Sometimes I listen to pagan music while working on a church bulletin and I find myself slipping into a state of worship. Images of growing vines, the antlered crown of Pan blend with beautiful words of Jesus and adoration of the God of heaven and earth. They blend together and all symbols, all language fades into meaningless and all that remains is divine union. I listen to a hymn to Pan and sing it to Jesus, a memorized bible verse pops up in a pagan ritual.
“So long I have waited
you have come to set me free
now the gate is open
my heart belongs to you”
The voice of the singer carries me deep into the sweet love of Jesus, a love I have known all my life. I hum along, I feel like kneeling before the cross, and it is only then I remember this is a pagan band and the song is dedicated to – I actually don’t remember which deity it is addressing. But I know where the love it comes from, where this worship takes the singer, where this worship takes me. To the One who is All One, All One or None.
Annika Mongan 
My dearest sister, I find that when we feel the need to kneel before a cross of Jesus, it’s only our sense of upbringing that becons us to. For what do we know about Jesus? He was a man who was a great story teller, someone who was able to walk on water, or turn water into wine, or make a blind man see, but if you truly believe in the craft of paganism or anything of that nature, then you must also believe that these things are possible of a very great witch. Spells and potions made from things of the earth are proven to cure diseases along with positive reinforcement these things can be and have been possible. I like the one view of someone I know who says that if you have read the bible, then you must like a good book, for it has everything in it, betrayal, murder, love, loss, and all of the greatest of betrayal that any book has. So when you are thinking about Jesus, I just think of a man who was a great witch in his century and was murdered for his belief….
Yes, so much truth in what you just wrote. There is such a huge difference between the Jesus of the gospels and the Jesus of much American Christianity. It is not Jesus the miracle worker I am drawn to. I agree that miracles, healing, all of that stuff occurs in other places as well. It is not even the teachings of Jesus that I am drawn to. And it is certainly not the death-on-the-cross-to-buy-us-out-of-hell theology (aka substitutionary atonement) that I think about when I feel this desire to kneel.
The thing that I love about Jesus is the depth of his love and his commitment to peace. He could have chosen the way of the Sadducees reaching salvation through political power.
He could have chosen the way of the Essenes by withdrawing into remote places like many Christian cults do.
He could have chosen the way of the Zealots by fighting against injustice like many freedom fighters do.
He could have chosen the way of the Pharisees and their superior religion and desire to convert, much like many Christians today do.
People would have followed him on all of those paths, but he chose neither. He chose the way of love to the point of death. Rejecting politics, withdrawal, justified fighting, and religion to dedicate himself to complete and unconditional love to the point of torture and death – that is what I have such deep respect and admiration for, that I bow to his embodiment of love.
Hey! Would you mind if I share your blog with my zynga group?
There’s a lot of folks that I think would really appreciate
your content. Please let me know. Cheers
Sure thing!