He Told Me He Was Muslim & Asked If He Could Attend My Church
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. —2 Corinthians 5.19
A few years ago, I noticed a new family at the church – husband and wife along with their three kids. They were good at slipping in and out of church quickly… but I hunted them down, introduced myself, got their names. I made it a point to chat with them – even if just for a few seconds – each Sunday.
After a few months, the husband asked if we could meet. He seemed like he had something heavy to share with me. At lunch, he told me how he had served time in prison – about a decade. After getting out, he met his wife. She’s the one who got the family coming to church.
Then he got to the point. He said, “In prison, I became a Muslim. In fact, I was a teacher and a leader. So, I guess I want to know—is it OK for me to attend church here with my wife?”
This isn’t what I imagined our discussion would be about.
I smiled, nodded my head, and said, “Absolutely. Of course you can attend the church! If the church isn’t open to people like you, we have no business being open at all.”
He seemed relieved. He thanked me.
And we returned to our routine of chatting for a few moments after the services on Sundays.
Sometimes in church, I turned around and noticed him there – singing, smiling, listening, crying. Something was happening inside him.
About 2 years later, he was baptized in our church.
I am convinced that men hate each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they don’t communicate with each other, and they don’t communicate with each other because they are separated from each other. —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
David Dark, in his book Life’s Too Short To Pretend You’re Not Religious, says…
When I label people, I no longer have to deal with them thoughtfully. I no longer have to feel overwhelmed by their complexity, the lives they live, the dreams they have. I know exactly where they are inside—or forever outside—my field of care, because they’ve been taken care of. The mystery of their existence has been solved and filed away before I’ve had a chance to be moved by them or even begun to catch a glimpse of who they might be. They’ve been neutralized.
There’s hardly any action quite so undemanding, so utterly unimaginative, as the affixing of a label. It’s the costliest of mental shortcuts.
I am a husband, father, pastor, leader & reader. I love God, love people & love life.
Powerful. Thank you. The David Dark book is yet another to add to my reading list for that time when I’m finally finished school!