PAGANS IN THE PULPIT
Does this prove what we have been teaching about the Apostate Church? YES
Wiccan (witch) Tom Davis came to a Methodist church in Austin, Texas, as part of a “pulpit swap.”
At Trinity United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, recently, the congregation welcomed into its pulpit, Tom Davis, a Wiccan priest of the Covenant of the Goddess. It was part of a city-wide project called “pulpit swap” in which Native Indian shamans, Buddhist priests, witches, Hindu gurus, and Islamic muftis led Christian congregations in various pagan rituals and ceremonies.“All are welcome here,” said Trinity member Linda Eldredge, “Everybody’s got something to offer.”
Sunday morning Christian worship replaced with Wiccan Witchcraft Ritual
Excerpts from this news article: New voices emerge in pulpit swap Sunday
Wiccans included in interfaith exchange marking Sept. 11 anniversary
By Eileen E. Flynn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, September 13, 2004
It’s almost 9 a.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church on Sunday, and Tom Davis, a Wiccan, is looking for the sun. In a few moments, he will cast the circle, pointing to each direction and invoking the four elements: earth, air, fire and water. He starts by facing east.
“By the earth that is her body,” Davis declares as light pours through a stained-glass window behind him. “By the air that is her breath. By the fire of her bright spirit. By the waters of her living womb.”
For the congregation of the church, at 600 E. 50th St. [Austin, Texas], a witch leading worship isn’t scandalous. It isn’t even that unusual.
Trinity members have hosted American Indian shamans, Buddhist priests and other faith leaders, including Wiccans, before. They even practice their own pagan-inspired rituals at services. At Trinity, Davis, a former Methodist, started with the most basic similarity: “We are a people of faith,” he said, “and that’s hard for some folks to get their minds around.”
After the service, Davis noted the dread of sharing one’s identity in public. Just as some of Trinity’s gay members fear the consequences of coming out of the closet with their sexuality, he said, Wiccans have a metaphor for their own situation: coming out of the broom closet.
Demythologizing Wicca at Trinity isn’t Davis’ greatest challenge. But Trinity’s pastor, the Rev. Sid Hall, said Wiccans’ participation in the interfaith community may “open up the dialogue to see how Christianity has walked a very tight line with both diminishing pagan roots and Celtic roots and yet incorporating (them) when it was convenient.”
eflynn@statesman.com; 445-3812
ON THE WEB: For more information about Covenant of the Goddess, go to www.cog.org; for more about Austin Area Interreligious Ministries, go to http://aaimaustin.org
This article was from http://www.tumc.org/voice/voice.pdf (no longer available)
MORE ABOUT TRINITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCHTrinity’s Statement Regarding Creation Spirituality
Trinity’s clergy support Creation Spirituality, a movement that draws on ancient spiritual traditions and contemporary science to awaken authentic mysticism, revitalize Christianity and Western culture, and promote social and ecological justice. Creation Spirituality teaches that God permeates all things and that humanity is created blessed, not tainted by original sin. In this paradigm, Christ is God’s liberating and reconciling energy, transforming individuals and society’s structures into conduits of compassion. As we embody God’s love, we become the Creation that God intends.
Creation Spirituality draws on the earliest traditions of the Hebrew Bible and has been celebrated under various names over the centuries, most notably by the Rhineland Christian mystics of medieval Europe. It is an eclectic tradition that honors women’s wisdom and the cosmologies of indigenous cultures around the planet. Creation Spirituality seeks to revitalize contemporary worship by asking what would happen if, instead of requiring artists to conform to established worship practices, Christian worship adapted to the creativity of artists.
This information was originally from; http://www.tumc.org/creation.html , however, the page is no longer available.