Recently, I discovered a book that was published in 2004, and I am sad that I have not known it until now.  This book contains a series of writings by William Sloane Coffin and carries the title, Credo*.  The following words are from the book’s Preface and are by William Sloane Coffin.  They merit our prayerful consideration.

Credo – I believe – best translates “I have given my heart to.”  However imperfectly, I have given my heart to the teaching and example of Christ, which, among many other things, informs my understanding of faiths other than Christianity.

Certainly religions are different.  Still most seek to fulfill the same function; that is, they strive to convert people from self-preoccupation to the wholehearted giving of oneself in love for God and for others.  To love God by loving neighbor is an impulse equally at the heart of Chrstianity, Judaism, and Islam.  It therefore makes eminent sense in today’s fractured world for religious people to move from truth-claiming to the function truth plays.

Moreover, when we consider how, on a whole range of questions – from the number of sacraments to the ordination of women, pacifism, abortion, and homosexuality – Christians cannot arrive at universal agreement, then we have to be impressed by a divine incomprehensibility so vast that no human being dare speak for the Almighty.  As St. Paul asks, “For who has known the mind of God?”  To learn from one another and to work together towards common goals of justice and peace – this surely is what suffering humanity has very right to expect of believers of all faiths. (xv)

*William Sloane Coffin.  Credo.  Louisville:  Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.