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I sat in the front pew of the Good Shepherd Methodist Church, waiting to give my first sermon since being thrown out of the Baptist church. I had no idea how this would go; I had never preached to Methodists before, and only knew that one of the main differences between them and Baptists was that Methodists believed you could lose your salvation, while Baptists did not.

I looked out at a sea of people, some eager to get answers as to why their lives were so screwed up and the quickest way to fix them, and some seeking validation for the lives they were leading. I froze. This had never happened before. I'd preached all across the US, most of Eastern Europe, and parts of South America, and never lacked for something to say. And at the very moment I froze, the music minister turned and beckoned me to the pulpit.

Of course I stood up automatically and walked forward. I had no prepared sermon in front of me. As an evangelist, I would often preach on the same thing for weeks in a row in different cities. As I opened my Bible, I hoped that the words, any words, would come. And they did.

My Bible opened to Luke 6:31: "Do unto others as you would have them do to you."

There was a note, in Jennifer's handwriting, scribbled beside the verse; it was from "Sayings of the Buddha and Jesus." I smiled at the note, and realized what I would say. In fact, it fit rather nicely with something I had I read at the library a few days ago.

I found myself thinking about my mission trips I had taken. Why was I there in the first place? To spread the Gospel, sure. But the people I was preaching to had heard the Gospel from Catholic or Orthodox priests and missionaries. I was there because they hadn't heard my version of the truth. And here I was, still making my living convincing people that my version of the truth was the only Truth.

I looked out over the congregation. Though they had never heard me before, most knew what evangelists preached about. They thought they knew what to expect, and had settled in for a fairly normal evening. I surprised them.

"Consider others as yourself," I said. "Many of you will recognize this phrase as being said by Jesus in Luke's Gospel. It is also similar to something Paul said in Philippians. But this exact quote comes from the Dhammapada, the sayings of the Buddha, and was spoken 600 years before Jesus was born."

I paused briefly and looked out over the crowd. I half expected them to begin stoning me, as the Old Testament would have required of a false prophet. But these weren't Fundamentalists. Evidently, they were allowed to hear different points of view. I pressed on.

"Genesis 1:27 says," I continued, "that God made us in His image. If this is true, then we all possess the Divine Spark, whether we are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, or whatever. Our quest is to develop and cultivate that Divine Spark. And I can't do it for you, no matter how many sermons you hear." Then the murmurs began, so I knew I had to talk fast.

"The Apostle Paul said 'work out your own salvation with fear and trembling'. The Buddha's last words before he died were 'work out your own salvation with diligence'. It's no coincidence that both of these men gave the same advice six hundred years apart. And in the process of working out your salvation, you need to learn to respect where everyone else is in their own personal journey. There are many paths to the same goal. And when you reach the point that you believe your way is the only way, you're not that far from being someone who would fly a plane into a skyscraper."

At that point they cut off the power to my microphone. I was surprised it hadn't happened sooner. There was nothing left for me to do, so I closed my Bible and walked off the platform.

Learn more about this author, Bruno Somerset.
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