A New Samaria?
4th February 2012 - by Mauricio Silva
Columban lay missionary Mauricio Silva, from Chile, shares his thoughts and reflections on a day conference he attended in Birmingham, ‘Engaging with Muslims’. It highlights the issue of interfaith dialogue in Birmingham, where several Columban lay missionaries are based.
On 31 January 2012, a day conference took place in Birmingham entitled ‘Engaging with Muslims’. It explored issues such as: the importance of engaging with Muslims, engaging with Birmingham’s Muslims, Christian responses to Islam and mission and dialogue. One of the key speakers of this conference, organised by the Christian Muslim Forum, was Steve Bell, who has worked on Muslin issues for over 30 years. He is the author of several relevant books: ‘Friendship First’ (2002), ‘Grace for Muslims’ (2006) and ‘Gospel for Muslims’(2012). He co-edited, with Colin Chapman, ‘ Between Naivety & Hostility’ in 2011.
Steve led the group to reflection on engaging with people of other faiths, based on a bible study of 2 Kings 17,24-34,41 (CEV). According to the speaker, the text – which tells of how foreigners were resettled in Samaria – may help us to understand better the cultural and religious challenges faced by Christians – and everyone – in multicultural societies such as Britain today. Uncovering in the passage a mix of religious expressions (animism, syncretism, performance-based religion, etc) we become aware that Samaria grew to be a multi-faith, multicultural place . Samaritans kept their beliefs, despite countless attempts of the Israelites and authorities to make them worship the ‘God of that country’ (v.26). Actually the passage concludes by stating that, ‘They did worship the LORD, but they also worshiped their own idols. Their descendants did the same thing’ (v.41, CEV).
The speaker led us into an interesting reflection on the fact that the Gospels so frequently feature Samaritans encountering Jesus or being the main characters of his parables . We can remember for instance Jesus’ daring encounter with a woman from Samaria (John 4, 3-30) , the healed Samaritan leper who is the only one who comes back to thank Jesus (Luke 17, 11-19) or, even more strikingly, the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10,25-37). The speaker suggested that Jesus clearly saw Samaritans not as hybrid people, but as ‘stepping stones’ for mission to the gentiles (as narrated in the Great Commission in Acts1,8 ). We were reminded that in the Gospels, Jesus never attacks the Samaritans or their ways, but the narrow-mindedness of some of his fellow Jewish country people.
From the text of 2 Kings, missionary groups may certainly draw different conclusions. In the light of the Gospels and of my experience living and working alongside people of many faiths, I consider these texts warn us of the complexities of living together in multi-cultural societies. And also they serve as a call to approach differences with gentleness and utmost respect, because God’s grace is present in every human life and the encounter with those who are different always reveals aspects of that grace which have been unknown to us.
I believe that many aspects of God’s mission are a mystery to us but I also realise that promoting dialogue with our Muslim brothers and sisters in Birmingham is a positive thing to do. It requires open-mindedness and courage and, above all , a sense of expectancy of what God will reveal to us at this time amid this multi-faith city. Could it be a new Samaria?
