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A Common Word - Held On March 9
The Gospel of Matthew (22:34-40) relates the following:
 When the Pharisees heard that [Jesus] had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
How radical these commandments must have been to the lawyer and the Pharisees, whose occupations depended upon their ability to interpret and enforce the law. How radical these commandments still are today. To love? That is the greatest commandment?.jpg)
From the Holy Qur’an,
Say, (O Muhammad, to mankind): If ye love God, follow me; God will love you and forgive you your sins. God is Forgiving, Merciful. (Aal ‘Imran, 3:31)
The prophet of Islam, Muhammad, says,
"None of you has faith until you love for your neighbor what you love for yourself" (Sahih Muslim , Kitab al-Iman, 67-1, Hadith no.45).
The commandments of the Qur'an and the words of the prophet are not so different from those of Jesus. The God of Christianity and Islam has as the greatest commandment to love.
We live in a world focused upon highlighting and celebrating difference. Doing so has moved from the realm of "political correctness" to the status quo. Nor should we ignore what makes us unique as individuals and cultures. Nonetheless, we must be careful not to let our differences divide us from the community that is humanity. For if we do, we fail the greatest commandments.
Within our differences exists a tie that cannot be broken, a word that is stronger than fear, and that word, that tie, is love.
In his September 12, 2006, lecture at the University of Regensburg, Pope Benedict XVI spoke against violence as a tool of religion. In the course of his lecture, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologus, who described the messages of Muhammad as "evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." That Benedict XVI used Islam as a scapegoat for religious violence at the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, could not be coincidence. Nor could it have been more divisive. The Muslim community responded to the Papal lecture with dismay and in defense of the true nature of Islam: Peace.
One year later, on the occcasion of the Eid al-Fitr al-Mubarak 1428 A.H./October 13, 2007, C.E., Professor Dr. Hafiz Yusuf Z. Kavakci, our neighbor and member of the Islamic Association of North Texas (IANT), was among the Muslim religious leaders who, choosing to be proactive, rather than reactive, invited Christians to come together with Muslims on the basis of what is common to us both: the love of the One God and the love of the neighbor. We accepted this invitation by inviting Dr, Kavakci, and members of the Dallas Central Mosque, to join us on Sunday, March 9, 2008, from 2.30-4.30 p.m. that we might explore this together.
This Common Word event embraces the Common Word initiative, which aims to educate and bring together Christians and Muslims under God's commandment of love.
Working with the IANT and the Dallas Central Mosque, the Church and Society Committee of Arapaho UMC will host a celebration of the common love that holds us together with God. Speakers for the event will be Dr. Hafiz Yusuf Z. Kavakci, Rev. Jack Soper, and Dr. Robert A. Hunt, Director of Global Theological Education, Perkins School of Theology, SMU. Professor Hunt will address the background of the Common Word movement, the controversial Papal address to Regensberg University and the flood of responses to it.
Members of the Dallas Central Mosque will come together with members from AUMC to explore and celebrate God's love, the Common Word that shelters us all.
If you have any questions regarding the A Common Word initiative, please visit the official website of a Common Word. If you have any questions about our A Common Word event, please contact
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