A LENTEN REFLECTION ON CONTEMPORARY FAITH AND CULTURE

THIS PAST MONTH A PARISHIONER CONVALESCING AT HOME gave me an inter-campus communique announcing the following -

“Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel has established its first Pagan chaplaincy in the chapel’s 80-year history. ‘The appointment of a Pagan chaplain enables Hendricks Chapel to demonstrate our true interfaith nature and add depth to our perspective on religious life and spirituality,’ says Hendricks Chapel Interim Dean Kelly Sprinkle. ‘Having a Pagan chaplain clearly places Hendricks Chapel and Syracuse University as one of the leaders on the national scene among university and college chapels in recognizing and embodying the importance of religious pluralism on campus.’”

The parishioner asked me what I thought of this appointment. Rather than express an opinion I adopted what I assumed would be the voice of the new Chaplain and spoke of Earth-based religious practice and principles as I understood them. I did so with surprising readiness of mind and affection, noting that a sabbatical in 1999 had involved considerable time spent in the study of Celtic spirituality including residence in Wales, Ireland and Scotland. I left the parishioner to decide what if any faith resonance there was for her in this impromptu portrayal. The greater context here is that in the Episcopal Church we've had this conversation before, most recently when a clergy couple in Pennsylvania was subject to church discipline over their private practice of paganism and expression of loyalty oaths outside of their ordination vows in the Episcopal priesthood, clearly a conflict of religious interests. A variation on this controversy though without fault of his own involved the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion himself.

Earlier in 2002 the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, a Welsh native and then in his last months as Archbishop of Wales, was elected into a select group of contributors to Welsh cultural heritage. The ceremony and language of inducting Williams into this Welsh “Hall of Fame” included white hooded robes and reference to “ordained” status, the lifting up of a six-foot sword and allusions to “druid” origins. The sensationalist British press had a field day, wrongly accusing Williams of “dabbling” in paganism, guilt by association of symbology. A high personal honor of national esteem became fodder in the ideological warring of our time, at once besmirching Williams and belittling pagan religion, with no more apparent agenda than stirring up trouble among “true” believers. We in the Episcopal Church know this behavior as both effectively contagious and highly resistant to common sense and decency.

So I offer this reflection in way of salutary blessing, not that such is needed or probably even appreciated in today's academic community. The appointment of a Pagan chaplain at Syracuse University represents many things among which in my opinion are the following: a compassionate outreach to members of the academic community who are spiritual but not religious in a mainstream traditional sense; a recognition of the faith life of members of the community who profess beliefs of ancient pagan meaning and purpose; an opportunity for these members to meet for support in the discovery and practice of their faith; and a deliberate and intentional broadening of ownership and participation in the interfaith dialogue that is at the core of Hendricks Chapel’s mission today, including now the voice of Earth-based pagan religion.

As we come to our own Christian seasons of Holy Week observances and Easter celebration, we are reminded in these converging moments of contemporary spirituality and practice that the path of faith is long and diverse in history as well as complex in knowledge and understanding, indeed, God and the experience of God is beyond all human knowing. What matters here is that we ourselves respond in faith to the God we know and love namely Jesus Christ, and that we have the courage to adapt to changing needs while remaining true to the foundation of our faith. Adaptation and truth are not mutually exclusive. The church throughout Christian history has been successfully adaptive in embedding our universal truths into the cultural life of indigenous populations all over the globe, Christmas and Easter holidays being our prime examples.

What matters ultimately and most intimately is our own integrity of faith and fellowship as members of the Body of Christ which is expressed primarily in and through the church, a membership privilege which is not limited solely to the church nor exercised only in the church. This we know because Jesus said, "I have many sheep and they are not all of this fold."

I for one am deeply grateful for my life in Christ. I am confident God’s promises are true. God's Spirit sustains me. As I get older this is very comforting indeed. I increasingly delight in the richness of God’s presence and power throughout creation, within all human relations and above all human predicaments, including death and resurrection.

I look forward to meeting this new Chaplain at Syracuse University and celebrating our experiences of the Risen God whom I live and walk with daily in the ideals of love and forgiveness and grace, embodied in Jesus Christ.