.</blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">I thought that second letter was pretty good. Especially the line,</span><br /><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >“Intention is extremely important. We find in it what we look for.”</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">I know I need to ask myself when I read the Qur’an or the Bible for that matter, what is my intention? Where is my heart? If my intention or my heart is in finding fault, strengthening my prejudice, or demonstrating the text’s inadequacies, I will find plenty there to justify my presuppositions.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But if the intention of my heart, like Piscene’s, is to love God, I may find depth, richness, and an invitation to embrace my better self. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I chose two stories for reflection today, one from the Qur’an and one from the Gospels. Both are stories about Jesus. The Gospel story is the story of the temptation in the wilderness. In it, Jesus’ heart is tested. What will be the intent of his life? He passes each test because he seeks honesty. He seeks purity of heart and a right intention. We can read into this story our own stories. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A pure intention or a pure heart is not easy or obvious. It requires self-examination, self-reflection, and brutal honesty. Biblical scholar, Robert Funk, said that if there is such as thing as original sin it is the innate capacity of human beings to deceive themselves.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We calculate and we plan. We plot and scheme. We justify our actions and we present a mask of ourselves to others. Religion, at its best, invites us to look behind the mask, to examine our heart. This is the heart that only God knows and sees. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This verse from the Qur’an reading caught my eye:</span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: arial;font-family:arial;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">The Qur’an reading presents Jesus and his disciples as Muslims. That does not refer to the Muslim religion as such, but to those who submit to God—those with purity of heart, of right intention. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The text shows that those who seek right intention will meet with opposition. This opposition comes from without and from within. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the novel, Life of Pi, Piscene has right intention, “I just want to love God.” Yet his intention is met with opposition from those who don’t understand, who define religion in terms of cultural practices and narrow religious rules and beliefs. These are the unbelievers. These are the ones who substitute the outward forms of religion for the true heart of religion.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But the “unbelievers” are not only others. We, too, are the unbelievers as well. We, too, plot and plan and deceive, ultimately, ourselves.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the gospels we find the plea: </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >“I believe; help my unbelief</span><span style="font-family:arial;">!”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Amidst all the planning and the plotting, the hope is that we will discover that right intention and purity of heart is its own reward. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Behind our masks we seek ourselves. There we find the image of God. It takes courage to engage in that search. It takes honesty and trust. The fruit of religion at its most sublime is that the right intention, the purity of heart, is the source of joy and peace. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Amidst our planning, we trust that Allah is planning as well. </span><br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic; font-family: arial;">And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah.</blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">Piscene will have to find his own path. And we will have to find our own paths. Beyond (or perhaps through) the outward forms of religious belief and practice, may we find its heart and in its heart, ours.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As the hymn says: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Jesus walked this lonesome valley.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >He had to walk it by Himself;</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >O, nobody else could walk it for Him,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >He had to walk it by Himself.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >We must walk this lonesome valley,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >We have to walk it by ourselves;</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >O, nobody else can walk it for us,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >We have to walk it by ourselves</span><br /><br /><blockquote><object height="244" width="325"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AWvNyjg1xdM&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AWvNyjg1xdM&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="244" width="325"></embed></object></blockquote>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-42216719587389429222009-02-26T19:06:00.000-08:002009-02-26T19:08:11.648-08:00The Best of Planners is Allah<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">This Sunday, March 1st, we will take a peak at the Surah 3 in the Qur'an. Surahs 3, 4, and 5 are the readings for March. I am going to focus on this text, </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/QURAN/3.htm">Surah 3:50-55</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Jesus is speaking:</span></span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: arial;">50. "'(I have come to you), to attest the Law which was before me. And to make lawful to you part of what was (Before) forbidden to you; I have come to you with a Sign from your Lord. So fear Allah, and obey me.<br /><br />51. "'It is Allah Who is my Lord and your Lord; then worship Him. This is a Way that is straight.'"<br /><br />52. When Jesus found Unbelief on their part He said: "Who will be My helpers to (the work of) Allah." Said the disciples: "We are Allah's helpers: We believe in Allah, and do thou bear witness that we are Muslims.<br /><br />53. "Our Lord! we believe in what Thou hast revealed, and we follow the Messenger. then write us down among those who bear witness."<br /><br />54. And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah.<br /><br />55. Behold! Allah said: "O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.</blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Isn't that interesting? The disciples are Muslims. I like this verse:</span></span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: arial;">And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned,<br />and Allah too planned,<br />and the best of planners is Allah.</blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Since it is also the First Sunday in Lent, I chose Luke </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=102703187">4:1-13</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. The lectionary advises Mark this year, but I want the temptation scene. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Plotting and tempting we have. The devil tries to get Jesus to lose his way. Plotting and tempting keeps us from the straight path of integrity. T</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><span style="font-family:arial;">he final verses of the Qur'an, </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/QURAN/114.htm">Surah 114</a>,</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> bring it home:</span></span><br /><blockquote style="font-family: arial;">1. Say: I seek refuge with the Lord and Cherisher of Mankind,<br />2. The King (or Ruler) of Mankind,<br />3. The Allah (for judge) of Mankind,-<br />4. From the mischief of the Whisperer (of Evil), who withdraws (after his whisper),-<br />5. (The same) who whispers into the hearts of Mankind,-<br />6. Among Jinns and among men. </blockquote><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">This is I think a point where our two traditions meet. Jesus shows the way of integrity in both traditions. The <span style="font-style: italic;">whispering</span> (whether from the devil or jinn or human faithlessness) is no match for refuge in God/Allah. Beyond our plotting, planning, and scheming, integrity is above all. <br /><br />Seek it.</span></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-6848799192210451052009-02-01T11:31:00.001-08:002009-02-01T14:20:27.937-08:00The Small Kindness: A Sermon<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">This is my sermon from today. For February we are reading Surahs 81-114 or the early Meccan Surahs. Recommended reading include</span><br /><br /></span><ol style="font-family:arial;"><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Holy-Quran-Abdullah-Yusuf/dp/0915957760"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an</span> </a>by Abdullah Yusuf Ali</span></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.astrolabe.com/product/318/Approaching_The_Quran:_The_Early_Revelations.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations</span></a> by Michael Sells</span></li><li><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Story-Quran-History-Place-Muslim/dp/1405122587"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Story of the Qur'an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life</span></a> by Ingrid Mattson</span><br /></li></ol><br /><div style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;">The Small Kindness<br />John Shuck<br /><br />First Presbyterian Church<br />Elizabethton, Tennessee<br /><br />February 1st, 2009<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">In the Name of God the Compassionate the Caring</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Do you see him who calls the reckoning a lie?</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">He is the one who casts the orphan away</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Who fails to urge the feeding of one in need.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Cursed are those who perform the prayer</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Unmindful of how they pray</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Who make of themselves a display </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">But hold back the small kindness.</span><br />Surah 107<br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">At the end of it all, what is the value of a human life? What is the value of my life? Those are questions of introspection. They are risky questions. These questions that when asked with mind and heart can change us. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">At certain times in our lives we are open to these questions. These are times when we are confronted with the Holy. This is when that membrane--that heavy insulation--that serves to keep us from ultimate questions of value becomes thin. Scholar Marcus Borg calls these experiences “thin places.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">These thin places can be an actual place, or an event, or a word spoken or read. At these thin places we become more aware of the Holy or the Sacred. Moses, at the age of 40, an age susceptible to a thin place is confronted with the Holy at Mount Horeb. From the book of Exodus:</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">Thus it all begins for Moses. He said, “I must turn aside and look.” Perhaps not everyone would turn. Not all would be curious enough to stop and look. There are sheep to be kept. There is money to be made. There are worldly things that need attention. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">But Moses (who knows why) turns aside, and looks. His life changes. He, by the way, was 40. Mid-life, while not the only time, is a good time for a thin place.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Mohammad, at the cave of Mount Hira, at the age of 40, is confronted by the Holy. He hears a voice: “</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Iqra</span><span style="font-family:arial;">! Proclaim! Recite!” From Surah 96:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Recite in the name of your lord who created—</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >From an embryo created the human</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Recite your lord is all-giving</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Who taught by the pen</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Taught the human what he did not know before</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >The human being is a tyrant</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >He thinks his possessions make him secure</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >To your lord is the return of every thing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Thus it all begins for Muhammad.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We will not read the Qur’an correctly if we only read with suspicion. If we read it wrapped with our insulation of prejudice, stereotype, or that common illusion among the educated—academic disinterest—we will miss its invitation.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If, on the other hand, like Moses, we “turn aside” and take a look, we may be confronted by the awe and the intimacy of the Holy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I have finally found a version of the Qur’an that I can recommend. It has text and commentary. The translation is respected by Muslims. It is called </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Holy-Quran-Abdullah-Yusuf/dp/0915957760"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an</span> by Abudullah Yusuf Ali</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. It has text and commentary with other aids and helps. I found it at Barnes and Noble. It was originally published in 1934. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the preface, Yusuf Ali writes:</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">One final word to my readers, Read, study, and digest the Holy Book. Read slowly, and let it sink into your heart and soul. Such study will, like virtue, be its own reward. xvi</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">Muhammad received revelations for twenty-three years. The Qur’an is divided into three periods: The first period contains the early Meccan suras that occur mostly at the end of the Qur’an, the ones we are reading for this month, the later Meccan suras, and the Medinan suras. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">According to Michael Sells, author of another book I highly recommend,<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span><a style="font-family: arial; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.astrolabe.com/product/318/Approaching_The_Quran:_The_Early_Revelations.html">Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, these early Meccan suras “focus on existential and personal issues.” P. 14</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Sells offers translation and commentary of Suras 81-114. Each Sura has a name and the name is found within the text of that Sura. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I want to spend some reflection on Sura 107, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Al Ma-un</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> or </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >The Neighborly Assistance</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. Sells translates it as </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >The Small Kindness</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When non-Muslims read the Qur’an, because we are unfamiliar with the Arabic, we tend to see God as harsh or angry. As Sells points out, the tone is not anger or harshness, but sadness. The </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Gospel of Matthew</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> captures this tone when Jesus weeps over Jerusalem:</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" ></span><blockquote style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;">‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!</span></blockquote><span style="font-family:arial;">This is the tone of the Qur’an. God, compassionate and caring, like a mother hen, wants to gather the people, but the people are not willing. Yet, there is always the hope that some will, like Moses, turn aside and seek the Holy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The reason people are not willing to turn aside and seek the good, is because they deny that life matters. The word in Arabic is </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >din</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. In English, it is translated as judgment, reckoning, responsibility, right and wrong, virtue, morality, or faith. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Sura 107 begins: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >In the Name of God the Compassionate the Caring</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Do you see him who calls the reckoning a lie? </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >He is the one who casts the orphan away</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Who fails to urge the feeding of one in need.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Those who deny that there is right and wrong or deny that there is value in life, show that through callousness or indifference to others. The Qur’an never allows a belief in God to be separate from acts of compassion and social justice. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The purpose of the Qur’an is to draw people back and to remind them that there is right and wrong and that we are responsible for the least of these. Even those who know forget. The Qur’an is a reminder to return. It is the invitation to ask of ourselves today what will be of value at the end of life. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">What is of value will not be our possessions, our accomplishments, or our status, but the small kindness. The reckoning or the <span style="font-style: italic;">din</span>, is not so much a future event but a recognition of the value of life at this moment. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Qur’an specifies practices or pillars of </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >din</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. The five pillars or practices of </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >din</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> are performed to keep us humble so that we do not forget who we are and to whom we are responsible. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">One of the pillars or practices of </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >din</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> is to share our wealth with those in need. </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Zakat</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> or almsgiving is the practice of compassion. The practice itself reminds us that we are responsible to others, that our lives have value, and that value is expressed in the charity, compassion and care we have for others.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Cursed are those who perform the prayer</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Unmindful of how they pray</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Who make of themselves a display </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >But hold back the small kindness.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The next pillar of din or practice of reckoning is the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >salat</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> or the prayer. The point of the five times a day prayer is to remind us who we are. It is a calling out of the daily business of life and toward the highest virtue, the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >din</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. The motion of the forehead touching the ground is the motion of humility. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The point of these actions whether charity or prayer is to keep us mindful. As the sura shows, we can pray in a way that is unmindful. Any practice can be abused. We can pray for show or recognition. The true test is the small kindness. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">What is the small kindness? This is the act of pure virtue. When Jesus said, “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” he was also speaking of </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >din</span><span style="font-family:arial;">. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This is difficult. We tend to do things for what we get from them. That is the essential forgetfulness of living. We calculate. We want to be seen in a certain way. We see this calculation in others but often not in ourselves. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">To follow the Qur’an is not to worry about what others do. It is to seek the highest virtue, to look for the highest value, and to recognize that the small kindness is the way to the Divine presence.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-1819961620671801192009-01-26T13:52:00.000-08:002009-01-26T16:54:57.796-08:00Muslims, Jews, and Christians March for Peace<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Our <a href="http://www.shuckandjive.org/2009/01/peace-march-and-vigil-in-johnson-city.html">march for peace</a> made the front page of today's</span> <a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Detail.php?Cat=HOMEPAGE&ID=66822">Johnson City Press</a><span style="font-family:arial;">.</span></span><br /><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdkOkRIf7Sn2HqRw-1rfygQ4gyHW6VuLYVgdg5zsBRi-MCbLz4bLDCN3tbQ3svP7LhWB3HNoRnh4N7ySdRQ1PCE5jC54T7VN2BWkctffLH5C8wia-RXpGGxhkQCicAVW5xZMQzU7dgGo/s1600-h/VigilforPeace14w.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 307px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdkOkRIf7Sn2HqRw-1rfygQ4gyHW6VuLYVgdg5zsBRi-MCbLz4bLDCN3tbQ3svP7LhWB3HNoRnh4N7ySdRQ1PCE5jC54T7VN2BWkctffLH5C8wia-RXpGGxhkQCicAVW5xZMQzU7dgGo/s320/VigilforPeace14w.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295464851654414434" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A congregation of more than 50 people silently marched along State of Franklin Road as the sound of Sunday afternoon traffic quickly passed them by.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">An American flag, children holding the hands of their parents and a sign that read “United we stand for peace and justice in the Holy Land,” could clearly be seen by every individual who drove past this group.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Although they were marching silently, their cry for peace rang throughout the city.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The group consisted of locals from the Judaic, Christian and Islamic faiths. They marched from ETSU to the Carver Recreation Center for a prayer vigil.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Vigil for Peace was held in response to the recent atrocities in Gaza and to enlighten the community of East Tennessee to the turmoil in Israel and Palestine.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">On the way back from a similar march in Washington, Shanna O’Brien and RJ Powell, coordinators of the event, felt they needed to bring awareness to the people of the region upon returning to Johnson City.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">“The only way for peace is unifying people together,” said O’Brien. “If we here in Johnson City can bring three faiths together in a peaceful way, then maybe there’s hope that we can spread that to other areas and ultimately the world.”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">As the vigil began, people from all three Abrahamic faiths sat together and listened to representatives from each faith speak on what can be done to bring peace to both sides of the conflict.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The humanity of the people in the Middle East was the main focus of all those who spoke at the vigil.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">“It’s not Quarans, Old Testaments or Torahs that die in wars; it’s human beings,” said Mike Pinner, representative of the Christian faith.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Taneem Aziz, president of the Muslim Community of Northeast Tennessee, reminded everyone in attendance that there comes a time when turned heads must be straightened, closed eyes must be opened and silence must be broken.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Aziz hopes the turnout of the event not only provides awareness and prayers for peace in the Middle East, but also leads to a political activism for the people of East Tennessee.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">“If we see each other face to face and remain human in each other’s eyes, I think that’s ulitmately the solution on a small scale and a broad scale,” O’Brien said. “If we can see the humanity in each other, then maybe we can stop killing each other.”</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6jrfKAmXTqkYkgtBSH-BdB4KQHg-_AKJ1bQgDegrHxrZaIgCqdrSTvLa3kdsb-yJRH-yA6DXEXQ96TJebu3UpKVeWGXCCtiAShVU5Jxk6sVT7xdsz_I-a-J06qmTAwWYINbcNx6s335o/s1600-h/PEACE_VIGIL.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 281px; height: 187px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6jrfKAmXTqkYkgtBSH-BdB4KQHg-_AKJ1bQgDegrHxrZaIgCqdrSTvLa3kdsb-yJRH-yA6DXEXQ96TJebu3UpKVeWGXCCtiAShVU5Jxk6sVT7xdsz_I-a-J06qmTAwWYINbcNx6s335o/s320/PEACE_VIGIL.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295463167833599634" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.blogger.com/Tri-Cities.com">Tricities.com</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> reported on it as well. Make sure you check the videos at both websites.<br /><br /><br /><br />Over 100 were present at the Carver Center! Thanks to all for making this stand for peace!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-69649346555483009012009-01-26T13:34:00.000-08:002009-01-26T13:43:03.310-08:00Reading Schedule<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In 2009, we are going to become familiar with the Muslim faith and our Muslim friends in part by reading the Qur’an. The January reading consisted of chapters 1 and 2. For February, we are going to move to the end of the Qur’an and read some the earlier revelations. For February please read:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Chapter 53, verses 1-18 and</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Chapters 81-114</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Along with this, please read the introduction to Michael Sells, </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Approaching-Quran-Michael-Anthony-Sells/dp/1883991269">Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations</a><span style="font-family: arial;">, pp. 1-31. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Here is the reading schedule from the Qur’an for the year:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">January, Chapters 1 and 2</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">February, Chapters 81-114</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">March, Chapters 3, 4, and 5</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">April, Chapters 6, 7, and 8</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">May, Chapters 9-13</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">June, Chapters 14-18</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">July, Chapters 19-23</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">August, Chapters 24-29</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">September, Chapters 30-39</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">October, Chapters 40-51</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">November, Chapters 52-60</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">December, Chapters 61-80</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Each month’s reading will consist of approximately 40-50 pages. In addition there are some additional texts to help in our understanding. They include the Michael Sells book I mentioned above. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Also, I recommend </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Story-Quran-History-Place-Muslim/dp/1405122587"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Story of the Qur’an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life</span></a><span style="font-family: arial;"> by Ingrid Mattson. Dr. Mattson, who is president of the </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.isna.net/articles/News/DR-INGRID-MATTSON-REPRESENTS-MUSLIM-AMERICANS-AT-INAUGURAL-NATIONAL-PRAYER-SERVICE.aspx">Islamic Society of North America</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> led one of the prayers at the inauguration. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Both of these books are recommended by Taneem Aziz who is president of the </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.geocities.com/mcnetjc/MCNET.html">Muslim Community of Northeast Tennessee</a><span style="font-family: arial;">. I have invited Taneem to speak to our adult forum and he in turn invited our community to a potluck with them. More details to come! Also, anyone is invited to participate in Friday prayers in Johnson City at 1:30 p.m. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Finally, on the fourth Tuesday of each month, we will go over the readings for the month. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Our February meeting will be at </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.fpcelizabethton.org/">First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton</a><span style="font-family: arial;">, </span></span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0); font-family: arial;font-size:130%;" >Tuesday, February 24th from 12-1 p.m. </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Do follow along on Qur'an and Jive!</span></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-59705615000203777162009-01-09T12:13:00.000-08:002009-01-09T12:17:23.875-08:00Our Qur'an Quest Makes the News<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Thanks to Greg Miller of the <a href="http://www.starhq.com/news/html/community/allarticles.asp?cat=church">Elizabethton Star</a> for this article in today's paper about our reading the Qur'an cover to cover in 2009. Check it:</span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.fpcelizabethton.org/">First Presbyterian Church</a> begins study of the Qur'an</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">By Greg Miller</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Star Staff</span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton has embarked on a new adventure -- a study of the Qur'an.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> "Last year, 2008, we read the Bible (including the apocrypha) cover to cover," said the Rev. John Shuck, pastor. "For 2009, we will read the Qur'an cover to cover."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Participants in the study, which has already begun, will read about 1/12 of the Qur'an each month through December, according to Shuck. A special service will be held each month throughout the year. "We will use some portions of the Qur'an for prayers, perhaps a chant in Arabic," Shuck said. "During the sermon, I will speak about something in the Qur'an that we had scheduled ourselves to read for that month."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> When the congregation read the Bible through last year, Shuck set up a blog -- </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://bibleandjive.blogspot.com/">www.bibleandjive.blogspot.com</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> -- and had quizzes and summaries for each reading. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">"I have also set up a blog -- </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://quranandjive.blogspot.com/">www.quranandjive.blogspot.com</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> -- for the Qur'an reading that will have resources. I am not sure if I will have a class yet. If there is interest, I will."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> In the White Spire, the church's newsletter, Shuck said that the Qur'an is about the length of the New Testament and is divided into 114 surahs (chapters). "Within each chapter are verses," he said. "For instance 2:112 is Chapter 2, verse 112.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> "The Qur'an is not ordered chronologically in the order that Muhammed received the revelations. His followers put the text together and ordered it into these chapters. Except for chapter 1, 'The Opening,' the earliest chapters are the longest, and they progress from longest to shortest."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Shuck says the Qur'an is a "bit of a challenge" to read. "It is a challenge because it is not a story like the gospels or the book of Genesis, for instance. It is more like reading one of the Hebrew prophets. Without guidance, it is at times difficult to know the context behind what is written. It is written in the first person for the most part. God is the speaker who is calling on the prophet, Muhammed, to recite what God is saying."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Many characters in the Qur'an, Shuck says, are also in the Bible. "There is more about Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the Qur'an than in the Bible," Shuck notes. "You will find Jesus, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Moses and others. They are all prophets. The message was the same -- submit to God. One of the central meanings of Islam is 'to submit.' A Muslim is one who submits to God. If you submit to God, you are a Muslim. Abraham is credited as being the first Muslim, and he and his son Ishmael (spelled Isma'il in the Qur'an) created the holy shrine in Mecca."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Qur'an means "recitation," according to Shuck. "Is the recitation of God's revelation. For Muslims, it is only the recitation when it is in Arabic. An English translation or any other translation is not the Qur'an but an interpretation of the Qur'an. To hear the Qur'an, one needs to learn Arabic. A Muslim discipline is to memorize the Qur'an in Arabic.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> "There are many English translations, some are better than others. The most popular would be by Yusuf Ali. The one I enjoy and will be using is by Tarif Khalidi, who is professor of Islamic and Arabic Studies at American University in Beirut."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> For 23 years, Shuck says, "Muhammed received revelations from God. Through them, God communicated instructions for how to live. Here is an English translation of the first surah:<br /><br />"In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds; Most Gracious, Most Merciful; Master of the Day of Judgment. Thee do we worship, and Thine aid we seek. Show us the straight way, The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Shuck continued, "A couple of things here. The word Allah is the Arabic word for God. If you were to read a Bible that was translated into Arabic, the word translated in English as God would be translated in Arabic as Allah. The purpose of the Qur'an is to show us the straight way, the way of God."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Shuck recalls a course on Christian-Muslim relations while he was in seminary was influential to him. "I read about the Roman Catholic priest, Louis Massignon, who made great strides in peaceful relations with Christians and Muslims," Shuck said. "He encouraged Christians to appreciate Muhammed as a prophet and to read the Qur'an 'devotionally' that is as if we were hearing the word of God to us. He wanted Christians to approach Islam from the inside. He was fully a Christian and fully comfortable in the world of Islam. It was his ministry that influenced Vatican II to be more open to Islam in ecumenical relationships."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Shuck continued, "Louis Massignon is a model for me. I want to be able to understand my Muslim sisters and brothers as they would wish to be understood. In doing that, I wish to read their sacred scriptures sympathetically. I would hope, they in turn, will read my sacred scriptures with sympathy as well.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> " I think it is very important that we understand others as they wish to be understood," said Shuck. "Treat others as you would like to be treated. There is a great deal of misunderstanding by Christians of Islam. There are real differences between our faiths and our approach to spirituality and to God. But, we must not exaggerate these differences or misrepresent others to make ourselves look good. It is important that Christians and Muslims build bridges of peace. This is one of the main reasons we are engaged in this project."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Shuck says the congregation will be looking at the similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam. "That is a huge question that we will be exploring this year," he said. "I would say that there is a great deal more that we have in common than we realize."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"> Shuck says the church plans to connect with the Muslim Community of Northeast Tennessee. "We are looking forward to fellowship activities together. This will be the best opportunity to ask questions. Perhaps we will be able to host an educational event for the larger community. The Muslim Community of Northeast Tennessee has a mosque in Johnson City, and they are wonderful folks. I hope that others will make connections with our Muslim neighbors. </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.geocities.com/mcnetjc/MCNET">This is their Web page</a><span style="font-family:arial;">."<br /><br /><br /></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-26643639891597385562009-01-04T10:27:00.001-08:002009-01-04T11:13:16.009-08:00First Sermon: A Sympathetic Reading<span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:130%;" >We are reading the Qur'an cover to cover in 2009. This is my first sermon of the new year that outlines the quest.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial;">A Sympathetic Reading<br />John Shuck<br /><br />First Presbyterian Church<br />Elizabethton, Tennessee<br />January 4th, 2009<br /></div><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >In the creation of the heavens and the earth,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >In the cycle of night and day,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >In ships that plough the sea, to humanity’s benefit,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >In what God causes to descend from the sky of water,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Giving life to Earth, hitherto dead,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >And peopling it with all manner of crawling creatures,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >In varying the winds and clouds, which run their course</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >between sky and Earth—</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >In these are signs for people who reflect.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Qur’an 2:164</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Last year, we read the </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://bibleandjive.blogspot.com/">Bible, cover to cover</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. This year, we are going to </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://quranandjive.blogspot.com/">read the Qur’an</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Actually, we are going to read interpretations of the Qur’an. For Muslims, the Qur’an is only the Qur’an when it is read in Arabic. We are going to read interpretations or meanings of the Qur’an. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Why? What is the purpose of this exercise?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It is what this congregation does. This is from our </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://web.me.com/firstpreseliz/FPC_Elizabethton/About_Us.html">mission statement</a><span style="font-family:arial;">: </span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Honor our Christian heritage while we explore the knowledge and wisdom of multiple religions, science, philosophy, humanities and psychology to deepen and enrich our spiritual journeys.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I have some of my own reasons. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">First, I think there is a great deal of misunderstanding regarding Muslim people, their religion, and their holy book. Islam, like Christianity, is being co-opted by extremists. The extreme voices in religion have become loud, shrill, oppressive, and in some cases, violent. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The extreme voices in religion advocate against science, against human rights, and for superstition. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote a book, </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Rescuing-Bible-Fundamentalism-Rethinks-Scripture/dp/0060675187"><span style="font-style: italic;">Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. We also need to rescue the Qur’an from fundamentalism, both Christian and Islamic. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Hopefully, by becoming familiar with this text, we can better understand the complexity of this 14 hundred year old religion that has over one billion adherents worldwide, including adherents in our own neighborhood.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">That brings me to the next reason. I am advocating becoming familiar with the Qur’an for the sake of being neighborly. The </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.geocities.com/mcnetjc/MCNET.html">Muslim Community of Northeast Tennessee</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> has a mosque in Johnson City. I have had some e-mail exchanges with the leader of the mosque. I am looking forward to having our two faith communities have some kind of fellowship in the coming year. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Third, I am curious. I don’t know too much about Islam or the Qur’an. I took a course in seminary, but have forgotten much of what I learned. I have certainly studied the Bible enough, but not this book that has a close relationship to the Bible. Many of the characters are the same. There is more about Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the Qur’an than in the New Testament. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Also, I am curious from a literary point of view. The Qur’an is a spiritual classic and that alone is reason to be familiar with it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Fourth, I believe that the way to peace requires us to be sympathetic. I titled my sermon “A Sympathetic Reading.” That means a couple of things for me. To be sympathetic literally means to have a similar passion. When I read sympathetically, I am on the same side of what I am reading. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">That is true whether I am reading a text or the story of a person’s life. To read sympathetically is to make the effort of appreciation, of honor, and of respect. That does not mean I agree with everything or that I do not read critically, but it means I read with an openness to hear something. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A sympathetic reading is one that expects that what I am reading will have something to say to me. In Chapter 7 verse 204 of the Qur’an, we find this verse:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >"When the Qur'an is recited, listen to it and remain silent; perhaps you will be shown mercy." 7:204</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Perhaps if we read with an open spirit and an open mind we may be blessed. The Qur’an is believed by Muslims to be the recitation of God to the prophet, Muhammed. If God has any realism for us, then to read the Qur’an sympathetically means to listen for the voice of God. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There is no reason to dismiss or accept the claim that the Qur’an is the Word of God any more than there is a reason to dismiss or accept the claim that the Bible or Jesus Christ is the Word of God. You can’t prove it either way. The reason we are gathered in a Christian church today is more than likely sociological than theological. If we were living in Indonesia, we would probably be Muslim. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The course I took in seminary was entitled “Christians and the Call to Islam” and it was about Christian-Muslim dialogue. The course was an introduction to Islam. But it was more than that. We learned about the history of the interaction between Muslims and Christians. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">One of the figures I remembered from that study was </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_8_41/ai_n9510505">Louis Massignon</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. He wanted Christians to read the Qur’an devotionally. His central concern was how Christians could appreciate Muhammed. Massignon was a mystic who had an “erotic love for the Divine.” He devoted his life to helping Christians discover Islam from within. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">He was a fully Christian person--he became a priest in fact—yet he was completely at home with Islam. He died thinking he was a failure who no one understood. Yet his life experience and his commitment to understanding Muslims sympathetically influenced Vatican II and its openness toward Muslims.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">His is the model I would like to follow. I am not interested in debating theology, nor in converting people. I am interested in the spirituality of it all and in finding ways to connect at that level. And I am interested in finding things we can do to work together for peace.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">That is the sense in which I wish to give the Qur’an and my Muslim neighbors a sympathetic reading. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">What about the Qur’an? To get us started. The Qur’an contains 114 chapters or surahs. They are ordered by length, longest to shortest. They are not chronological. They are not in the form of narratives like the gospels or the narrative portions of the Hebrew scriptures. They don’t tell about Muhammed’s life. They are similar in style to the Old Testament prophets. If you sit down and read Amos, you will find that God is pretty serious. That is kind of like the Qur’an.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">You will find in there familiar characters from the Hebrew scriptures as well as Jesus. Muslims have a high regard for Jesus as a prophet but they believe that Christians exaggerated him. They have a point. It is an equally valid point to say that Muslims exaggerate the Qur’an. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">That is what religion is, really, exaggeration—or a better word--metaphor. You have heard me preach now for three years. Probably you have recognized that my approach is metaphorical. A metaphor takes two things (one familiar and one unfamiliar) and links them. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">God is Father is a metaphor. God is unfamiliar, father is familiar. God is mother. The earth is God’s body. Jesus is the word of God. The Qur’an is the word of God. Those are metaphors not descriptors. They say what is and at the same time say it is not. God is and is not father, and so on.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Metaphors evoke. Like a lightning strike, they offer a flash of insight, then are gone. A metaphor is not descriptive. Much of the frustration I have had with much of religion is when it hardens metaphors and parables into descriptions. Metaphors morph into dogmas and creeds and soon you are burning heretics and infidels at the stake. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I have no problem saying the Qur’an is the word of God and taking that quite seriously as a metaphor. I also have no problem saying Jesus is the second person of the Trinity as a metaphor. Metaphorical theology allows for contradictions, surprises, and odd combinations. The purpose is to open our senses to new relationships.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In the Qur’an, you will run across the phrase, “The People of the Book” that refers to Jews and to Christians. There is a guarded approach to the people of the book. They are both right and wrong from the Qur’an’s perspective. But the Qur’an regards them as brothers and sisters. There is a benefit of the doubt extended to Jews and to Christians that is not often expressed in the media. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Qur’an is complex and ambiguous on many points. There is allowed great freedom of interpretation. As with the Bible, the rigidity comes from its interpreters.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Qur’an is in the first person for the most part. God is speaking and often uses the royal we. It is repetitive and at times a little hard to read. God is pretty serious. But if you can read it sympathetically, you can find there some very important things. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Islam means among many things "to submit." It is an infinitive. One who submits to God is a Muslim. If you submit to God, you are a Muslim. Abraham is the first Muslim. According to the Qur’an, Abraham and his son Ismail set up the holy shrine at Mecca. You will read about this in the second surah or chapter. You will read about Ramadan, the importance of daily prayer facing Mecca, almsgiving, and making the hajj or the pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime if you are able.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Qur’an is all about monotheism. One God. It does not view polytheism favorably, nor what it refers to as the worship of idols. And of course, the Trinity makes no sense. It is an exaggeration.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">When you read it, consider reading it out loud. There are websites that recite the Qur’an in Arabic. It would be good to memorize a few verses, perhaps the first chapter. This is recited five times a day when Muslims face Mecca to pray.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The sound is as much the message as the words. That is not an exaggeration. The sound itself conveys meaning. That is one reason why you only really can hear the Qur’an when you hear it in Arabic. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Guides to help in your quest. There are several English translations. I have about seven of them. I am taking this seriously! The most enjoyable is by </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/beliefs/isa.shtml">Tarif Khalidi</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. It is called </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Quran-Tarif-Khalidi/dp/0670020230/ref=pd_cp_b_0_img?pf_rd_p=413864201&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=1846140218&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=03AJRRBTGMHD3B355KR2"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Qur’an: A New Translation</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Khalidi is a professor of Arabic at <a href="http://wwwlb.aub.edu.lb/%7Ewebcames/faculty_staff.html">American University in Beirut</a>. His translation is contemporary, lyrical, and from the reviews I have read, faithful to the content and the poetry of the Arabic. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">A helpful book to go with it is </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Story-Quran-History-Place-Muslim/dp/1405122587"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Story of the Qur’an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life</span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> by </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.hartsem.edu/faculty/mattson.htm">Ingrid Mattson</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. Prof. Mattson teaches at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. She describes herself as “a Western academic who is also trying to live as a faithful Muslim.” Those two books would be a good start. You can find them on my blog, Qur’an and Jive. </span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://quranandjive.blogspot.com/">On the blog</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and in the newsletter, I will post the readings for the month, different resources, and because I am just weird that way, a quiz for each month. We should try to make it fun.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am going to close by being a bit philosophical. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am not sure how or to what extent religion brings out the better natures of humankind or how or to what extent religion leads to violence and destruction. It has done both. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">It seems to me that a sympathetic reading can go a long way toward peaceful relations. In the end we human beings are on the same side. We operate with different metaphors toward the mystery of life. If we can relate sympathetically with each other’s metaphors and stories perhaps we will see in one another a flash of insight to the truth and beauty of the universe that we may not have known without this encounter. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Let us read each others’ texts and stories and metaphors with a similar passion, with sympathy. In so doing let us give ourselves to the task of glimpsing the divine presence –or as the Qur’an invites us—to sell our soul for the pleasure of God.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >“Among people is one who sells his soul seeking the pleasure of God. God is tender towards his worshippers.” 2:206</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">May it be so.<br /><br /><br /></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-54330148489733777232008-12-31T08:15:00.000-08:002008-12-31T08:19:25.079-08:00Qur'an Reading Has Begun!<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">We have embarked on our quest to read the Qur'an. On the sidebar are some introductory links. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">For </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://quranandjive.blogspot.com/2008/12/january-reading.html">January</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, please read </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/QURAN/1.htm">The Opening</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/QURAN/2.htm">The Cow</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am going to produce some quizzes and a synopsis for each reading. I will have January's synopsis and quiz up shortly. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This will be fun (that is how it is intended anyway) and a learning experience for me. Any suggestions are more than welcome! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">There is an </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/SURAI.HTM">on-line translation by Yusuf Ali</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> to which you can link from the sidebar. This translation and other great resources can be found at </span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.islamicity.com/">Islamicity</a>.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">You can also find other on-line translations <a href="http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/quran/">at this site</a> maintained by the University of Southern California</span><span style="font-family:arial;">.<br /><br />Also, a couple of different folks have recommended Michael Sells' </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Approaching-Quran-Michael-Anthony-Sells/dp/1883991269">Approaching the Qur'an</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. I have purchased the translation by </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jun/21/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianreview26">Tarif Khalidi</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and am off to the bookstore to check out some others. I would guess that it is good to have more than one translation handy.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">You can request a </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.islamicity.com/freeliterature/">free copy of the Qur'an here</a><span style="font-family:arial;">.<br /><br /><br /></span></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-4674074368711489602008-12-30T15:36:00.000-08:002008-12-31T08:20:13.026-08:00January Reading<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">For January, please read</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/QURAN/1.htm">"The Opening"</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> and </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/QURAN/2.htm">"The Cow"</a><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">These suwar are from the <a href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/SURAI.HTM">on-line translation by Yusuf Ali</a>.<br /><br />A sura is a chapter and the plural of sura is suwar.<br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-17453505809414527662008-12-27T11:03:00.000-08:002008-12-31T08:19:46.832-08:00Welcome to Qur'an and Jive!<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Please don't be offended by the title. My main blog is </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://shuckandjive.blogspot.com/">Shuck and Jive</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> (a riff off my surname). In 2008 we read the Bible and I created a blog, </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://bibleandjive.blogspot.com/">Bible and Jive</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. In 2009 we will read the Qur'an and the blog is called Qur'an and Jive. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The "Jive" is purely me! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We will read the Qur'an over the course of the year. We will read about 1/12 of it every month. This will be a learning experience for me, so I welcome insights of yours and resources you may have. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The first challenge will be to secure a reliable English translation. Once you have that, join us!</span></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6897777321980654953.post-30011913460887718212008-12-27T08:17:00.000-08:002008-12-31T08:19:01.417-08:00Qur'an Cover to Cover in 2009<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">In 2008, in honor or our 225th anniversary (actually our 226th, but we kept the party going) </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://www.fpcelizabethton.org/">my little club of bandits</a><span style="font-family:arial;"> read the Bible (including Apocrypha) cover to cover. I created a blog for it, </span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://bibleandjive.blogspot.com/">Bible and Jive</a><span style="font-family:arial;">, which I will keep posted. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">For 2009, we are going to read the Qur'an cover to cover. I have created a blog for it--you guessed it--</span><a style="font-family: arial;" href="http://quranandjive.blogspot.com/">Qur'an and Jive</a><span style="font-family:arial;">. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">I am way out of my element on this one. I don't even know a decent English translation to read. By "decent" I mean something that is easy to read, is true to the Arabic, and one that may have historical/critical notes. In other words, I am looking for a translation/edition of the Qur'an that a religion professor who is committed to the principles of the Enlightenment would use in a university religion class.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">In seminary, I took a course on Muslim-Christian relations and we read the translation by Dawood (Penguin). There must be some better translations since that one. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Qur'an isn't that long. We will read about a 12th of it each month. For January, if you would like to join us, read "The Opening" and "The Cow." I will spend at least one Sunday per month speaking about what we have read during worship. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">If you have suggestions for introductions to Islam or guides to the Qur'an, that would be helpful. I'll post a bunch of links on the blog.<br /><br /><br /></span></span>John Shuckhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798753206614838161noreply@blogger.com1