Servus has suggested that we might want to invite the Rev Steve and his mission to recruit the pagans here; why go to the expense when it ought to be possible to craft what needs to be said in the form of a modern ‘discourse’?  What would the Rev Phil Cringeworthy say? Something like this, perhaps?

Don’t you find those terms ‘homily and sermon’ so off-putting? Here at St Daryl’s we find interfaith discourse more useful, although it is necessary to emphasise that by ‘faith’ we don’t actually mean ‘faith’, but rather promising to oneself that one will be the best one can, and that in a very real fashion, one will take time out from the daily grind to focus on the real self, buried beneath the constructs of modern materialism.

I wonder if you find what we, here at St Daryl the Apostate’s find, which is the inner commonality of all belief systems? Paganism, after all, is like Christianity in so far as the word covers (and pardon the pun) a multitude of sins (does anyone recall that word?). So, one pagan might think the sun worthy of worship, another the moon, but they are all spherical objects, and you will find Christian philosophers open to the idea that we all become spherical objects and gods – so there is a real dialogue to be had about the interconnectedness of all these thing.

Our brothers and sisters and transgendered and non-gendered (and none of the above) friends in the pagan movement describe their movement thusly:

“a spirit­ual way of life which has its roots in the ancient nature religions of the world. . . We celebrate the sanctity of Nature, revering the Divine in all things; the vast, unknowable spirit that runs through the universe, both seen and unseen.”

That is so what we here at the Apostolate of the Apostate have tried to do. We see God in the mountain, and in the rain-forest, and we see the spiritual in all things. We are one with Mother Nature and she is one with us, and there is a very real sense in which we would tend towards expressing the view that if that is so, then god is part of that too, or else all things would not be connected.

After all, Christianity is about exploring yourself and coming closer to your inner god, and isn’t that what Buddha wanted, really, when you come down to it?  Just meditate, as we do here, and chant a centering prayer, not to any one of the many forms god takes, but perhaps to your own inner child, who you can release.

We here, have found dialogue between the many forms of paganism and Christianity mutually enriching; they have given us a mid-winter festival, we named it Christmas; we gave them a resurrected god, they called it easter. And how helpful it is moving us away from that silly fuss about doctrine and dogma and all those words we associate with dead white men. Sophia the wisdom goddess welcomes men, women, LBGT, transgendered and nongendered people into a mission of mutual care.

Isn’t this, my friends (for are we not all friends, is that not what gaia wants?) the way forward for a truly relevant spirituality in the modern world. That wonderfully contemporary organ of spirituality, The Tablet (and for those of you not keeping up, no, it isn’t anything to do with Catholicism – have you actually read it? Well, do, and you’ll see I am correct) recently said:

 It was the 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris that set out the possibility that Catholics could work with“people of goodwill” outside the Church, until then frowned upon. That may now be part of the Catholic wallpaper, taken for granted as obvious, but it has not been translated into specific joint projects to the extent it could have been.

Well, isn’t that grand, and we at St Daryl’s are at the forefront of bringing more paganism to make whatever is left of Christianity properly relevant to the modern world. Empty out that dogma, abandon that doctrine, do what you feel.We want everyone to feel that the journey upon which they have embarked is one of lifelong learning and spiritual renewal, which I am sure that Sophia welcomes in each of us.

I am sure you would like to join me in wishing the Rev Phil the longest possible trip off the shortest possible pier.

GRSS