I have spent a good deal of time the last 14 years hanging out with neo-Pagans of all sorts: Witches, Druids, Shamans, and others. They are my friends. This is not just some kind of engagement of an evangelical sort, but a deeper relationship of real friendships and respect.
As a Christian pastor this has required me to think about the depth of my interaction with other religious traditions.
The Apostle Paul wrote about handling the subject of being offered a meal when the food was offered to idols first. He navigated the tricky decision of remaining faithful to God, and not trying not to offend those who offered the meal. He seems to indicate that he would eat without reservation as long as it did not require allegiance to other gods, or appear to make others believe that he had given his allegiance over to other gods.
This has become my basic line of engagement with other religions. I will participate with them in activities which do not involve crossing a line of allegiance away from Jesus, or to another god or goddess. In this way, I can be involved with people of other religions without changing my own religion. Paul must have had to act this same way many times as he navigated ministry in the Roman Pagan world.
When you are with your friends who are involved with a spiritual path which is very much unlike your own, how do you respond to times when their religion is being practiced? Do you avoid those moments? Get involved? or simply watch from a distance? and where do you draw your lines of engagement?
Showing posts with label Druidism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Druidism. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Live Radio Interview Tomorrow in the UK
I've been asked to do a live radio interview in the UK tomorrow at 10:40am EST (USA). Premier Christian Radio is doing a telephone interview on Wednesday 26th with me at this time. The interview is for the Premier Drive show with Bridgitte Tetteh and Dave Rose.
This is what they asked me to consider:
"I wanted to talk about your ministry in Salem. Probably focusing on Paganism, Neo-Paganism, Witchcraft. To let out listeners realise that this still exists and understand that Witches are real people too.To understand how you can minister or talk to someone who may be into Witchcraft . To talk about your experiences with people that are in to Witchcraft."
I am told that interview will be "general and light."
If you would like to tune in to it you can do so online at Premier Christian Radio at 10:40am EST, or 7:40am PST for my West coast of the USA friends. This means 3:40pm for my friends in the UK.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Beyond the Pall (Part 8): Living in a Pagan World
(Beyond the Pall is a continuing series following missional engagement with the Neo-Pagan community in Salem, MA and beyond. The story began with the death of a friend who was a prominent Witch in Salem. I was a pall-bearer at his funeral, and so this series carries the title with its not un-purposeful similarity to the term “beyond the pale.”)
Photo by Christine Cleere found at The Druid NetworkWe were six in number. They were 250. I've been out numbered by far larger odds in ministry outreach settings before, but these numbers were more intimidating for the average Christian than when I was one of 12 Christians among 5,000 Mormons. We were six Christians among 250 Druids. Some pastors would have felt like Elijah among the prophets of Baal. I felt at home and among friends. The five others with me would feel that way at the end of three days.
We offered to hold a Dream Interpretation booth at the Lammas Games. They accepted, and we planned the first few days of our mission trip to join the Druids in South Oxfordshire. Daniel interpreted dreams in Pagan Babylon. Certainly we could try to do so in a Neo-Pagan gathering in Britain.
We arrived early, and found a campsite location in the afternoon shade. We helped haul the roughhewn wood, and put our hands to building the stage. We got to know the leaders of the event, and then we built our own booth from the same roughhewn lumber.
From our shady location we could watch all the happenings for the event. The food and ale were to the left of us, and ferret racing was near the stage directly across from us. The sound system was powered by two stationary bicycles, which volunteers took turns pedaling.
In the center of the event a circle was formed with eight tall flags. This would be the location of the ritual at the end of the day.
As people began to fill the site, we interpreted dreams for a few. Others simply wanted to know what we were doing there. They heard we were Christians, and asked us how it was that we could attend the event. Each time this question was asked, I asked in return, "do you think Jesus would avoid coming here?" Of course, no one thought that Jesus would have avoided the event, and we began to wonder how it was that Christianity and Jesus were not perceived in the same light.
As the day wore on, a small cadre of vendors and attendees began to gather around us. They sat and talked with us, and shared their life stories. With some regularity, people shared their interest in, and sometimes even their love for Jesus, but their dislike, and wholesale rejection of Church and Christianity was evident. Again we wondered how Jesus and Christianity became so detached from one another in the eyes of those outside the church.
Our little troupe was relatively comfortable in this strange setting of hippies, spear chucking, the mention of Pagan deities, and ale drinking. The booth next to us heard me play my guitar and sing. They asked if I was joining the competition for the "Spear of Lugh." The holder of the Spear of Lugh would stand as the Druidic Bard for the year. I put my five pound entry fee into the pot, assuming that a Christian Pastor would not be allowed to hold the Spear of Lugh, and become the Druidic Bard, but it would be fun to perform for a large gathering of Druids nonetheless.
In the late afternoon, a ritual was held. They formed a circle and gave thanks for the events of the year, for the giving of the harvest, for the gentle breezes, for the warmth of the sun, and for the rains. They laughed about the rains, because floods had happened all across the UK that year. They called to the East, South, West, and North, but nothing in their gathering required a person to declare allegiance to Pagan gods or goddesses. It was simply a remembrance, and celebration of life. A few of us from the missions trip joined the circle, and gave thanks with them.
In the early evening, while the sun was still fairly high in the sky the eisteddfod began. The eisteddfod was the competition of musicians and poets. The current holder of the Spear of Lugh, the first Bardic champion of the games, and a leader of the Druid Network sat as judges. The crowd gathered in the circle of flags, and faced the stage. Poets recited, and musicians sang - some quite professionally, and others joyously in need of a shepherd's crook, or a final buzzer. Much like a church talent contest it had a wide range of skills.
When my turn came, I sang a song about a Gargoyle. I wrote it in response to seeing the cathedrals in the UK some years before. Its theme was that of a mysterious message long forgotten by people, despite the fact that they walk under its shadow every day - a bit like the Gospel itself. Treeman, and Spacegirl thought that I most certainly would be the winner, even though we had been bantering in good jest about who was going outperform whom.
In the end Treeman won, and our little cadre of Pagan friends felt I got shafted. I smiled knowing that a Christian Pastor holding the Spear of Lugh for a year would be a weird experience.
Later that night we sat around the fire with our new Druid friends. People were drinking, and songs were sung, stories told, and poems recited. Everyone got involved, and we laughed, and sometimes we cried, and somehow our little Christian troupe felt strangely at home.
In the morning Paul was still sitting by the fire. He kept it burning all night as the tradition warranted. Paul had been the winner of the Spear of Lugh and the Bard for the previous year. I learned that Paul was a Druid, and a Mormon. He shared how he had been a Christian minister at one time, and that I had encouraged him to return to prayer, and to considering ministry once again. I smiled, and wondered how a person could be a Mormon, a Christian Minister and a Neo-Pagan Druid. He smiled, and I am sure he wondered how an Evangelical Christian Pastor could hang out at the Lammas Games.
As we left the Lammas Games to travel to our next location we considered how this event would change our reading of the New Testament. We were among the few people in America who would read the writings of St. Paul, and know exactly how he felt when he spoke of struggling over eating meat offered to idols, and dealing with the celebration of Pagan holydays. Paul the Apostle lived in a Pagan world, and if only for just a few days - so did we.
Photo by Christine Cleere found at The Druid NetworkWe were six in number. They were 250. I've been out numbered by far larger odds in ministry outreach settings before, but these numbers were more intimidating for the average Christian than when I was one of 12 Christians among 5,000 Mormons. We were six Christians among 250 Druids. Some pastors would have felt like Elijah among the prophets of Baal. I felt at home and among friends. The five others with me would feel that way at the end of three days.We offered to hold a Dream Interpretation booth at the Lammas Games. They accepted, and we planned the first few days of our mission trip to join the Druids in South Oxfordshire. Daniel interpreted dreams in Pagan Babylon. Certainly we could try to do so in a Neo-Pagan gathering in Britain.
We arrived early, and found a campsite location in the afternoon shade. We helped haul the roughhewn wood, and put our hands to building the stage. We got to know the leaders of the event, and then we built our own booth from the same roughhewn lumber.
From our shady location we could watch all the happenings for the event. The food and ale were to the left of us, and ferret racing was near the stage directly across from us. The sound system was powered by two stationary bicycles, which volunteers took turns pedaling.
In the center of the event a circle was formed with eight tall flags. This would be the location of the ritual at the end of the day.
As people began to fill the site, we interpreted dreams for a few. Others simply wanted to know what we were doing there. They heard we were Christians, and asked us how it was that we could attend the event. Each time this question was asked, I asked in return, "do you think Jesus would avoid coming here?" Of course, no one thought that Jesus would have avoided the event, and we began to wonder how it was that Christianity and Jesus were not perceived in the same light.
As the day wore on, a small cadre of vendors and attendees began to gather around us. They sat and talked with us, and shared their life stories. With some regularity, people shared their interest in, and sometimes even their love for Jesus, but their dislike, and wholesale rejection of Church and Christianity was evident. Again we wondered how Jesus and Christianity became so detached from one another in the eyes of those outside the church.
Our little troupe was relatively comfortable in this strange setting of hippies, spear chucking, the mention of Pagan deities, and ale drinking. The booth next to us heard me play my guitar and sing. They asked if I was joining the competition for the "Spear of Lugh." The holder of the Spear of Lugh would stand as the Druidic Bard for the year. I put my five pound entry fee into the pot, assuming that a Christian Pastor would not be allowed to hold the Spear of Lugh, and become the Druidic Bard, but it would be fun to perform for a large gathering of Druids nonetheless.
In the late afternoon, a ritual was held. They formed a circle and gave thanks for the events of the year, for the giving of the harvest, for the gentle breezes, for the warmth of the sun, and for the rains. They laughed about the rains, because floods had happened all across the UK that year. They called to the East, South, West, and North, but nothing in their gathering required a person to declare allegiance to Pagan gods or goddesses. It was simply a remembrance, and celebration of life. A few of us from the missions trip joined the circle, and gave thanks with them.
In the early evening, while the sun was still fairly high in the sky the eisteddfod began. The eisteddfod was the competition of musicians and poets. The current holder of the Spear of Lugh, the first Bardic champion of the games, and a leader of the Druid Network sat as judges. The crowd gathered in the circle of flags, and faced the stage. Poets recited, and musicians sang - some quite professionally, and others joyously in need of a shepherd's crook, or a final buzzer. Much like a church talent contest it had a wide range of skills.
When my turn came, I sang a song about a Gargoyle. I wrote it in response to seeing the cathedrals in the UK some years before. Its theme was that of a mysterious message long forgotten by people, despite the fact that they walk under its shadow every day - a bit like the Gospel itself. Treeman, and Spacegirl thought that I most certainly would be the winner, even though we had been bantering in good jest about who was going outperform whom.
In the end Treeman won, and our little cadre of Pagan friends felt I got shafted. I smiled knowing that a Christian Pastor holding the Spear of Lugh for a year would be a weird experience.
Later that night we sat around the fire with our new Druid friends. People were drinking, and songs were sung, stories told, and poems recited. Everyone got involved, and we laughed, and sometimes we cried, and somehow our little Christian troupe felt strangely at home.
In the morning Paul was still sitting by the fire. He kept it burning all night as the tradition warranted. Paul had been the winner of the Spear of Lugh and the Bard for the previous year. I learned that Paul was a Druid, and a Mormon. He shared how he had been a Christian minister at one time, and that I had encouraged him to return to prayer, and to considering ministry once again. I smiled, and wondered how a person could be a Mormon, a Christian Minister and a Neo-Pagan Druid. He smiled, and I am sure he wondered how an Evangelical Christian Pastor could hang out at the Lammas Games.
As we left the Lammas Games to travel to our next location we considered how this event would change our reading of the New Testament. We were among the few people in America who would read the writings of St. Paul, and know exactly how he felt when he spoke of struggling over eating meat offered to idols, and dealing with the celebration of Pagan holydays. Paul the Apostle lived in a Pagan world, and if only for just a few days - so did we.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
O'r Eisteddfod yn Gogledd Cymru - From the Eisteddfod in North Wales
Shwmae Frinddiau,
I am able to access my Blogger account for the first time since being here at the fiirst time since being here in thee UK. The WiFi internet access is desperately slow here on Maes B at the Welsh National Eisteddfod, but perhaps I can get a few words out before I disappear into a kinder, gentler medeival existence once again.
Here's what we have done since being in the UK as of August 3rd:
First we traveled from Gatwick Airport in south London to South Oxfordshire, an area recently in the news for being among the flooding which has occurred in the UK. The Lammas Games were being set up. The Games is a gathering of Druids organized by the Druid Network. We offered to interpret dreams for people for free, and we arrived with no resources to host our space on the event. But help arrived. Our dear friend Stephen Nicholson brought tents to sleep in, chairs, and a table for our set up. We then built our own table from rough hewn logs on the property of Brazier's Park. We then helped set up the stage for the event. The stage was to host a competition for the Spear of Lugh. This would be held for the year by the Druidic Bard.
We did not have many takers for Dream Interpretation during the Saturday of the event, but the few we had were profitable and helpful to people. We did however hold many discussions, and were asked many questions about our faith. People who were raised Christian, but have since embraced alternative spiritualities such as Druidism, and Witchcraft came to ask us questions. They wondered why we were there, sometimes even wondering how we could be there, but after some time we thankful for our presence, and admitted to still admiring (even loving Jesus) although rejecting the Church. We will be continuining to keep in contact with these people in the future. Later that day I competed in the bardic competition. I did not expect to even be considered among the possible winners, because I am not a Druid, but some of the people considered me a crowd favoriet with my song Cum Tacent Clamant, and its Latin chant whicch I taught the crowd.
Later that night we sat raound the fire and swapped tales, and songs, and poetry which Pagans are often known to do, and once again discussions of our faith, and stories of our life in Jesus became the order of the evening. I am so thankful for a team of people who are able mix with a Pagan crowd and feel confortable being themselves, and sharing their life in a manner which is simple, gentle, more like Jesus, and less like the expectations of typical evangelistic campaigning. Kudos to Carlos, Josh, Mizumi, Elizabeth, and Kevin. Each person has their own tales to tell about this event.
On the third day we arrived at Y Gorlan at the Welsh National Eisteddfod late at night. Since then we have been supporting the team of evangelical Christians who run the food service tent on the Youth Field (Maes B), which is an all Welsh Speaking week long concert series. We have been preparing, and serving food at a drunken youth event for the week now. The food tent (Y Gorlan - meaning The sheepfold) is a 24 hour service, and so we are keeping strange hours to help out. I have been working from midnight to 4am, which is the rush hour strangely. No one on this trip has ever seen such drunkenness with so many people all at once, and most of them under age. I warned them that this would be what the Maes B was like, but they were still surprised. It is surrealistic to find this in the middle of an otherwise squeaky clean event which the Welsh National Eisteddfod is, but relationships are developing, and we are able to help those who speak Welsh to do more serve food, but to share their faith with others. The opportunity to reach people here is great, and as of yet relatively untapped, and I hope for great thigns in coming years. I would like to return for next year's event which will be in Caerdydd (Cardiff, South Wales).
I am able to access my Blogger account for the first time since being here at the fiirst time since being here in thee UK. The WiFi internet access is desperately slow here on Maes B at the Welsh National Eisteddfod, but perhaps I can get a few words out before I disappear into a kinder, gentler medeival existence once again.
Here's what we have done since being in the UK as of August 3rd:
First we traveled from Gatwick Airport in south London to South Oxfordshire, an area recently in the news for being among the flooding which has occurred in the UK. The Lammas Games were being set up. The Games is a gathering of Druids organized by the Druid Network. We offered to interpret dreams for people for free, and we arrived with no resources to host our space on the event. But help arrived. Our dear friend Stephen Nicholson brought tents to sleep in, chairs, and a table for our set up. We then built our own table from rough hewn logs on the property of Brazier's Park. We then helped set up the stage for the event. The stage was to host a competition for the Spear of Lugh. This would be held for the year by the Druidic Bard.
We did not have many takers for Dream Interpretation during the Saturday of the event, but the few we had were profitable and helpful to people. We did however hold many discussions, and were asked many questions about our faith. People who were raised Christian, but have since embraced alternative spiritualities such as Druidism, and Witchcraft came to ask us questions. They wondered why we were there, sometimes even wondering how we could be there, but after some time we thankful for our presence, and admitted to still admiring (even loving Jesus) although rejecting the Church. We will be continuining to keep in contact with these people in the future. Later that day I competed in the bardic competition. I did not expect to even be considered among the possible winners, because I am not a Druid, but some of the people considered me a crowd favoriet with my song Cum Tacent Clamant, and its Latin chant whicch I taught the crowd.
Later that night we sat raound the fire and swapped tales, and songs, and poetry which Pagans are often known to do, and once again discussions of our faith, and stories of our life in Jesus became the order of the evening. I am so thankful for a team of people who are able mix with a Pagan crowd and feel confortable being themselves, and sharing their life in a manner which is simple, gentle, more like Jesus, and less like the expectations of typical evangelistic campaigning. Kudos to Carlos, Josh, Mizumi, Elizabeth, and Kevin. Each person has their own tales to tell about this event.
On the third day we arrived at Y Gorlan at the Welsh National Eisteddfod late at night. Since then we have been supporting the team of evangelical Christians who run the food service tent on the Youth Field (Maes B), which is an all Welsh Speaking week long concert series. We have been preparing, and serving food at a drunken youth event for the week now. The food tent (Y Gorlan - meaning The sheepfold) is a 24 hour service, and so we are keeping strange hours to help out. I have been working from midnight to 4am, which is the rush hour strangely. No one on this trip has ever seen such drunkenness with so many people all at once, and most of them under age. I warned them that this would be what the Maes B was like, but they were still surprised. It is surrealistic to find this in the middle of an otherwise squeaky clean event which the Welsh National Eisteddfod is, but relationships are developing, and we are able to help those who speak Welsh to do more serve food, but to share their faith with others. The opportunity to reach people here is great, and as of yet relatively untapped, and I hope for great thigns in coming years. I would like to return for next year's event which will be in Caerdydd (Cardiff, South Wales).
Monday, July 30, 2007
Alternative Festivals, and Us
Thursday we head off to the UK. Well 6 of us are leaving. We will land at Gatwick Airport south of London, and head to South Oxfordshire to the Lammas Games. At the Lammas Games we will offer free Dream Interpretation. The Lammas Games are organized by the Druid Network run by Emm Restall Orr (aka Bobcat).
On the issue of ministering at alternative festivals such as the Lammas Games, Matt Stone has a nice post on his blog from yesterday. Check it out, and get a feel for the places we like to bring our faith.
Following the Lammas Games we will head to the Eisteddfod in North Wales, and work there for a week. I'm looking forward to being in a place I love so much.
On the issue of ministering at alternative festivals such as the Lammas Games, Matt Stone has a nice post on his blog from yesterday. Check it out, and get a feel for the places we like to bring our faith.
Following the Lammas Games we will head to the Eisteddfod in North Wales, and work there for a week. I'm looking forward to being in a place I love so much.
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