Faithful Philly Forum

I’m struggling with what the term means.  I know what it’s supposed to mean, “Greater love hath no one, etc.” and “do unto the least of these ..” We’re supposed to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned. Jesus has lots of teachings how we’re supposed to let go of what we have, open our arms (and hearts) to others, give unstintingly.  But have you ever tried that? Giving unstintingly?  Give until it hurts?
It seems like the well off and comfortable can maybe give.  Maybe they have a lot to give.  (I’m thinking here of Lazarus with the beggar at his gate — he had lots of extra rooms, I suppose.)  But what do poor working stiffs have to give?  I mean, I have a reasonably comfortable house that’s warm (at least as long as the decrepit furnace I can’t afford to repair keeps going.)  But does that mean I should take in someone off the street for my  spare room?  I doubt anyone would argue that, in the interest of safety and common sense if nothing else.

I have enough to eat and even enough extra for vet care for a few cats and seed for the wild birds.  But do have enough to buy sandwiches for everyone who accosts me on the streets?
Where are the limits?  How much safety and comfort for the comfortable is too much and should be given up?  How much comfort, decency, cleanliness, etc is our right to claim for ourselves — and also to advocate, fundraise, produce etc for the less well-off as well?

There is a time to reap and a time to sow.  Is there also a time to give or agitate and a time to rest or even receive?  How does a good Christian know when (and how) to give and when (and how) to hold back to maintain some basic love/care for herself?

As I listen and enter into conversations concerning Islam, I continue to be worried about our separation and our ignorance.  We need to face our own reactions to outward expressions of Islam if we are to avoid that sneaky, creeping, evil - prejudice.  For example, I have very different reactions to the hijab (the headscarf) and the hiqad (the face veil).  I’ve had quite a bit of positive experience with women wearing hijab. When I visited Palestine I met the wives of neighborhood friends from Boston.  The men were in the U. S. earning a living, the wives and children living in Ramallah.  We met in East Jerusalem, the friends wearing hijabs.  They volunteered later that they had no external pressure or compulsion to wear them, but that they were signs of their solidarity and pride as Muslim Palestinian women.  When a guard at the Muslim museum wanted me to cover my head, the women vigorously protested.

In urban ministry in Boston and in Chester I have had many occasions to work and to socialize with American Muslim women, some wearing head scarves, some not.  I respect their decisions around this and I can empathize with either position.  See, for example, an article on www.Islam101.com by Naheed Mustafa, a young Canadian woman who writes in “My Body is my Own Business” that “Why would I … want to cover myself…?  Because it gives me freedom.”  (I remember what it was like to be a young mother in a mini-skirt in the 60s, having to steel myself every day as I walked by a construction site on my street.)

But then there is the hiqad – the face covering.  Again, I respect another person’s decision about how she will dress.  But, I have an emotional reaction to sitting across a table at dinner with a woman in a veil, she negotiating her fork underneath the veil in order to eat;  later meeting the woman in the ladies room without her veil and not recognizing her – someone with whom I had just shared a meal!  I think of the communication and empathy exercise we did with youth – we gave them a sheet of paper with pictures of faces with many expressions and asked them to identify the emotion behind the expression.  How can we communicate without seeing faces?  In England a teacher was dismissed because she would not remove her veil.  I understand that.

Of course I know that this is a debate within Islam, and I have profound respect for the women of Islam to address the issues that face them.  It is up to me to face my own reactions, to respond with respect, to seek dialogue and relationship, and to seek to be well informed.  I wonder what would happen if Christian women wore hijabs for a week or so in solidarity and respect!  We would probably learn something.

There seems to be a lot of praying happening on College Green at Penn these days. I hadn’t been on a morning run through campus for a week, so saw for the first time today both the Penn for Jesus House of Prayer tent near Van Pelt Library and then an arch of balloons over Locust Walk at 36th Street with a sign nearby announcing the Muslim Students Association Islam Awareness Week.

The House of Prayer tent was up last spring and even garnered a favorable cartoon in The Daily Pennsylvanian. I am not on campus regularly, so I may have missed it, but I do not recall such a public witness by the Muslim Students Association before.

I see positive things in both of these efforts. First is the toleration that apparently is being shown, at least by not damaging their public displays, for both Muslims and conservative Christians, neither of which is a huge presence at Penn. I think too many undergraduates in particular combine a little smarts with a little education and have a know-it-all attitude that takes some experience with life to soften. It is too easy to reflexively oppose what is different and students, like so many others, want to “fit in.”

As for the two groups, I am pleased to see conservative Christians doing something other than confrontational “witnessing” that I find counterproductive and, as a Christian, embarrassing. If the Muslim Students Association is finding its public voice, that may be a sign that Islam is moving beyond a post-9/11 defensiveness and is dealing with the violence issues it has. All in all, I sensed a refreshing openness that perhaps signals a renewed place for the religious viewpoint in the public square. I hope this leads to a larger place for the Christian Association’s peace and justice focus in our civic and religious life.