I so much enjoyed this post today by Terry Kylo on the Paths to Understanding site that I wanted to share it with all of you.

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This weekend I will be speaking with a Christian youth group about how multi-faith relationships, partnerships for the common good, and public solidarity is a faithful expression of the Christian wisdom tradition.

The sad reality is that for many Christians, the answer is that it is not possible to be faithful to Jesus and to respect, relate to, learn from, and partner with other traditions. What I hear from many Christians is the “salvation” is to be recognized as a part of an exclusive in-group. They don’t say it quite this way, at least at first. But when you press them this is where it goes.

I spoke to a person lately who asked why I was supporting and working with people of other traditions. She told me that if I wanted to be faithful to Jesus, I should be working to convert them “because you can’t get to heaven unless you follow Jesus. It’s okay that you are being nice to them but if you love them you must try to convert them.” Love, it seems, was for her only a strategy to make others like her. As she said this her face, voice, and body resonated with a kind of superiority and certainty. I could tell she enjoyed it.

I have met people of many traditions who have a similar attitude: everyone from Atheists to Zoroastrians. (Well, actually I have never heard this from Zoroastrians, but you get my point:). Indeed, I have felt the rush of superiority and certainty in myself many times, and for many years.

I responded to her this way: “I am so grateful that the Creator has found me and encountered me through the Lutheran Christian and Episcopal Christian traditions. But I think it is simply beyond my pay grade to tell the Creator how to find and encounter others. If you want to walk up to the Creator and tell her how to do her work, well, go ahead. But I won’t be doing that.”

This seemed, at least for a moment, to give her pause. In fact, she seemed quite disturbed. I was too.

My wife and I saw a beautiful sunset recently. (Pictured) It went on changing from color to color for over an hour and a half. We saw the light of the sun, but that does not mean we own or control or possess the light.

• We may be encountered by the Divine.
• For those who don’t do God: We may be encountered by a Meaning beyond our imagination or effort.
• But that does not mean it is only for us, or that all people see the same colors.

As the sunset was ending we saw the shape of a grey whale and heard the sound of its breathing. On that magical evening, I wondered, “Was not the sunset for the whale, too?”

The word “faith” in the Christian Scriptures really means “trust” in the One who is beyond our idea of God. Understanding this, exclusive in-grouping is actually the result of a lack of faith, a lack of trust that the Divine has agency to reach out to all the human family in a way that each needs.

Just because the Divine has reached out to me in a particular way does not limit how the Divine will reach out to others.

Unless, you want to walk up to up to Creator and tell Her how to do things….  In that case, let me just back away a bit as the sound of a Holy Laughter reminds us how small and beautiful we are – and others, too.

Photo by Terry Kyllo