The setting of the sun this past Wednesday evening began a sacred season for two of the world's most popular religions.
The unusual convergence marks the beginning of Ramadan, the month long Islamic fast, as well as Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year that starts the tenHigh Holy Days-a time known among Jews as the Days of Awe.
The two holidays typically happen on the same day only every 33 years, although they last occurred together in October 2005.
The traditions of Islam, Judaism and Christianity each embrace a common ancestor-Abraham. And so it seems fitting that we should take a closer look at this man whose name is so closely associated with three of the world's major religions.
The story of Abraham that most of us are familiar with comes from the text of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible.
This story tells us that Abraham was required to leave his homeland and that God promised to bless him and his descendents, by making of them a great nation.
The most significant demand God makes on Abraham is that he and his descendants totally commit to a belief in one and only one God.
When Sarah and Abraham are in Egypt, on their way to the Promised Land, Hagar, an Egyptian girl, becomes a handmaiden for Sarah. Since Sarah is childless she tells Abraham he should conceive a child with Hagar.
However, once Hagar becomes pregnant, her relationship with Sarah turns bitter. Hagar leaves home but an angel of God tells her she will bear a son, Ishmael and he will be the head of many tribes and she should return home to Abraham and Sarah. Hagar returns and Ishmael is born.
Thirteen years later, God promises Abraham that Sarah will bear a son who will inherit his covenant.
As a sign of this promise God demands that all males be circumcised, now and in the future. The practice of circumcision represents a significant sign of the covenant between God and Jewish people.
After Sarah gives birth to Isaac, she insists that Abraham cast out Hagar and Ishmael. Once again, God reassures him that Ishmael and his offspring will make a great nation. Abraham reluctantly sends them away.
After Hagar and Ishmael were driven out by Sarah, they wandered in the desert between two mountains looking for water. Angels appeared reassuring Hagar that God would bless her son and make him the father of a great nation. They then settle in what is today, Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, where Ishmael's descendents become Muslims.
Now, Islam teaches that Abraham was one of 5 great prophets who received special revelations from Allah. Whereas Judaism and Christianity teach that the covenant with God was passed on through the genetic line of Isaac, Islam teaches that this special covenantal relationship was with Abraham and therefore passed to both his sons, Isaac and Ishmael.
Karen Armstrong in her wonderful book A History of God tells us that Muhammad had learned the story of Ishmael from Jews living in Medina. She goes on to state that "The Arabian Jews had added some local legends of their own, saying that Abraham had left Hagar and Ishmael in the Valley of Mecca, where God had taken care of them...Later Abraham had returned for a visit when Abraham and Ishmael constructed the Kabah to be the first temple to the one God."
Armstrong goes on to say that, "Ishmael had become the father of the Arabs, so, like the Jews, they too were the sons (and daughters) of Abraham."
"This must have been music to Muhammad's ears: he was bringing the Arabs their own scripture and now he could root their faith in the piety of their ancestors. In 624...the new religion of Allah declared its independence. Muhammad commanded the Muslims to pray facing Mecca instead of Jerusalem." This decree suggested that, "Muslims were tacitly declaring that they belonged to no established religion but were surrendering themselves to God alone...They were returning to the primordial religion of Abraham, who had been the first Muslim to surrender to God.
For in the Koran it says:
"We believe in God and in that which has been bestowed from high upon us, and in that which has been bestowed upon Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and their descendents, and that which has been vouchsafed to Moses and Jesus,...and all other prophets by their Sustainer: We make no distinction between any of them. And it is unto him we surrender ourselves." There is no God but God and Allah is his name.
Now my favorite story of Abraham that appears in all texts is a story of hospitality.
In the Book of Genesis, Chapter 18 tells us that one day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent at the hottest time of day when he saw three strangers approaching. Now Abraham had no way of knowing if these strangers were friends come to visit or enemies to be turned away.
But Abraham was bound by his culture's rules of hospitality and he walked out to greet his visitors.
After welcoming the strangers as if they were royalty Abraham instructs Sara to prepare an elegant feast for their guests.
Now since this story is contained in scripture it probably doesn't come as a surprise that in fact one of Abraham's guests turns out to be God. His simply act of compassion and hospitality leads him to have an encounter with the divine.
I think that this simple story, the act of welcoming and generosity, is perhaps the most relevant story in the Abrahamic tradition.
For those of us living in a fractured and hostile world, I think that this story is of great significance for it shows us that Islam, Judaism and Christianity teach that Abraham was a model of how humans should live their lives by displaying courage, having faith in one another, and practicing radical hospitality.
This year's unique convergence of the two different faiths also marks a time to reflect upon their similarity.
There's a sense of soul-searching and inner cleansing, spiritual cleansing and renewal that is shared by both great traditions.
To mark this year's event a group of Muslims, Jews and Christians met together over a period of time and they developed statement to address the confluence of the Abrahamic sacred seasons as a way to think about shaping sacred connections with one another.
In part, their statement reads, " During the fall of 2007 an unusual confluence of sacred moments in the different Abrahamic traditions invites us to pray with or alongside each other, share food and stories, and work together for peace, justice, human rights, and the healing of our wounded earth."
The statement goes on to say that, "There is much that we could do to heal the world during this sacred season made up of sacred times...Perhaps on a day that for Muslims is one of the fast days of Ramadan and for Jews is the fast day for Yom Kippur, all...could observe a fast for reflection, repentance, reconciliation and renewal.."
This year on Saturday, September 22 the fast day of Yom Kippur will overlap with Ramadan. I invite us all to join with our religious neighbors in fasting from sunrise to sunset. Let it be a day of fasting for renewal, reconciliation, repentance, reflection and renewal
Let it be day motivated by these words from prophet Isaiah found in the Hebrew Bible.
"Why have we fasted?' they say,
'and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?'
And Isaiah responds:
"Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers. (replies Isaiah)
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you..."
Indeed, if you live in ways that advance the causes of justice and equality then there will be righteousness and healing for all people. Let us fast for the goal of a world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.
Let our fast be one for forgiveness. Not so much the forgiveness of others for while that will bring personal healing let us fast so that we might experience reconciliation and inner peace with ourselves. Let us fast that we may come to understand our selves, our motives, our desires so that we can let go of all that negative energy and strive to bring love to our families and our selves.
Let our fast lift up the inherent worth and dignity of those we love and those we are just getting to know.
Let this be a fast for the coming together to share the stories of our spiritual journeys that we may deepen our understanding and caring for one another.
We may quarrel over what we believe to be true but I wonder if it has to be an either or discussion or whether we can be open enough to contemplate the possibility that what another believes may be closer to what we believe than perhaps we are willing to admit. I am reminded here of the old expression, "Tell me about the God that you do not believe in for chances are I don't believe in that God either. May we support one another as we engage in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning in our lives.
Let this be a fast for renewal-not only of our selves-but a renewal of what we hope to accomplish as a religious community. How do we wish to be perceived by our religious neighbors? How will we speak of those with whom we disagree and how do we hope they will speak of us. Let us then renew our principle to accept one another and to encourage spiritual growth.
Let this be a fast for the healing of our earth and for our respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are all a part.
And finally, let this be a fast in support of our Muslim, Jewish and Christian teachings which individually and collectively call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves.
The former CNN reporter Peter Arnett tells a story of working in the West Bank when a bomb is set off and bodies are strewn everywhere in the aftermath of the blast. Amid the terror of the moment, a man runs toward him with a little girl unconscious in his arms.
He can tell Arnett is a member of the press and begs him to help get through the massive security force and to a hospital.
They wrap the girl in a blanket and set off for the treacherous drive to Tel Aviv.
When they arrive, the doctors grab the little girl and the two men sit in an agony of waiting.
After a long while, the doctors come out with weary expressions and tell the two men that the little girl has died on the operating table, and the man who ran to Peter sinks back into his seat sobbing.
The reporter, attempting to console him, admits that since he is not married and has no children, he can't imagine what it would be like to lose a daughter.
The man lifts his tear-streaked face and tells Arnett that the girl is not his daughter; she was a Muslim child, and he was the Jewish settler who found her and hoped to save her. "Maybe it's time for us to start thinking of everyone's children as our children," he said.
We do not have to be Muslim or Christian or Jewish or Hindu or any religion at all to recognize and to honor the basic humanity that holds us together as part of the human family.
Maybe it's time for all of us to start thinking of everyone's sincere religious practice as our religious practice.
Maybe it's time for all of us to start thinking that religion should be something to comfort us not to antagonize us.
Maybe its time for all of us to use these sacred days of this sacred season to build up the world not to tear it down.
Awe and atonement. Mortality and community. Ritual and story. We look over our shoulders to give thanks to our Abrahamic heritage. And we ask, how can we bring awe and atonement and hospitality into our own religious tradition?
Given what is at stake, given the condition of our towns and cities, our country and the countries of the world how can we afford not to?
Is there anyone here today who is not carrying the weight of unatoned injuries, old wounds suffered or inflicted?
Is there anyone who does not also carry unspoken hopes for reconciliation with someone, maybe even someone sitting right here in this sanctuary?
Is there anyone who is not in need of true hospitality who doesn't need to feel a part of a caring family and a beloved community?
Is there anyone who doesn't need to feel loved and needed?
For all of our sakes may we take our own small steps, right here in this church, to begin to offer hospitality to the stranger.
Amen and Blessed be