Crescents and A Cross: Some Thoughts And A Book Rec

Let's face it: whether you live in Kenya, North America, or Europe, the crescent and the cross have been making major headlines in the news. A Dutch lawmaker is working to outlaw immigration from Islamic countries, there is a political battle waging in New York over a proposed Islamic community center complete with prayer room two blocks from Ground Zero, and some church down in Florida (called the Dove World Outreach Center for heaven's sake!) is holding Koran burnings.

But what has hit closest to home for me has been the coverage of "the church" in Kenya. "The church" in Kenya has been one of, if not the leading voice against the new constitution that got passed this week. Why? One of the primary reasons cited was the inclusion in the constitution of a number of legal courts set up to allow Muslims to settle family disputes (these courts have been around since Independence as a way of uniting the country politically).

Large numbers of churches and church-goers over here really did embrace the sort of inflammatory, unlistening, unthoughtful, "us/them" rhetoric that they probably learned from listening to U.S. politicians and Christians (like Pat Robertson, who poured thousands of dollars into the country to fight the constitution). In case anyone has forgotten to read the life of Jesus lately, let me throw out a thought: the way of Jesus is the way of weakness, it is the way of suffering as the path to life. In case anyone has forgotten, Jesus' strongest words were not for the religions actively engaged in persecuting his own, but for his own self-absorbed religious leaders. In case we've forgotten, the Jews had plenty of violent revolutionaries, many supported by "religious conservatives," and yet Jesus rejected both their method and their aims. And in case any of us are tempted to forget, let's remember the message of Easter: Jesus Christ is the Cosmic King. He has won. He has conquered death. His kingdom is unshakeable in its foundation and in its coming. We have nothing to fear. Period.

As Christians Christ calls us to reject this "us/them" zero-sum war. If we are in a war, it is a war to see who will be the greatest demonstrators of love to those we disagree with, who will be willing to use their life and voice to love, honor, listen to, and befriend the religious "other." Some of you will say, "well the Muslims started it." Maybe. But there is a whole lot of history out there going way back that most of us haven't listened to, a history that shames us as much as anything. And anybody in Christendom who wants to be judged by their most fanatical members maybe needs to get back to that history.

Because you know who loses in all of this? The church. And by that I don't mean the National Association of Evangelicals or the PCA or the National Council of Churches in Kenya. I mean the body of Christ. Because Muslims throughout Kenya (and in the US now) are reading the opinions of our most radical, angry members, and they are lumping all of us together with them. Countless Christians here voted yes for the constitution because they believed that it provides the best shot at real reform in their country. But as far as the media is concerned, as far as what will be put on the doorsteps and dinner tables of millions of Muslims in this country, the church lost. And that hurts the body in the one cause we should be really concerned about: loving our neighbors so much in every area of their lives that they joyfully embrace the Savior. We're not to be defined by what we don't do, aren't like, don't believe, and certainly are not to be defined by what we hate. We are to be the love letter from Christ to the world, the one body of Christ, defined by our self-giving, long-suffering, cross-shaped love. Where do Koran burnings fit in?

This pastor from Florida who is propogating hatred in the name of the King who wilfully died for us "while we were yet sinners" asked the question: when you look at Muslims, how can you even think they're happy? Have you ever seen a Muslim look happy?

The reason he can ask that question is because he doesn't have any Muslim neighbors. I do. My neighbors on both sides are Somali Muslims. They are wonderful people. They have helped us with water when our tank runs out, given us leftovers from their Ramadan fast meals, watered our garden when we were away, invited us into their homes, worried over us when were gone for long periods of time, helped us get our power back on. Last week even as the headlines were winding down about "the church" making their final push "against" Muslims, the same papers were running stories about the prayer rallies for peace whatever the outcome . . . sponsored by the Muslims. And even now in my own country, where a Muslim leader who has declared that he wants to "outwork" radical Muslims like Osama bin Laden by promoting peace and helping Muslims work to understand other faiths, Christians are making news burning Korans and campaigning against one of the most important parts of our Constitution: the freedom of religion that means that we can have, if we took the time to, more opportunity for honest and open and loving conversations about Christ with Muslims than almost any other country in the world.

In light of all of this, I'd like to recommend a book published by the Navigators by Dr. Nabeel T. Jabbour: The Crescent Through The Eyes of the Cross. Dr. Jabour is an Arab from a traditionally Christian family who gave his life to Christ and lived and worked in Egypt for 15 years. He helps us understand the "state of Islam" today in a way that transcends the two normal options of either ignoring the real dark sides of Islam or stereotyping the entire religion into radical homogeneity. I got this book from my cousin David Jemison, who has been serving as an independent translator for the U.S. army in Iraq for two years now, a Christian whose life has been threatened on repeated occasions by Muslims through his involvement in the war . . . and yet who still works tirelessly among his family and peers to help Christians understand that this is only a miniscule part of the story, to help us see the Crescent through the eyes of the God who gave Himself on the Cross for us . . . and for them.

Until we try to understand the people we disagree with, including Muslims, we will continue to, in my opinion, shame the cross of Christ horribly in public. The best way, of course, is friendships, and some of us have incredible opportunities to be neighbors with Muslims. But for those of us who don't, or for increased understanding on how to relate to the Muslims in our midst, this is an incredibly helpful book.

May Jesus Christ who died to bring us peace teach us how to walk in His light through our difficult and complicated world.

Michael