Last Sunday evening, Deborah and I took part in a special event in Bloomington. “Building Bridges” brought together members of the many religious traditions in the city; Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Bahai communities (and perhaps others). The premise of the gathering was that in today’s world, all people of faith must move beyond mere tolerance (which can easily become patronizing) to active goodwill. We shared a meal and engaged certain questions together, taking small steps toward respect and understanding.

In a time of growing religious intolerance, our table fellowship reminded me of today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles. It seems that some of the early Christians (who considered themselves Jews) retained their Jewish distaste and suspicion of people outside their own tradition. They were scandalized that Peter, the chief Apostle, had associated with “uncircumcised men”. Worse, he had eaten with them! But Peter told them of a vision, in which God invited him to eat of all the unclean foods forbidden to a Jew. The Spirit insisted, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” Immediately after, a group of non-Jews asked Peter to come and proclaim the new faith to the household of Cornelius. Peter told his fellow Christians, “The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.”

Peter saw that the vision of “the great cosmic picnic blanket”, things unclean made holy, had been given to prepare him to share his faith with non-Jews. His religious rules - originally intended to keep his community strong - had become barriers, cutting his people off from others and denying them fullness of life. In a time in which radical Muslim clerics rail against “the infidel”, and the priests of talk radio against “Islamo-Nazis” and “Islamofacism”, we need courageous, progressive, faith communities to deliver an alternative message.

Sing: “Get Together”

To smile on one another is so much more than mere tolerance. It is a sign of goodwill, truly desiring the best for the other, knowing that in this world, our own welfare is inseparable from the welfare of all. It is a sign of respect, knowing that no one faith corners the market on wisdom. In today’s gospel reading, we find Jesus preparing his disciples for his death and physical departure. What do they need in order to continue on, securing his presence with them in Spirit? Does he tell them to concentrate on keeping the new religion pure, or set them against the other faiths they would encounter in the world?

No. Instead, he says: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." Yes, this teaching was intended for the disciples, to strengthen the community from within. It has nothing to do with inter-faith dialogue. But no text can be read in isolation from the whole of scripture. Once God sent the cosmic picnic and the servants of Cornelius to Peter, directing him “to go with them and not to make a distinction…”, the Love Commandment ceased to be an in-house ground rule and became a mandate to share the love of God with all people, breaking down all barriers, building bridges across every divide. A new day dawned in the spiritual history of the world as Christ articulated and emphasized this great principle common to all faiths.

At “Building Bridges”, we received cards with the heading “The Golden Rule”. Many of us are familiar with Christ’s teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. This was followed by the Buddhist teaching: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”

From the Jewish tradition comes this variation: “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man.” Finally, from Islam, “No one of you is a believer unless he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” To call something a “Golden Rule” means that it is a teaching is of the highest value. So it appears that there is a holy First Principle, at the heart of all true religions; love for God and neighbor is the key to all spiritual progress, enlightenment, or salvation. It is one thing to know this intellectually and quite another to practice it in the world. That requires real spiritual elbow-grease, the willingness to release old thoughts and take new actions.

Sing: “Love Song”

Peter challenged the council in Jerusalem: “If God gave [the Gentiles] the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?" Peter’s vision and the conversion of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion, the former oppressor of Israel, changed spiritual history. The gift Christ gave in order to unify and empower his disciples, is now offered to all. There are no religious strings attached, only the spiritual ties that bind all people of goodwill, no matter what their faith.

In divine simplicity, all of us were created in God’s own image and likeness, none more or less so than others. Typically, we have complicated things, ignoring that essential truth about humankind, creating out of nothing false distinctions according to class, ethnicity, abilities, gender, sexuality, politics and religion. The Love Commandment, the Golden Rule, when put into practice, breaks down these walls that separate us. Filled with praise for their grace and beauty, we have no room to harbor prejudice. Seeing the image of God within our new friends, who will be able to hate?

By nature, fundamentalism is divisive, expressing religious certainty to cover spiritual doubt, driven by fear of the other, seeking always to exclude. As such, it is anti-love, faithless, disobedient, a hindrance to God. In contrast, we have this other vision, from The Revelation of John, “See, the home of God is among mortals (with no distinction between Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, male or female, straight or gay, Democrat or Republican, Christian or Muslim)…They will be his peoples (not an exclusive chosen people, but all peoples)…God will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the former things have passed away…And the one seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’"

To have and to express love for all peoples is to participate in God’s new creation of the world and of a new humanity, in which the Golden Rule truly governs the behavior of neighbors and of nations. This is our call as Christ’s body, the Church, not just because the Golden Rule is moral and just and intensely practical, but because we have been made new people in Christ. The same cosmic love that gave us our being and restores us to unity with God, now calls us to move beyond the illusory divisions of a world that is passing away, into the unity of a new world that is even how coming into being.

Sing: “Universal Soul”

AMEN