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Should I have prayed first? Should I have asked for advice from my ministry peers, or considered how it might look to other Christians? I don't know. But I did do what I usually do. I rushed through the open door.
"I would love to teach a workshop!"
It was set in motion. I, an evangelical Pastor would be a workshop presenter at a festival with 1,500 Pagans.
It was the end of my friend's memorial service, and I became a larger part of the lives of his friends who were left behind. Speaking at his service, I hailed back to Celtic Christianity - to Thin Places where Heaven meets earth. Death is a Thin Place. It reminds us of our mortality. It captures our fears, hopes, joys, and sorrows in one anarchic clash, while we squint in the blinding light of eternity. I ended my short message calling each to consider making their life a Thin Place a place where people could capture Heaven. It was not a Gospel message, but it was one rooted in my faith, and it reverberated gently among the Pagans that night. I am convinced that what we give people is indicative of where we are headed. If we show them heaven by treating them graciously, then heaven is flowing from our hearts. On the other hand, if we give people Hell, that speaks for itself.
The next couple weeks I developed a workshop idea for the Pagan festival:
The Circle and The Cross Talk: Re-visioning Pagan/Christian Relationships
"Looking back to the Caesars, and to the Burning Times misconceptions and urban myths have had deadly results for both Pagans and Christians. In our own times, though mild in comparison, Pagans have been on the receiving end of the religious persecution. Some have chosen to remain in the broom closet, and others have faced the struggle head on - sometimes to bitter disappointment with family, friends, and work associates. This workshop is designed as a deeper look into the worldview differences between Christian and Neo-Pagan thought with a focus upon deconstructing, and re-visioning some of the beliefs, which cause the greatest pain. Come learn to navigate this battlefield of philosophical tension. Topics of frustration to be covered include judgment, conversion, spiritual dissonance, and sexuality."
I am teaching a workshop on Heaven and Hell, Salvation, Spiritual Warfare, and Sex from a Biblical perspective at a Pagan gathering, and people are excited about it. Someone pinch me and wake me up.
Paul spoke of his love for the Jews. I have this same love for Neo-Pagans. Over the last 12 years I have learned that this often falsely maligned group is filled with beautiful people. Our Christian tendency is to reduce every person to simply a sinner, and we lose sight of imago dei, which simmers gently in the each person. I sometimes demonize cultural and religious groups I do not understand, and lose sight of legitimate critiques they have against my own culture. I have found Neo-Pagans to be among the brightest, and ablest critics of Christian culture. Yet, I was being accepted as a voice of legitimacy on their turf, and I am a man of the cloth they choose not to weave their garments from.
Did this support the old adage that it is not what you say, but how you say it? Has my work in deconstructing, and redefining Christian doctrine missionally for alternative spiritualities made me a gentler Christian? Had I found a way to express Jesus to people who seemed to have no problem with Him, but struggled mightily with His followers? Perhaps it was simpler than that. Perhaps when my friend died, I showed myself true - to him, and his friends, and did so without worrying whether my reputation would be sullied by hanging out with Witches.
Perhaps I am actually compromising my faith, as my detractors warn, or being subtly deceived by the devil, and moving into unprotected territory where I will be subject to the devil's attacks. One pastor had suggested as much when he asked me the rather sophomoric question, "Have you ever heard the term fellowshipping with darkness?"
"Uh, yeah..." 'Gee, It's not like I haven't been a Pentecostal Pastor for 20 years,' I thought.
"Well what does it mean to you?" He queried deeper, as though he was trying to mine some deep-seated unrepentant condition from my heart.
I wanted to answer "It looks like sitting in a room with a bunch of cowards screaming at demons, while people who need Jesus are out on the streets during Halloween. That looks like fellowshipping with darkness to me," but I held my sarcasm before his inquisition. Halloween in Salem is a month long, and while we made friends, served the community, and shared our faith, this man had critiqued our outreach projects. He sat in holy huddles inside the safety of the church.
If Halloween outreach has been a problem, teaching at a Pagan Festival is going to be a bigger problem for some people, but for now I will prepare, and see what the upcoming months moving toward the conference bring.
As I draw deeper into the culture of these people I love, will I find deeper expressions of the imago dei? Will I find people earnestly seeking authentic spirituality? Will I find other Christians who are willing to join me in a quest to share Shalom, or will I find myself fellowshipping with darkness, turmoil, and succumbing to deception? I think I know the answer, but who can read the map of the untrod paths of an adventure yet untried?
Only one Person can read that future which does not yet exist, and I leave this journey in His hands.
Part One
Part Two
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"I think I know the answer, but who can read the map of the untrod paths of an adventure yet untried?
Only one Person can read that future which does not yet exist, and I leave this journey in His hands."
Just wanted to let you know that I like your series quite a bit. I tend to acquire friends who are coming from (or are in) some very, very traditional Christian groups. Even though I'm a Christian, sometimes I wonder if their other, more traditional friends warn them about me the way that your friends warned you about the Pagan people you care about so deeply.
Maybe, maybe not. But I really do look forward to reading each new installment of this story. :)
Lydia,
Thanks for encouragement. Someone once said to me, "If you are going to live on the edge you should expect trouble." The same person was responsible for causing some quite a bit of trouble. It is interesting how supersitition can fill the Christian heart, and make legalism justifiable in our eyes.
Grace on you Lydia, Phil
"Had I found a way to express Jesus to people who seemed to have no problem with Him, but struggled mightily with His followers?"
I think this is the first I've seen you mention Jesus. Do you forsee a time when you will explain the Jesus of the Bible along with His gospel to your friends to go along with the Christ-like love that you are showing to them? You mentioned sharing Shalom and I wonder if true Shalom happens apart from a restored relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Did Jesus express the "Jesus of the Bible." Or more specifically, did he quote chapter and verse to the people. the answer is: no. The only times He used scripture was to the priests, and it was never in a good light, or the disciples to explain a deeper truth (after resurrection). To the people: he spoke to their needs and concerns. You can only express the WORD to those who believe it. How can we expect the wicca or pagan community to say amen to John 3:16 when we have beaten that verse over their heads with it in the past. The same can be said for the homsexual community, liberals, conservatives... the time to express scripture is when they are ready for it not when we are demanding to give it.
Hey Jeff,
Thanks for a thought ful dialogue on the issue over at the discussion boards. I appreciate your thoughtful concerns.
Hey Bruce (gaylonw),
Good to see you here. Interesting thoughts on expressing Jesus. I'm not sure I've thought of it in that light, but it puts some new consideration into WWJD.
Wow. I'm not so sure why Jeff's seemingly important question evoked such a viceral response from gaylonw. I guess I don't see "explaining the Jesus of the Bible and his gospel to your friends" as the same thing as "quoting chaper and verse to the people."
Although, contrary to gaylonw's answer, the answer to the question of whether Jesus quoted scripture to the people is an overwhelming YES. Perhaps gaylonw should review the Gospels a bit. From reading Isaiah in the synagoge to commence his ministry, to his exchanges with those asking questions, both religious types and non-religious types, to his death on the cross (quoting Psalm 22), Jesus continually quoted scripture to the people. His favorite book to quote from was the dreaded Deuteronomy by the way.
I believe quoting Jesus's words and other scripture to the people is a critical and necessary part of fulfilling the great commission. We are called to love the Lord and love others, but that is not the full extent of our charge. We are called to go into all the world and "make disciples," not just "engage in dialogue."
If Jesus told the people, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, none come to the Father but through me," (sorry for the paternalistic phrasing) and Jesus told us to teach them to obey all he said, I guess i might want to work that idea into the conversation at some point. I might even need to quote scripture (gasp) to do it!
If "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" and "the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart," how could you ever hope to do your job without using it?
Hi anonymous "guest",
Actually I see some value in Gaylon's response in this sense: Jesus drew, and communicated to an almost completely Jewish crowd. Their source of mystical, and religious inspiration from childhood was the OT. Paul on the other hand often spoke to Pagans. In doing so his use of chapter and verse is not as prevalent in the Book of Acts. In the Epistles when the formerly Pagan crowd is now Christian the reference to the OT rises significantly, the scriptures become his foundation from which to speak.
There is therefore value in considering as Paul did the Pagan roots, and making reference to their "prophets and poets," or their "unknown god[s]." Not that we adapt the values which a contrary to truth, but that we identify with those which are founded in truth, and build from there to place scripture into a context of value.
This is not to say that the scriptures should be avoided by any means, but that chapter and verse need not be the method to which we are bound.
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"I think I know the answer, but who can read the map of the untrod paths of an adventure yet untried?
Only one Person can read that future which does not yet exist, and I leave this journey in His hands."
Just wanted to let you know that I like your series quite a bit. I tend to acquire friends who are coming from (or are in) some very, very traditional Christian groups. Even though I'm a Christian, sometimes I wonder if their other, more traditional friends warn them about me the way that your friends warned you about the Pagan people you care about so deeply.
Maybe, maybe not. But I really do look forward to reading each new installment of this story. :)
Posted by Lydia | Posted at 06/29/2007 7:39 AMLydia,
Thanks for encouragement. Someone once said to me, "If you are going to live on the edge you should expect trouble." The same person was responsible for causing some quite a bit of trouble. It is interesting how supersitition can fill the Christian heart, and make legalism justifiable in our eyes.
Grace on you Lydia, Phil
Posted by Phil Wyman | Posted at 06/29/2007 7:54 AM"Had I found a way to express Jesus to people who seemed to have no problem with Him, but struggled mightily with His followers?"
I think this is the first I've seen you mention Jesus. Do you forsee a time when you will explain the Jesus of the Bible along with His gospel to your friends to go along with the Christ-like love that you are showing to them? You mentioned sharing Shalom and I wonder if true Shalom happens apart from a restored relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Posted by Jeff Wright | Posted at 07/03/2007 10:49 AMDid Jesus express the "Jesus of the Bible." Or more specifically, did he quote chapter and verse to the people. the answer is: no. The only times He used scripture was to the priests, and it was never in a good light, or the disciples to explain a deeper truth (after resurrection). To the people: he spoke to their needs and concerns. You can only express the WORD to those who believe it. How can we expect the wicca or pagan community to say amen to John 3:16 when we have beaten that verse over their heads with it in the past. The same can be said for the homsexual community, liberals, conservatives... the time to express scripture is when they are ready for it not when we are demanding to give it. Posted by gaylonw | Posted at 07/04/2007 7:51 PM
Hey Jeff,
Thanks for a thought ful dialogue on the issue over at the discussion boards. I appreciate your thoughtful concerns.
Posted by Phil Wyman | Posted at 07/05/2007 1:03 PMHey Bruce (gaylonw),
Good to see you here. Interesting thoughts on expressing Jesus. I'm not sure I've thought of it in that light, but it puts some new consideration into WWJD.
Posted by Phil Wyman | Posted at 07/05/2007 1:05 PMWow. I'm not so sure why Jeff's seemingly important question evoked such a viceral response from gaylonw. I guess I don't see "explaining the Jesus of the Bible and his gospel to your friends" as the same thing as "quoting chaper and verse to the people."
Although, contrary to gaylonw's answer, the answer to the question of whether Jesus quoted scripture to the people is an overwhelming YES. Perhaps gaylonw should review the Gospels a bit. From reading Isaiah in the synagoge to commence his ministry, to his exchanges with those asking questions, both religious types and non-religious types, to his death on the cross (quoting Psalm 22), Jesus continually quoted scripture to the people. His favorite book to quote from was the dreaded Deuteronomy by the way.
I believe quoting Jesus's words and other scripture to the people is a critical and necessary part of fulfilling the great commission. We are called to love the Lord and love others, but that is not the full extent of our charge. We are called to go into all the world and "make disciples," not just "engage in dialogue."
If Jesus told the people, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, none come to the Father but through me," (sorry for the paternalistic phrasing) and Jesus told us to teach them to obey all he said, I guess i might want to work that idea into the conversation at some point. I might even need to quote scripture (gasp) to do it!
If "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" and "the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart," how could you ever hope to do your job without using it?
Posted by guest | Posted at 07/06/2007 9:13 AMHi anonymous "guest",
Actually I see some value in Gaylon's response in this sense: Jesus drew, and communicated to an almost completely Jewish crowd. Their source of mystical, and religious inspiration from childhood was the OT. Paul on the other hand often spoke to Pagans. In doing so his use of chapter and verse is not as prevalent in the Book of Acts. In the Epistles when the formerly Pagan crowd is now Christian the reference to the OT rises significantly, the scriptures become his foundation from which to speak.
There is therefore value in considering as Paul did the Pagan roots, and making reference to their "prophets and poets," or their "unknown god[s]." Not that we adapt the values which a contrary to truth, but that we identify with those which are founded in truth, and build from there to place scripture into a context of value.
This is not to say that the scriptures should be avoided by any means, but that chapter and verse need not be the method to which we are bound.
Posted by Phil Wyman | Posted at 07/06/2007 2:44 PM