A Report from the Orthodox Anglican Church Clericus
Embryo Parson Posted on Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 03:07PM I was not able to attend our Orthodox Anglican Church (OAC) Clericus (clergy meeting) this weekend, but I want to relate a report of something that happened there. Clericus was held at the Christmount Retreat Camp and Conference Center in Black Mountain, NC. The Conference Center is not a Christian one per se. It is open to many faiths and secular groups.
As it turned out, the OAC's conference room was booked right next door to a conference room booked by Wiccans. God certainly has a sense of humor, but read on.
While the Anglicans were praying and teaching, the Wiccans next door were casting spells and teaching.
The plot thickens. . . .
One of the Wiccans approached one of our clergy and invited him, in a sort of sneering tone as the report goes, to come speak to their group about "your view of Jesus." You have to credit them for reaching out and inquiring.
We think they were expecting one of our "stereotypical" priests, but instead we sent them Fr. Yellowfox, a Native American OAC priest who ministers to those caught up in substance abuse. Being a Native American, he knows Native American religion well and why it is attractive to people who gravitate to paganism, such as Wiccans.
Anyway, while he went in to give the talk to the Wiccans, a number of our clergy prayed for him outside.
At the end of his talk, the Wiccans gave him a *standing ovation*.
I haven't heard any of the details about his talk, but it seems they were warmly received, and I'm quite sure it isn't because he abandoned the Faith in order to pander to them.
The long and short of it is this, from St. Paul:
"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."
(But the OAC is about as relevant as Mormons, doncha know. ;>) )
Fr. Yellowfox is on the right.
Reader Comments (2)
In my experience, pagans are much better prepared to investigate Christianity than the average person today. Tentatively, I think these might be some reasons why:
1. The fundamentalism vs. science debate has clouded the American mind to the point that many people have difficulty looking at the scriptures as anything other than a history textbook or a pack of lies. Pagans, though, understand how to read a story and search for its meaning. A wiccan friend of mine, on her first read through Genesis 1 immediately began questioning me on the significance of the order in which God creates the world. At no point did it occur to her to try and look at the story the way a fundamentalist or a neo-atheist would.
2. Pagans tend to understand that supernatural powers exist and affect life on earth, putting them in a far better position to understand the salvation story than people who think there are no demons (a group which, oddly enough, now includes some Christians).
A very insightful observation. Thank you. When I was in seminary in the 80s, a time during which many Evangelicals were obsessed by the New Age movement, my mentor Gordon Lewis encouraged us to look upon New Agers as potential allies in the struggle against secularist materialism. Thomas Molnar's book "The Pagan Temptation" sets forth a sort of Chesteronian analysis of it. Among other things, he complained that much of modern Christianity has de-sacralized nature, which only paved the way for a resurgence of paganism. I would argue as I think Chesterton, Tolkien and Lewis essentially did, that the old paganism is just as much a part of Christianity's DNA as is the religion of Israel. Christ is not only the fulfillment of the faith of Israel, but of the deepest aspirations of the pagan Gentiles. I believe we see the synthesis of the two in the New Testament, and especially in the writings of St. Paul.