Called and Sent · Stop 5

What does it mean to be a good neighbor to someone who believes differently than you?

You almost certainly know people who pray differently than you do, or who don't pray at all. Jesus said your neighbor is whoever shows up on your road. That includes them. The question is what it looks like to be a good neighbor when faith is part of what makes you different.

Wide Table

Lutherans believe that Jesus is the way to God, and we say so. But confessing what we believe and treating others with dignity aren't opposites. Luther's catechism says to put the best construction on everything your neighbor does. That includes how you talk about your neighbor's faith.

Paul stood in Athens and noticed an altar to an unknown God. Instead of denouncing what the Athenians believed, he started with what they were already reaching for: there is a God, and you are looking for that God. He found the opening in what they had and walked through it.

Interfaith life, at its best, looks like honest conversation between people who know what they believe, are curious about what others believe, and refuse to treat each other as problems to solve. You don't have to pretend everyone believes the same thing. You do have to listen.

The Eighth Commandment says to speak well of your neighbor and not defame them. This applies to your Muslim classmate, your Jewish friend, your Buddhist neighbor, and the person down the street who calls themselves spiritual but not religious. A good first question is: how do we live together well?

Read it in your Bible

• Acts 17:22–28. Paul stands before the people of Athens and tells them he found an altar to an unknown God. He says this God is the one he's proclaiming. This God made the world, gives life and breath to everyone, and isn't far from anyone, since in God we live and move and have our being.
• Matthew 5:43–45. Jesus says to love your enemies, too, and to pray for them. God sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

The Eighth and First Commandments, from Luther's Small Catechism

Words to know

• Dignity. The worth every person has simply because they are made by God. You can disagree with someone and still treat them as someone God made and loves.
• Interfaith. Honest conversation and shared life between people of different religious traditions. It doesn't mean everyone believes the same thing. It means you try to understand before you try to persuade.
• Construction. Luther's word for the charitable reading you give your neighbor's words and actions. Put the best one on everything. That's a discipline, not a feeling.
• Witness. Sharing what you believe, not by argument but by how you live and what you say when someone asks. You don't have to argue people into faith. You can live it where you are.
• Unknown. The word on the altar Paul found in Athens, the God they were already reaching for. Paul didn't start with what they got wrong. He started with what they were already reaching for.

Keep going

• 6 NextWhat does faith say about death, and what do Lutherans hope for?
• 4 Before thisWhat does faith say about how we treat the earth?
• 6 The whole bookCalled and Sent