Book of Mormon anniversary

Tonight is the anniversary of the Moroni visitations. Last night (Monday, FHE), some Mormon grad students got together with their families at a local park, and I led an interactive telling/reenactment of the story of the angel's appearance. It was good.

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More than a hundred years ago,
there lived a boy named Joseph Smith, with his family:
his mother, his father,
his sisters Sophronia, Catherine, and Lucy,
and his brothers Alvin, Hyrum, Samuel, William, and Don Carlos.
They were a big family, and they loved each other very much.

Joseph and his family worked hard, but they were poor.
They didn’t have a lot of money.
They lived in a tiny house, and they wore old clothes, and sometimes they didn’t have very much to eat.

In the place where Joseph lived, people liked to tell stories about pirates and buried gold.
Sometimes Joseph thought to himself:
“If I could find buried gold, then I would be rich.
Then I could buy my family a bigger house, and new clothes, and anything we wanted to eat.”

One night, Joseph’s family went to sleep like they always did.
The only person who didn’t go to sleep was Joseph.
He stayed awake, praying.

While he was praying, something amazing happened!
An angel appeared in front of Joseph, floating in the air.
The angel wore a robe that was whiter than snow,
and he shone with a light that was brighter than the sun.

The angel said:
“Joseph, Heavenly Father has sent me to you with a message.
Remember this message:

Near your house, there is a hill.
On the hill, there is a rock.
Under the rock, there is a box.
In the box, there is a book written on golden plates.”

Then the angel disappeared.

After the angel went away, Joseph thought to himself:
“A book written on golden plates must be worth a lot of money!
If I find the golden plates, and sell them, I’ll be rich.
Then I can buy my family a bigger house, and new clothes, and anything we want to eat.”

While Joseph was thinking this,
suddenly the angel appeared a second time, floating in the air.
The angel wore a robe that was whiter than snow,
and he shone with a light that was brighter than the sun.

The angel said:
“Joseph, the golden plates are not to sell.
Heavenly Father wants you to read the book written on the golden plates,
and share what it says with everyone you know.
This book is more valuable than all the money in the world.

Remember the message I gave you:

Near your house, there is a hill.
On the hill, there is a rock.
Under the rock, there is a box.
In the box, there is a book written on golden plates.”

Then the angel disappeared.

After the angel went away, Joseph thought to himself:
“So I can’t sell the golden plates.
I can’t use them to buy a house, or clothes, or food.
What’s so special about this book
that makes it more valuable than all the money in the world?”

While Joseph was thinking this,
suddenly the angel appeared a third time, floating in the air.
The angel wore a robe that was whiter than snow,
and he shone with a light that was brighter than the sun.

The angel said:
“Joseph, the book written on golden plates
is more valuable than all the money in the world
because it teaches about Jesus,
and about loving one another,
and about Heavenly Father’s plan.

Remember the message I gave you:

Near your house, there is a hill.
On the hill, there is a rock.
Under the rock, there is a box.
In the box, there is a book written on golden plates.”

Then the angel disappeared.

By now, it was morning.
Joseph’s family all got up and started their work for the day.
Joseph, and his father, and his brothers went out to work on their farm.
But Joseph was very tired because he hadn’t gotten any sleep.

His father said, “Joseph, what’s wrong with you?”
So Joseph told his father all about the angel,
and Joseph repeated to his father the message the angel had given him:

“Near your house, there is a hill.
On the hill, there is a rock.
Under the rock, there is a box.
In the box, there is a book written on golden plates.”

Joseph’s father said to him:
“If Heavenly Father sent an angel to give you this message,
then you need to go right now to find the book written on golden plates.”

So Joseph went looking for the place where the angel had told him he would find the book.
Near his house, there was a hill.
He climbed the hill, and there he found a rock.
He lifted up the rock, and underneath he found a box.
Inside the box he found the book written on golden plates, just as the angel had said.

Joseph read the book written on the golden plates.
He read what it said about Jesus, and about loving one another, and about Heavenly Father’s plan.
He started sharing what he had read with everyone he knew.
He shared it with his mother, and his father, and his brothers and sisters,
and with his friends;
and they all shared it with their friends;
and those friends shared it with their friends,
so that little by little, people began to learn about the book written on golden plates.

The name of the book written on golden plates is the Book of Mormon.
And that’s the story of how we got the Book of Mormon,
which is more valuable than all the money in the world
because it teaches us about Jesus.

September 11 prayer service

As I announced in an earlier post, I led a prayer service this evening in observance of the 9/11 anniversary. The initial impetus had been to provide a counterpoint to the much publicized Qur'an burning scheduled in Florida for the same evening. That event was cancelled, of course. (Thank God!—though it's unfortunate that the publicity has raised that man's public profile the way it has, a process in which I have been complicit.) But since that event had been a symbolic focus for a larger set of concerns, we went ahead.

About fifteen people came. I'd selected eleven mostly short Quranic passages to read; people read them aloud, with silence in between for reflection. Then I read a prayer I'd prepared, with periods of silence on the way in which other people added their own petitions. That all lasted half an hour, after which people sat and talked—intensely at first, then gradually the mood lightened and people dispersed.

I'm posting here the Quranic excerpts we read, along with my prayer. The renderings of the passages are my own, based on consultation of several English translations.

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In the name of God, the All-Gracious, the Merciful—

All praise be to God,
Lord of all creation,
the All-Gracious, the Merciful,
the Sovereign Judge.

You alone we worship;
to you alone we pray for help.

Guide us to the straight path,
the path of those on whom you have bestowed your grace. (1:1-7)

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God alone is worthy of worship,
the Eternal One, Sustainer and Protector of all that exists.

God revealed the Torah and the Gospel as guidance for humankind.
God revealed the standard for judging between right and wrong.

Surely, Lord, you will gather humankind together
on a day of whose coming there can be no doubt. (3:2-3, 9)

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Say: “O God! Yours is the kingdom!
You give the kingdom to whom you will,
and you take it from whom you will.
You honor whom you will,
and you humble whom you will.

All that is good is in your hand,
and you are able to do all things.
You cause night to pass into day, and day into night.
You bring the living out of the dead, and the dead out of the living.
To all whom you will, you give sustenance without measure.” (3:26-27)

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Speak of the wife of Imram, who said:
“My Lord! I vow that the child in my womb
will be consecrated to your service.
Accept this offering from me,
you the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.”

When she delivered, she said:
“My Lord, I have delivered a girl.
I have named her Mary.
In you I seek refuge, for her and for her descendants—
refuge from the Evil One, who was cast out.”
So with grace, her Lord accepted her,
and in grace, he caused her to grow.

Speak of the angels, who said:
“O Mary, God sends you glad tidings of a divine word!
He will be called the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary.
He will be honored in this world and in the world to come.
He will be among those who are near to God.
From cradle to adulthood, he will speak to the people
as one of the righteous.

“God will instruct him in the scriptures and in wisdom,
in the Torah and the Gospel.
God will make him a messenger to the people of Israel.
He will say: ‘I have come to you with a sign from your Lord.
By God’s will, I heal the one who was born blind, and the leper,
and I restore the dead to life.
I confirm the Torah, which was before me,
and I make lawful for you some things that were forbidden to you.
Truly God is my Lord and your Lord;
therefore worship God alone.
This is the straight path.’” (3:35-37, 45-46, 48-51)

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This is the truth:

Those who believe,
and those who are Jews,
and Sabians,
and Christians—
whoever believes in God and the Day of Judgment
and works righteousness—
all will have their reward with their Lord.

They will have nothing to fear,
nor cause to grieve. (2:62)

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You will not attain righteousness
until you spend what you love
in the service of God.

Whatever you spend,
God knows it. (3:92)

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You who have believed:
render to God due reverence,
and live out your days
in perfect submission to God’s will.

Hold fast to the rope that connects you to God,
and do not become divided.

Remember God’s grace—
how when you were enemies to one another,
God joined your hearts together,
so that by his grace you became family. (3:102-103)

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Have you seen those who live in denial of divine judgment?
These are people who turn away orphans
and who do not advocate for the care of the poor.

Woe to those who perform the motions of prayer
but pray without thought.
Woe to those who make a grand show of good deeds
but withhold simple assistance from people in need. (107:1-7)

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God, the Supremely Gracious,
the One who taught you to recite these words,
created human beings
and gave them the gift of speech.

Sun and moon follow the courses God calculated for them.
Stars and trees bow down in worship.

God, who built the heavens,
has set the scales of justice
so that you will know the standard
to which you must conform.

Therefore, let your scales be just,
and give the full measure of what is due. (55:1-9)

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O humankind!
We created you all
as descendents of a single pair.
We made you into multiple peoples and tribes
so that you may know one another.

Who is most highly favored of God?
Those who are most righteous.
God, the All-Knowing and All-Seeing,
makes no other distinction. (49:13)

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Who knows but that God will forge friendship
between you and those you regard as your enemies?

Surely he has power to do it—
God the Oft-Forgiving,
the Merciful. (60:7)

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God, the All-Gracious, the Merciful,
God of the whole earth—

It is good to hear your voice.
It is good to be in your presence.

We praise you for the many ways you have revealed yourself to us:
in the words of prophets,
in Jesus,
in the instruction we continue to receive from your Spirit,
in the words and deeds of people—family, friends, strangers—through whom you touch our lives.

We gather tonight in a time of division and fear and anger.
We are mindful that you have called us to be witnesses of your love,
which knows no bounds.

We are grateful and relieved that one hostile act directed against our Muslim neighbors,
which was scheduled to occur tonight, did not occur.

We are mindful of the continuing tensions that currently surround Muslim citizens and residents of our nation.
We are mindful of the terrorist attacks carried out in this country nine years ago today by al-Qaeda.
We are mindful of similar attacks or attempted attacks, here and in other countries.
We are mindful of the wars that our nation waged in the wake of September 11 in predominantly Muslim countries—Afghanistan and Iraq.
We are mindful of actions taken by our government in the name of waging a war on terror.
We are mindful of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and of our nation’s relationship with Israel.
We are mindful of tensions inside and around the Islamic Republic of Iran.

We are mindful that you have taught us to pray for our enemies.

We long for peace.
We long for safety.
We long for interreligious understanding.
We long for justice.

We pray for all who suffer because of religious conflict,
and especially for those who suffer because of the conflicts we have named tonight.
We pray for civilians,
for combatants and their loved ones,
for those in authority,
for refugees,
for prisoners,
for the wounded,
for the dead and the loved ones who survive them.

We pray for those who suffer discrimination,
for those who are objects of suspicion and hostility,
for those who are afraid,
for those who act out of prejudice,
for those who act out of rage,
for those who seek to harm others,
for those who are in danger,
for those who feel desperate and oppressed.

God of all wisdom,
we are tangled up in a web of violence, and fear, and complicity,
and it is very hard to see a way out.
We pray to you for help.

Show us how to build bridges.
Show us what we can do to mitigate fear and prejudice and hatred.
Inspire the leaders of the nations to find ways to bring about a just peace.
Plant compassion, and a zeal for peace,
in the hearts of all who speak in your name and desire to serve you.

Among those who call upon you
are people whom we regard as our enemies
or who regard us as their enemies.
Teach us and them—all of us—
how to serve you in truth and love.
Teach us and them
what we need to do differently
so that this world of oppression and violence and terror
can be transformed into your kingdom.

In Christ’s name we pray, amen.

Response to the September 11 Qur'an burning

The folks at the Dove World Outreach Center (an Orwellian name, that) in Florida are apparently still planning to proceed with their International Burn-a-Koran Day on the evening of September 11. Thanks to the Internet, the plan is known and sparking protests in various parts of the Muslim world; no doubt the folks at Dove World are thrilled by the attention.

As a counterpoint to the Qur'an burning, and to the wider expressions of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. that this event symbolizes to my mind, I'm putting together a Qur'an reading and prayer service to be held Saturday evening in the same church house-office where I lead the monthly Taize service. I originally conceived it as just a personal thing, for myself, but I've announced it to other members of the congregation in case others might want to join in. We'll see. If nothing else, I hope it will reorient my reaction toward the Qur'an burning away from helpless anger toward something more spiritually healthy.

The plan is to sit in a candlelit room, read some ecumenically appropriate selections from the Qur'an, reflect, and then spend some time praying. Afterward, I'll return here and report.

Until then, here's an explanation I've prepared of the philosophy and intentions behind this prayer service:

Dialogue between Christians and Muslims must grapple with difficult issues. Among these is the fact that each group’s scriptures contain passages that make exclusive claims to truth and damn those who reject these claims.

This evening’s gathering does not pretend to resolve such difficulties. Rather, our goal is to lift up points of commonality at a time when voices around us are crying division. This gathering invites us to hear in selections from the Muslim scriptures a Voice that rings familiar and true from our Christian encounter with God—a Voice that calls us to peace, justice, and compassion.

After we have listened, we will speak. In dialogue with the One whose voice we have heard, we will express our longing, our grief, our frustration, our hope. We will pray for peace and understanding. We will pray for people who suffer because of religious conflicts. We will pray for our enemies. As you feel moved, please add aloud your petitions, giving utterance to the groanings of the Spirit in your heart.