RSS Feed
God's Eternal Love
As the son of a Foreign Service officer, I had lived in five countries on three continents by the time I was 10 years old. Those years abroad naturally introduced me to a wide variety of cultures and religions. As a child in Beirut, I heard the Islamic call to prayer several times a day from the minaret of a nearby mosque. As an 11-year-old in Germany, I was deeply moved by an African-American Marine who sang "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord" during a Good Friday service. In college, I visited a town in Guatemala where prayers were offered to Mayan deities at altars on the steps of the Roman Catholic cathedral in the town square. These different "glimpses of God" were all part of my journey towards understanding God's amazing love for each human being.
Not surprisingly, the most influential tradition I was exposed to was the faithfulness of my parents, who became involved in the English-speaking Protestant congregation wherever we lived overseas and became committed to a Presbyterian church when we were in Washington, D.C., when I was in junior and senior high school. In one way, Mom and Dad were doing what came naturally - both were raised in religious homes, and Dad's father was a Presbyterian missionary in China for nearly 40 years. Yet this was not about religion for religion's sake. There was nothing pro forma about it.
My spiritual journey deepened in the ninth grade. A friend of my mother's started taking me to her family's church, the Church of the Savior, on Sunday mornings. This ecumenical church excited me and challenged me with its members' deep commitment both to "a journey inward" in spiritual deepening and "a journey outward" in service with others.
During eleventh grade, I frequently prayed that God would make God's love known to me in a personal way. I never doubted the existence of God, yet I did not feel personally connected to God. The following summer I caused a car accident. Although I broke the windshield of Dad's VW with my head and spit glass out of my mouth, no one in either car was injured. A few days later it hit me: God had used (but not caused) that accident and everyone's protection in it to demonstrate God's personal love for me. My prompt response to that realization was to say, "I am yours." I experienced that insight as my call to ministry. It is a call I have never doubted for a moment in the 45 years since.
Although I knew I would become a minister, it was nine years before I entered seminary and 13 before I began my first formal ministry. When I entered Louisville Presbyterian Seminary in 1971, it was for a double-competence program that led to both a Master's of divinity degree from the seminary and a Master's of social work degree from the University of Louisville's Kent School of Social Work. After graduating in 1975, I became the first director of an ecumenical community service organization and served as the interim pastor of a small congregation outside of Louisville. From early on, it was clear that my ministry was at the intersection of the religious and secular communities. In 1979, I became the first executive director of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, which now engages 11 world religions, from Baha'i to Zoroastrian, to deepen understanding and to build a just community across this region.
As I approach the 30th anniversary of my service in that role, I am profoundly grateful for knowing God's love through Jesus Christ. At the same time, I am very clear that people of other faiths with whom I have had the privilege of working also experience God's love through their own traditions. Their "glimpses of God" have expanded my own understanding of the Holy One. I hope my experiences of God have likewise deepened their faith.
Throughout this journey with persons of many faiths, I have learned that whatever may come in our walk through life, God never abandons us. The road is never too narrow; God is beside us, always accompanying us. I know that I am on a lifelong journey that will continue after I die. What learnings still lie ahead? I can't wait to find out!
Rev. Clark Lobenstine is executive director of the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington and parish associate of Parish Associate, Silver Spring Presbyterian Church in Silver Spring, Md. The 29th annual InterFaith Concert will be held at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m.
By Clark Lobenstine |
November 17, 2008; 9:47 AM ET
Share: Email a Friend | 
Technorati
| Del.icio.us | Digg | Facebook
Previous: The Uncertain Future of Evangelical Voters |
Next: Who Wrote the Bible? Does it Matter?
Posted by: ThomasBaum | November 17, 2008 7:29 PM
Report Offensive Comment
Hmmm, it appears Clark that you might need a bit of "Schillebeeckxing"!!!
from Father Edward Schillebeeckx, the famous contemporary theolgian, from his book, Church: The Human Story of God,
Crossroad, 1993, p.91 (softcover)
"Christians must give up a perverse, unhealthy and inhuman doctrine of predestination without in so doing making God the great scapegoat of history" .
"Nothing is determined in advance: in
nature there is chance and determinism; in the world of human activity there is possibility of free choices.
Therefore the historical future is not known even to God; otherwise we and our history would be merely a puppet show in which God holds the strings. For God, too, history is an adventure, an open history for and of men and women."
Posted by: CCNL | November 17, 2008 5:27 PM
Report Offensive Comment
The comments to this entry are closed.
Clark Lobenstine
Thank you for the post.
God, Who is a BEING OF PURE LOVE and is a Trinity, is not the egomaniac that some think.
It is a relationship with each and every one of us that God not only desires but already has even tho some of us are quite oblivious to it.
Life is a journey, some wake up before physical death and some don't, but what I am most thankful for is that God's Plan is for ALL to be with Him in His Kingdom, the new heavens and the new earth.
It is a shame but it seems that there are lots of people that know God's Name that get very upset when they are told that God cares for each and everyone of His Children, as a matter of fact He cared so much that He became One of us so that He is everybody's Brother.
I have met God and I have met satan and as I have said numerous times: God wins, satan loses, a tie is unacceptable, and as I have also said: God has a Plan which He has had since before creation and His Plan will come to Fruition.
We have free will and we are responsible for what we do whether or not we accept that responsibility but as I have said: Divine Justice and Divine Mercy go hand in hand.
The statements: God is a searcher of hearts and minds, not of religious affiliations or lack thereof and It is important what you do and why you do it and what you know, are both simple and to the point.
Take care, be ready.
Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.