(December 8, 1999)--Theologian Krister Stendahl told a Seminary audience this week that a challenge for Christians today is to figure out how "to sing the song of Jesus with abandon without telling dirty stories of others. Our universal claims do more for our egos than they do for God and Christ."

Stendahl, Advent Theologian in Residence at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, said Christians once dreamed of a "Christian century" where their faith would dominate the religious landscape. But a dynamic era of migration has rendered Christianity just one of many faith perspectives in North America. Now, Stendahl challenged, Christians need to embrace their minority position and enter the world of tomorrow with a positive perspective on their faith as an essential but not dominant part of a dynamically pluralistic world. Stendahl is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Divinity Emeritus at Harvard University and former Dean of the Divinity School there. He's also Bishop Emeritus of Stockholm, Sweden, his home town.

"There is a great danger that your world may shrink and the church you are a part of becomes the whole thing," Stendahl warned a packed Seminary Amphitheater audience of seminarians, teachers and professional church leaders.

"Wasn't the Gospel achieved in Gandhi? Didn't Gandhi achieve what God wanted?" Stendahl asked. He said many Christian leaders have their focus so sharply riveted on the "King" that they miss concentrating on God's vision for the "Kingdom."

"We need to accept ourselves (Christians) as a peculiar people of God in the world and revive our concern for the total Kingdom and mending creation," Stendahl said. "The diversity we know today is a way that God is telling us that we are one among many....We need to understand how to accept our limits. God seeks progress for the whole kingdom. God asks, have my Christians helped?" He noted that the language of the four biblical Gospels are absorbed in kingdom language.with dealing with the total scope of reality.

Stendahl said mending creation is not only concerned for building relationships but also dealing with the total scope of reality. As Jesus was concerned about healing, so "we have a chance to prove our compassion to heal," Stendahl said. "And in working for universal health care, we work for the entire kingdom." That will mean that Lutheran Christians will benefit from forming coalitions with others moving in the same direction.

He added that the notion of religious "tolerance" frequently leads to a patronizing and arrogant attitude that isn't uplifting to others. A powerful contemporary lesson given to the world by Judaism is that the tradition has never understood "that everyone needs to be a Jew. In gratitude for what God has given to them, Jewish people have felt called to be faithful people, a light unto the nations needed by God in the total cosmos with a role that is limited."

Speaking of the terrific pluralism in American society, Stendahl told a dinner audience that Muslims now outnumber Episcopalians in America and that the United States is no longer just an extension of Europe but also a haven for Asian, Latin American and African traditions.

"If the current trend continues toward a greater gap between rich and poor, greater poverty will continue to drive people onto the road," he said. The modern world has spawned remarkable renewal in the Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist traditions, he said. "Mosques and temples in the many hundreds are a part of our society, "Stendahl said, "but because the architecture they feature isn't striking, we aren't always aware of the religious pluralism around us that makes Christians just one of many."

Preaching to Chapel worshipers on the third day of his visit, Stendahl offered a view on judgement and mercy. "Isaiah says the grass withers, the flowers fade. These words remind us that we are mortal. They say, be prepared to meet your maker. But for Isaiah, they seem to be words of comfort. God's judgement is mercy. Mercy and judgement are not polar opposites. For the poor, judgement and justice are mercy."

Stendahl said it is a "mystery" how justice and mercy may be rolled into one. "It is almost inconceivable to us, especially when we are so comfortable here. There will be a time when there is no comfort for the comfortable. There will be a new heaven and a new earth where justice dwells."