A Christian and a Muslim were walking down the road.<\/p>\n
Sounds like the start of a bad joke doesn\u2019t it? In fact, this was last Sunday. My newly met Muslim friend genuinely wanted to know whether she would be \u201callowed\u201d to come to church with me.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d not really noticed the headscarf. Looking back, I suppose it was a bit of an odd picture; my gentle and quiet guest in her black hijab, discussing the book of Philippians with the talkative blonde student who thinks she\u2019s a surfer and wears a bright purple bobble hat. It\u2019s not the norm in church culture is it? My friend even flagged it up again at the end of the service: \u201cAre you sure people won\u2019t be offended by me being here? You don\u2019t think they\u2019ll mind that I can\u2019t sing all the songs? Do you think they have a problem with me wearing this?\u201d<\/p>\n
In our Western culture of surface-deep philosophy, where the packaging is everything and appearance dictates our snap-judgement first-impressions, it\u2019s no wonder my friend was acutely aware of being written-off for her religious garb that shouted \u201csomething different!\u201d<\/p>\n
And it only struck me then how it isn\u2019t ok for me as a follower of Jesus not to walk with people from other faiths into Church. I don\u2019t remember Jesus telling me to only invite certain types of people to His party.<\/p>\n
In 1 Corinthians 9: 18- 20, Paul has this take on living out our faith:<\/p>\n
\u201cThough I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n If my friend and her hijab don\u2019t feel welcomed and accepted by God\u2019s representatives on earth, then I think I\u2019ve missed the point. If us women don\u2019t sacrifice our own reputations, and change our focus away from each other\u2019s appearances, we might as well go sit in Starbucks on a Sunday and people-watch out the windows.<\/p>\n A Christian and a Muslim were walking down the road. The Muslim turned to the Christian and said\u2026 \u201cI\u2019ll see you next Sunday for church.\u201d<\/p>\n