Now when I hear a Muslim pray to Allah, I feel a connection to all the righteous, holy and beautiful people who connect to the Muslim faith and express their faith in prayer to Allah. When I hear a Christian pray to God (or Jesus), I feel a connection to all the righteous, holy, beautiful people who connect with the Christian faith and express their faith in prayer to God (or Jesus). They pray to the divine within the language and the context of their religion. I have found my own way, as a Unitarian Universalist, to an understanding of the divine. I believe that all of Nature is worthy of worship and therefore divine; and that God or the divine is the totality of nature/the universe/the flow of life itself–nothing more and nothing less. So in my mind whenever I hear a Christian say God (or Jesus); whenever I hear a Muslim say Allah, in my mind I translate that into “the oneness of everything and the flow of life.” And this makes me comfortable in the company of these Christians and Muslims. My faith is different, it is less mainstream, but it is just as real and valid as theirs. I am a religious person and I feel comfortable and connected to other religious people.
I know from experience that most Muslims, and most Christians, welcome this connection. Holy and beautiful and righteous Christians and Muslims are open minded and respect people of other faiths. The narrow-minded Christians and Muslims who only accept one name for the divine, who only respect one way of practicing religion, are not my problem. I leave it to the open-minded Christians to remind the judgmental Christians that Jesus loves everybody. In Unitarian Universalism, however, it is my job to remind all UU’s to be welcoming and open-minded, to be respectful of the Muslims who pray to Allah and the Christians who pray to Jesus – plus of course the Sikhs; the Pagans; the Jews; and the atheists who “pray” to human goodness and wisdom and don’t name it as the divine at all. Let us not be like the narrow-minded sects of Christianity and Islam who disrespect other religions. Let us honor how others pray; let us figure out for ourselves what is holy and worthy of worship, and let us connect to those of any religion (or no religion) who do the same.
PRAYER:
God of many names and no name,
Allah, Jesus, Love, Breath of Life,
Be with me now.
Remind me that it is human to seek the unknowable,
To name the un-nameable.
All are connected.
May all people be united in love.
May all people be well and safe and at peace.
Blessed be.
Rev. Andrew Frantz
September 6, 2023