Here are some of the ideas I picked up during the day from the speakers and from participants. It will give you a flavor of the day. First, the title was intentional. It is not just about religious tolerance or even dialogue. It is about reconciliation. One spoke of this as a family reunion, and that is not Pollyanna. Family reunions are often difficult. We have hurt each other. Done things that have been destructive.  But we have also prospered with each other.

Swedish theologian Krister Stendahl once listed 3 rules for religious understanding. (1) When you are trying to understand another religion, you should ask the adherents of that religion and not its enemies. (2) Don’t compare your best to their worst. (3) Leave room for “holy envy.” (By this Stendahl meant that you should be willing to recognize elements in the other religious tradition or faith that you admire and wish could, in some way, be reflected in your own religious tradition or faith.)

Inter-religious dialogue does not mean that we leave our faith traditions particularities at the door. That only invokes a watered down, generic, sterile religion. Rather, we must bring our uniqueness to the conversation and celebrate it!  Rabbi Mark Diamond  of the Board of  Rabbis of Southern California spoke about seeking knowledge of the other tradition, understanding it, respecting it, having passion for your own tradition, and compassion for the other.

And along the way we need to approach our tradition, and the traditions of others with a sense of humility, and recognizing the oppositional identity we carry.

The most difficult part of the day was the panel with the Israeli Consul General and the Turkish Consul General. The conversation moved to the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and the Armenian Genocide. Quickly we were thrust into the arena of politics, involving land and people groups.  I realized that the only hope for reconciliation and peace for us–diverse faith traditions in the US, conflicts between peoples, disputes over land–will come from the faith traditions.

We need to talk to each other and learn from each other. We need to pray for each other.  We need to work together–maybe simply by creating an inter-faith soup kitchen. Or working together to eliminate homeless (Imagine LA does this!).We must work for the common good. We must work together to care for our neighbor–and we must broadly define who are neighbor is.  Our neighbor is the person next to us, or distanced from us, who, like us, is created in the image of God. As Rabbi David Wolpe reminded us–faith matters. Children of Abraham must celebrate and embrace our own faith traditions. And we must work together to repair the world.

We believe in the one High God, who out of love created the beautiful world and everything good in it. He created Man and wanted Man to be happy in the world. God loves the world and every nation and tribe on the Earth. We have known this High God in darkness, and now we know Him in the light. God promised in the book of His word, the Bible, that He would save the world and all the nations and tribes.

We believe that God made good His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left His home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and man, showing the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by his people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, He rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through Him. All who have faith in Him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love and share the bread together in love, to announce the Good News to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for Him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

Marketing guru Seth Godin writes in Tribes: “Heretics are engaged, passionate and more powerful and happier than everyone else…. Challenging the status quo requires a commitment, both public and private. It involves reaching out to others and putting your ideas on the line…. Heretics must believe. More than anyone else in the organization, it’s the person who’s challenging the status quo, the one who is daring to be great, who is truly present and not just punching the clock who must have the confidence of her beliefs” (p. 49). Heretics face fear and refuse to back down. Heretics are curious, ready to venture down new paths. Heretics seek something that is remarkable (p. 35).

Parker Palmer in Let Your Life Speak writes about one amazing heretic: Rosa Parks.  Palmer sees Rosa Parks as one example of a person who decides that they can no longer “act on the outside in a way that contradicts some truth about themsleves that they hold deeply on the inside” (p. 32).

On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks in Montgomery Alabama decided to sit down at the front of bus, in seats reserved from whites only.  Some years later a grad student asked Rosa Parks: “Why did you sit down that the front of the bus that day?”  Her answer was: “I sat down because I was tired.”

Rosa Parks did not mean that her feet were tired, rather she meant that “her soul was tired, her heart was tired, her whole being was tired of playing by racist rules, of denying her soul’s claim to selfhood” (Palmer 32-33).

Rosa Parks was a heretic—we need more like her.  Maybe this is a good New Year’s Resolution.  Not to simply accept what is, but to see what is contrary to the way this world should be and say–enough; no more; I am tired.

May the ranks of the heretics increase!  More on heretics to come.

This day throughout the country homeless people who have died will be remembered.
These are often the invisible people in our community. Usually the homeless we see on the streets are just a fraction of the homeless in a community.Some have become homeless because of their own choices; most because of situations that have overtaken their lives from which they have difficulty recovering (addictions, domestic violence,  mental illness, lack of affordable housing, loss of a job).

For some, reducing and preventing homelessness is not just a good thing to do, it is actually a moral obligation. Those who have, and who have in abundance have a obligation to care for those less fortunate. The Bible links care for the poor with the reminder that God has cared for us in dramatic ways:  I am the Lord your God who rescued you from slavery in Egypt…therefore, attend to the poor, the widow, the alien.

In Simi Valley where I live…a nice suburb north of Los Angeles, three homeless people died this year. One died at a local winter shelter site, one died in pickup truck in a driveway, one died in a dumpster—all three called Simi Valley home.
Each one struggled with significant issues that made them homeless and kept them homeless
They are some of the invisible people–here is a part of their story

Kevin Asuncion
Kevin was a long time resident of Simi Valley and used the services of the Samaritan Center (local homeless service center) on a fairly regular basis. Through all his inner struggles he still managed to break into a smile and laugh about things. He had several close friends at the center and offered to help where he could. He was in a very peaceful state the week that he passed.

Mike Scamaldo
Mike was also a long time resident of Simi Valley. He had many friends and was always one to talk with other clients that were in at state of unrest. There were several clients that commented on his ability to calm them and show them that some of the things that upset them weren’t worth being upset over. He was always willing to help at the center when asked.

James Beck
Jim was a long time client at the Samaritan center. He fought many inner issues over the years, but was making progress in putting them behind him. He made changes that got him off the streets the latter part of his life. He talked about his desires to see his son find a way out of the life on the streets.

Peace to their memory

Those of us who have…and most of us have alot, and often more, so much more than enough…have an obligation to give to others.

Our goal in Simi Valley is to be a community that works together–faith communities, city and county government, local businesses, non-profits–in order to reduce and prevent homelessness. We have moved beyond simply maintaining homelessness. We want to reduce it and prevent it.

On the day with the  longest night–consider how you might work to end homeless in your community.

The story of Christ’s birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love. So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists. And when it’s all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose. Is this what we really want out of Christmas? What if Christmas became a world-changing event again? Welcome to Advent Conspiracy: four simple practices: Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All

StoryCorps is declaring November 28, 2008 the first annual National Day of Listening.
This holiday season, ask the people around you about their lives — it could be your grandmother, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood. By listening to their stories, you will be telling them that they matter and they won’t ever be forgotten. It may be the most meaningful time you spend this year.

The mix of people who attended was quite diverse. One of the tables was filled with some local homeless people. They came for the food and the music.  Some of them came to say thanks because they have received help.  One guy said: “This place has saved my life more than once.” And then he made a contribution to the clinic.

During the course of the evening, the band started playing some great dance music. So Andy, this donating homeless guy, got up out of his seat, and started dancing–with one of our board members, and with one of the Free Clinic staff members.

In that moment, all distinctions melted away.  A group of people came together for a good cause and we were one crowd, one group.

Christine Pohl in her book on hospitality, Making Room, talks about the host and the guest. True hospitality finds the gracious host helping the needy guest, AND also the gifted guest blessing the needy host.  I saw this over the weekend.

In Luke 5 Jesus heals a man with leprosy. A dramatic moment in this encounter is when Jesus simply touches the man. Touch.  You never touched a person with leprosy.  People with leprosy lived a life without touch.  Jesus touched this man.

Homeless people in my community are kept at arms length. Most of the time they are simply invisible. But this night at the Free Clinic fundraiser, people, from different places in life, danced…touched….It is the best of humanity. And the Lord smiles.

This is an historic presidential election. And a night when I am so proud to be a person of faith and an American.

 People in record numbers turned out to vote signaling a desire for change, for a new direction for our country domestically, as well on the world stage.

The economy did not trump faith-based issues, though the economy was an overriding concern. The linkage John McCain with the economic policies of George W. Bush was disastrous.

Faith/value issues have remained strong both at the national level and even more so at the local level. California’s Proposition 4 and Proposition 8 dealt with abortion and homosexuality, the two issues that remain at the forefront for conservative evangelical voters. These propositions engaged and mobilized churches both conservative and liberal in profound ways.

Today’s conservative evangelicals are the political children of the religious political activism of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and James Dobson. They continue to have influence among evangelicals in a variety of churches, and in a wide array of age groups. Often this group focuses on two social issues, homosexuality and abortion. This voting block continues to lean towards the Republican viewpoint. 

Faith based issues did drive religious conservatives into the political process, but a new group of Christians with a broader perspective on the role faith in culture voted in this election and helped bring about the election of Barack Obama as the 44^th president of the United States.

Obama did not pick up a substantial religious vote because he is/was a member of the United Church of Christ.  The categories of liberal/mainline and conservative/evangelical are no longer helpful. Obama picked up a good portion of the religious vote for reasons beyond the liberal/mainline and conservative/evangelical distinctions.

People of faith did not vote for Barack Obama because of his mainline affiliation. Mainline religious groups certainly voted the Democratic ticket and helped Obama win the presidency. They remain a significant voice in American society. This mainline vote is expected, but this is not the big story.

A shift in the ways that people of faith engage in American society has occurred.  There is a renewed vigor, and a new sense of hope among people of faith. 

This is a group of people who hold to strong convictions of faith, with a heart of great compassion, and with a spirit of humility and generosity.

This group voted for Obama because he represents a new vision for the country.  Obama’s values connected with the values of this emerging people of faith in the US.

This viewpoint with spokespeople such as Jim Wallis of Sojourners and author/pastor Brian McLaren speak to issues of faith without the label of mainline and evangelical, conservative and liberal, Republican and Democrat.

There is a group of people of faith who cannot be boxed into mainline and evangelical categories. They would reject both labels. These people of faith, often younger, but certainly represented by people of all age groups, hold a view that their religion (mostly Christian, but not exclusively), is not just about sin management and getting people ready for heaven.

Their faith is as much about how they as people of faith seek to do good in the world as followers of the ways of Jesus. They are not restricted to the two social agenda items of the conservative religious right. This group would have a broader perspective on abortion and homosexuality, recognizing the complexity of the issue, not settling for easy solutions, but also stress the importance of dealing with issues of poverty and economic injustice, immigration, health care, HIV/AIDS, war and genocide, and the environment.

These people of faith came out to vote for Barack Obama, believing that the church is to have a voice in the public square, and to act for the good,   hoping for a new America, and helped him win the presidency.

Tonight, a new vision for the United States was given chance.  The next four years will be a chance to see that vision become reality. May people of faith across this country come together, pray for our soon to be president, get involved at local levels to make communities better. And as we act justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly before our Lord–may God bless the United States of America

Our Western contexts, where we have great freedom to worship and to speak, often leads to a sense of apathy and nominalism. There is no sense of that in China. It is not easy to be a Christian in any part of the church. Still, these brothers and sisters, worship and serve with great joy. They serve with hopes that God will continue to work.

Pray for the church in China. God is doing great things!

William Temple once said that the church is the only society that exists for the benefit of non-members. Temple was wrong. Rotary is an amazing organization that though not perfect, exists for the sake of others. It does good work in local communities and around the world. It is a leading force for a number of causes: stamping out polio around the world, helping people gain mobility through wheelchairs, fighting HIV/AIDS in sub-Sahara Africa, battling malaria, and creating sources for clean water.

Often I find that the church is an organization that, in spite of its language and mission statements, exists for itself. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says the church is only the church when it exists for others. In his day, and in our day, we know the church falls short of that description.

Easter is upon us. Again we celebrate the amazing good news that Jesus Christ is risen. This is the message of our gospel text today.

Rotary is a fantastic organization, but it is not the church. The church is also called to make a difference in this world, to exist for others. The church is radically different from Rotary because the church is constituted by the Easter event. Because Jesus is risen, everything changes. Paul reminds us that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17)

This Easter event is to so captivate our hearts that we cannot keep silent! As great as my Rotary Club is, it cannot change hearts or transform societies. The Easter message makes the most outrageous of claims: the power of the risen Christ makes all things new.

This gives us great hope! This hope impacts the way we live and work today. Because of Jesus everything changes. We have a hope-filled mission. We do not sit back and wait for heaven, rather we engage in our world and become a sign and an agent of the good that God desires for his loved creation.

I will continue to be a proud Rotarian, but this always pales in the light of Easter. Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed. This is the hope of world, and the hope and joy for my life.