No Islamic Christ

NO ISLAMIC CHRIST

In 1972 I found myself working as Chaplain to the Port of Liverpool.

Instead of visiting my parishioners in houses, I visited them in their cabins on board ships.

One particular afternoon I shall never forget.

I was on board an Egyptian ship called the Abul Simbel which was discharging bales of cotton. In the officers mess, Siad Bomba, chief officer, was introducing me to the delights of Turkish coffee as he showed me photographs of his wife and family living in Alexandria. He was a Muslim and was wearing, what looked like, a rather large night shirt.

When I came to leave the ship, he escorted me to the gangway. We shook hands and I wished him a safe voyage. He looked at me rather surprisingly and said, ‘Don't worry, Padre, we always fly a copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, from the foremast of our ship, for the guidance, safety and protection of Allah’.

Well, what could I say? We often wear St Christopher medallions for the same purpose.

Twenty-four hours later, I was walking along the quayside when I noticed the Abul Simbel back in port.

I went on board and found Siad Bomba and asked what had happened since I thought they were sailing the previous evening.

‘But we did’, replied a rather sheepish looking Siad, ‘we did sail. We sailed straight out into the River Mersey, but when we went to turn right, (l hope you are OK with these nautical terms), the ship continued straight. Straight towards Birkenhead on the opposite side of the river’.

Remembering Churchill's advice of never missing an opportunity, I said, "Well, it looks as if Allah has let you down. So much for his navigational ability. Have a copy of my New Testament."

The Koran was duly brought down from the foremast and the New Testament hoisted in its place. Meanwhile, the steering was repaired.

Upon returning to the Mersey Mission to Seamen, I began to pray. To pray very hard indeed!

Twenty-four hours later, there was no ship. Forty-eight hours later there was no ship. Seventy-two hours later - well don't push the power of prayer too much - there was the Abul Simbel back in port.

As I approached the gangway, a very happy Siad Bomba was there to greet me with the words, 'My god, he no good at navigation. Your god, he no good at engineering. The generator has broken down!'

Needless to say, the New Testament was removed and placed in the Mess Room whilst another Koran was hoisted in its place.

Two months later, the Abul Simbel was back in port again to discharge bales of cotton. I went on board again and spent a most enjoyable afternoon, with Siad Bomba and his fellow officers, discussing the place of Jesus in lslam and his place in Christianity. Apparently, they had spent much of the past voyage reading parts of the New Testament.

As far as Muslims are concerned, Jesus was a very great prophet, and is referred to in the Koran, but he was not God.

He could not be God because God is wholly other and therefore could not possibly have contact with this sinful world.

But this is the unique thing about Christianity, which is not found in any of the other major world religions, namely, that God has revealed himself to humankind. This he did in the person of Jesus Christ, at a particular place and at a particular time, and whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.

If we want to know what God is like in human form, we need look no further than at Jesus of Nazareth. He is, to quote the late John Robinson, 'a window into God’. Or as the New Testament writer puts it: 'He who has seen me has seen the Father’.

The Christian God is not remote and distant. In the person of Jesus Christ he became a human being, like you and me. He walked the same earth as you and I walk. He breathed the same air as you and I breathe. He had the same worries and concerns as you and I have. He knew and experienced happiness and joy, frustration and disappointment, sorrow and sadness and ultimately pain and death.

In Jesus Christ, God took upon him our flesh - or as St John in his gospel puts it - 'The word became flesh and dwelt amongst us'. Now the Greek word for 'dwelt amongst us' means he took up temporary residence, rather like a tent is a temporary shelter. He came and camped amongst us for a while, and when he returned to be with his heavenly Father, he took back with him his experience of being human.

This is why I turn to him in prayer. He knows what it is like to be a human being because he has been one himself some two thousand years ago. True the world has changed a lot since then. Nevertheless, the experience of being a human being is still the same. Happiness and joy are still the same. Frustration and disappointment are still the same. Sorrow and sadness are still the same. And pain and death are still the same.

But that is not all. Because Jesus was a human being, like you and me, he also shows us what we are capable of becoming. He reveals to us our full potential. Or, as one of the early Church Fathers once put it: 'He became man so that we might become like God’.

Now this was something Siad Bomba could not get his head around.

His God, as I said earlier, was remote and could not have contact with this earth.

Yet this is the message of Christmas, behind all the tinsel and holly, behind all the eating and drinking, and behind all the Christmas cards and present giving.

And when do you think I had this conversation with Siad Bomba?

It was Christmas Eve 1972. Possibly the most relevant Christmas sermon I have ever preached!