Namaste

"That which is of God in me honors that which is of God in you"

That's one common way of translating this Indian greeting that normally circulates in Sikh and Hindu religious cultures, as well as commonly throughout the east. What a cool way to say "hello."

I have a general sense that Christianity has much to learn from the practices and structures of other global religions and that sense is confirmed on a weekly basis as I participate in a pluralistic society. This greeting is just another example. Although I've heard it many times, it really struck me today. Reading through the book of James in the Bible, I came across his famous section on the tongue. He spends near half the book talking about the severity of common speech, its rarely-credited power. How, in a word, a man can damn another or completely exalt him. How words are indeed the greatest and most pronounced action in human society. Then he says this, " With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in God's likeness." (3.9)

It's a good reminder. It's certainly not a hidden message in the Bible. The Book is filled with moralisms on treating others with dignity and respect. Throughout, prophets and teachers remind the reader that "evil" originates in higher and darker places than the human soul; in principalities and structures. Thus, when we stand "against the world and worldliness," it is not a stance against individual people or even groups of people, but rather these mores and structures that have fostered evil on a global level for generations.

No, we should not interact with each other as fallen and evil. Then how should we understand and relate to each other? Namaste. "That which is of God in me honors that which is of God in you"..." That which God has graced unto me so that I can act and see rightly, that of God's love and God's image in me...acknowledges, upholds, and cherishes that which is of God's image and grace in you" Because, we are created God's image; we do behold and embody the glory of Jesus Christ. Because God has given us lenses through which to view the glory of his creation. This is the starting point of a conversation, of any interaction, of community in general. Namaste.