Did you hear the one about the Rabbi, the Imam and the Pastor?

Originally posted by Kevin, October 14, 2006

They were sitting at lunch one day, and the first one says…

Actually, there is no joke here. It actually happened to me last week. Because of my role as a “spiritual advisor” I am required by the Dutch government to go through a series of classes. It is an attempt to have leaders of diverse spiritual communities integrate into Dutch society, thereby helping their followers do the same. Frankly, it is designed for immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East, but to be fair all are required to attend.

So there I sat in the first of this seven day class with a Hindu Sikh priest, a handful of Pentecostal pastors from Nigeria, a Muslim Shiite imam, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, a few Catholic priests from India, a rabbi from Israel and a Coptic Orthodox priest from Egypt. It was mind boggling. It also made me glad I was there. With all these religions coming into Europe I am eager to bring the Good News of Jesus and his beautiful Kingdom.

At lunch time I sat down with the imam. Shortly after that the Jewish rabbi joined us and the three of us had lunch together. It turns out the imam is from The Hague. He lives among and works with Indian Muslims. Neither guy was very fluent in English so the conversation was quite stilted. I hope the future classes provide lots of opportunity to talk in depth with some of these people. As I sat there I was thinking that the folks back home are never going to believe this.

The people of the big US of A often carry an unconscious assumption that they, by virtue of being American, are at the center of the universe. I am guilty of that idea – and only see it by being away. But now I bring the same idea over here. This tiny European nation, of which you could put several into the state of Minnesota, holds within its bit of land recovered from the sea a microcosm of almost all the world has to offer. It is like a crucible of so much that is going on in the world. So pray for this nation, the people here and our ministry to them in Jesus name.

Kevin