On 21/22 October 10 Christian and 10 Muslim preachers had a ground-breaking seminar together on preaching. In his introduction Dr Musharraf Hussain, Chair of the Christian Muslim Forum, said that Christians and Muslims had been rivals for 1400 years, seeking to convert each other. Only now were we focusing on what we could learn from each other and what we had in common. In fact, if we hope to inspire peace and tolerance amongst our congregations, women and men of pulpits need to be setting a good example. Read the full report
here.
Joint Preaching on the 5th Anniversary of 9/11
Canon Chris Chivers and Anjum Anwar MBE shared their experience of jointly leading a service at Blackburn Cathedral on 11 September 2006. They took a big risk in opening up the cathedral and the local community to such a close encounter between the two faiths. Yet, the atrocity of 9/11, which involved the hijacking of both airliners and Islam, had spoiled both local and national relationships between Christians and Muslims, and society as a whole. Anjum told how a local shop which had known her family for years had refused to serve her. Chris too reflected on the stark contrast between post-9/11 relationships and a celebration, hosted by the Muslim community, of the 10th anniversary of Archbishop Carey's enthronement a few days before -- 'such events can give us confidence in each other'. These things were an inspiration for a public service bringing together both Christians and Muslims, and reflections from the scriptures and traditions of both faiths, emphasising their deep teachings of peace.
Sermon Slot
Hafiz Fazal Mohammed and Revd Bill Mahood preached sermons for us, but this time the preachers were not 'six feet above criticism' as we took the opportunity to carry out a 'post mortem'. Fazal's sermon focussed on forgiveness and care for our neighbour, challenging perceptions that this was a unique distinctive of Christianity. In Islam, the message is 'no matter what you have done, God's door of forgiveness is open' but when we ask a person for forgiveness we should also be seeking to make amends. Muhammad said that the true bankrupt person is the one who, on the day of judgement has carried out their obligations to God but has committed atrocities or offences against others. For the Muslim, as for the Christian, everyone is a neighbour, they may be near geographically or of the same religion but those who are very different and far away are still neighbours. We are all part of the family of God so Muslims should not discriminate against anyone else. And finally, a challenging message for our time and society 'Islam is not a religion of isolation but of cohesion!'
Bill took as his text a verse from Isaiah 'look to the rock from which you were hewn' (acknowledge where you have come from and that you are part of a community/humanity). From his own experience growing up as a Protestant in Northern Ireland he talked about how easy it was for the majority to have attitudes of prejudice and fear towards a minority and that the purpose of the sermon was to give us the courage and determination to seek to change society. Our scriptures tell us to rethink our relationships and remember that faith is a gift from God, not just for us -- 'if you are given a gift it is for the sake of everyone, not just for you, our living of faith is for the sake of all humankind, we should spend God's gifts with profligacy (max out God's credit card!).' When he originally preached this sermon he preached to a Christian congregation, his closing words had an extra dimension for us as a group of Muslims and Christians -- 'we will journey to God together, if we think we can go on our own we are making one of the biggest mistakes we can make!'
Quick Comments
One of our Muslim friends was inspired to say, 'some of the best 'Muslims' are Christians'. We were all struck, not by the similarities between the two sermons but by the harmony in both between our devotion to God and the strong commitment to the society and people of other faiths, not just our own faith community.
'How far do we go in bringing scripture and people's experience together' -- the preacher's skill is in 'talking people for a walk and leaving them to find their own way home'.
A question mainly for Fazal, 'are you ever inspired to preach on a particular verse in the Qur'an?'. He told us how he had seen a billboard for the 'Brits' TV programme (about a young radicalised Muslim) which had the slogan 'whose side are you on'. This reminded him of a verse 'God orders justice, goodness and giving to kin'. He was on his way to the prison for Friday prayers and used this as the starting point for his sermon.
Hermeneutics (making sense of Scripture)
Revd Duncan Macpherson started by saying that although Christians believe the Bible to be the Word of God this is secondary to Christian belief that Jesus is the Word of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity. He traced the history of approaches to the Bible, from the literal, allegorical and mystical through the Protestant reformation with its principle of 'scripture alone', putting tradition to one side. He also talked about 'liberal' approaches (rejecting the literal and the miraculous) and the 'fundamentalist' response in 1920s America. For the preacher interpretation is about 'opening up or deepening communion between the worshippers and God'. The preacher takes scripture and then brings its proclamation and challenge into the present. 'The preacher brings the message of God the Father, in the person of Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God, from whom Christians believe they receive the new life of the Holy Spirit'. It is not so much information as Christian formation.
Prof. Abdul Ali Hameed (Principal of the Muslim College) responded that the Qur'an is the Word of God, every word is from God. He reminded us that the words of the Qur'an are very flexible and that good interpretation gives the reader freedom to explore the message of the Qur'an. While Muhammad was alive he refrained from giving interpretations because people would then have been stuck with whatever he might have said at the time. He stressed the importance of being open to the Qur'an and not being tempted to organise its non-linear structure into a system or sequence. The believer should 'walk moderately' through scripture.
Quick Comment
'Is the Qur'an the living Word of God in the sense that the Bible is alive for Christians?' God continues to show signs until the truth is manifest, the Qur'an is very much a living book.
Contemporary Issues
Revd Richard Cook introduced us to 'God's Big Picture' an introduction to the Bible by Vaughan Roberts. He started with Genesis and the Creation, referring to the 'world-threatening' Large Hadron Collider and the Royal Academy's recent issue with 'creationism'. 'When you talk about Creation people get panicky, is this a world that God has made or where human beings have all the answers?' Or, allowing some space for God we look around us and ask 'Has God lost the plot, where is God?' His answer was that God is deeply concerned with both people and the world -- God's 'rest' on the 7th day is the goal of Creation. So God wants us to enjoy rest too, take time to discover ourselves and God. The Christian idea of 'Creation' encourages us to think about modern issues such as: are we over-worked or should we be spending more time resting (to avoid becoming burnt-out); should we be exploiting the world or, like God, should we be eco-friendly.
Musharraf Hussain's contemporary issue was the path towards God and the things that get in the way of this. One of the major concerns in our society is about 'values', he told us how values and morality were the steps to personal and spiritual development and of a growing relationship with God. His slide actually showed the 'Seven Steps to Heaven'! Through developing good behaviour -- patience, forgiveness, being moderate -- and consciousness of God, the believer will experience personal transformation where attachment to and distraction by the world is replaced by love of God.
Concluding questions and feedback
'Scripture and current issues are on opposite sides of the river, which side do I throw the bridge from' -- this was quite difficult to answer, but the best suggestion was -- 'don't make scripture a commentary on the news or let your preaching be driven by society's blindspots.'
Contrary to some expectations, we learned that shari'ah is means of deciding on answers to new questions, the example was given of scholars in the third Muslim century (800 -- 900 CE) finding in favour of conception outside the womb in a hypothetical scenario, predating 'test-tube babies' by over 1000 years.
'very helpful, inspiring, delightful to meet people, can we do it locally (e.g. in Surrey)?
'tremendously stimulating, exciting, encountering Muslims most important part'
One of the Muslim participants said that she would be including the text 'look to the rock from which you were hewn' as a strapline on her emails
And finally
If you are in a congregation in Woking, Guildford, Nottingham, Birmingham, Ealing, Northampton, Cheltenham, Blackburn, London, Manchester, or Stafford then you may hear about our experience together from the pulpit. We are exploring similar events in Blackburn and London next year.
October Offer
We have 6 copies of 'Pilgrim Preacher, Palestine, Pilgrimage and Preaching' by Duncan Macpherson, one of our speakers. Price £6 each, first come, first served. Stephen Wright of the College of Preachers says 'an unusual book: creative and insightful and endlessly asking some of the vital questions that biblical preachers need to ponder'. It is aimed at but is not only for Christians. Please email us if you would like to purchase a copy .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
