Voices in the Static: A Witch and a Christian Sit Down … Again.

Several days ago, I posted an article entitled, “Voices in the Static: When a Witch and a Christian Sit Down to Talk.”  Much to my pleasant surprise, many of you responded positively to the exchange, and even took the time to ask some really thoughtful, engaging questions.  Even more surprising, however, were the events of this morning.  When Kendra dropped me a note to ask me how I thought the conversation was progressing in the comments beneath the original post, a new, and even more penetrating conversation emerged.

So, once again, I am inviting you to sit in on a dialog between Kendra and myself.  But before I bring you into that exchange, I want to openly affirm my friend.  As you will see, the issues we discussed this morning had the potential to be even more inflammatory than subjects we discussed in the first post.  But true to form, she never once blinked; and instead, committed herself to an honest and open exploration of the similarities and differences in how we see the world.  And thus, regardless of whether you agree with her worldview or disagree with it, one cannot help but feel a sense of admiration for her integrity and personal strength of character.  Won’t you please join me in once again welcoming my friend, Kendra Williams.

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Hey Scott, so have you been pleased with the responses so far?

I have. How about you?

Yes.  I think it’s been a good thing. It’s refreshing that we can have this dialogue and not have it turn into the flame wars that can often happen online.

 

Voices in the Static: Rising Out of Abuse

If you’ve been around this site for a while now, you now that I have recently started a series called “Voices in the Static.”  It’s a series that’s all about learning how to listen to voices that are often drowned out in our society.  It’s not about racing in with answers; and it’s not about debate.  It’s about figuring out how to quiet oneself long enough to let the story of another human being rise to the surface.

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit with a man who has been verbally, emotionally and spiritually abused.  And while his present circumstances are such that he is no longer subject to his abuser, he is not yet free to discuss the nature of what happened to him.  So today, there is no interview, no exchange of ideas, no dialog for you to sit in on.  But what I can share with you are these thoughts that I wrote to him in the aftermath of our time together.  And maybe, just maybe, through my faltering words, you will hear the faintest echo of his voice.  And in so hearing, maybe, just maybe, you will choose to stand up for justice on behalf of those that cannot.

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“Dear Friend,

I keep trying to start this email, and my words just fail me … I’ve been up all night, and I haven’t stopped thinking about everything we’ve discussed.  Mostly, I keep thinking about you and your story.  I have no words to express my sorrow.  All I can say is that I have worked very closely with children who were in very dark places; and as I sat there, listening to you talk about your nightmares and about your self-confidence that was shattered …  you brought me to tears in the same way that those kids used to bring me to tears.  I don’t know if you saw it in my eyes as we sat there talking, but the tears were there.  And even as I write this to you, the tears are still there, only now they are flowing freely.

I know that you already know this, but we serve a God who grieves.  And to me, that matters.  It’s one of the reasons I worship Him.  It’s one of the things that I adore about Him.  He is not stoic, He is not dispassionate … He bleeds just as you and I bleed.  And He cries just as you I have cried.  And so, as I write this, I find myself thinking about your story and the stories of others who have suffered like you; and I find myself praying: “Lord, comfort them now, even as they continue to heal.  Remind them that they are made in your image, and that as such, they have immeasurable worth, regardless of what they have been told, regardless of how they have been manipulated.”

Just recently, you told me that no matter what comes of our discussions, something was gained because people had gathered to talk about things that really matter.  I’m here this morning to tell you that something else was gained.  You gained a friend.  While you already had my trust and my admiration, you gained my heart as well – my heart and my willful, freely-chosen decision to be your friend.  And so, if there is ever anything that I can do to serve you, I want you to know that I am here as your brother in Christ.”

 

Voices in the Static: When a Witch and Christian Sit Down to Talk

In just a few minutes, you are going to have the opportunity to sit in on a fascinating conversation that is the first of the “Voices in the Static” series.  These are meant to be conversations that highlight often-muffled “voices” that, although quiet, are steadily shaping our culture in ways that we may not yet be fully aware.   But before I bring you into that dialog, I want to begin by offering you a brief introduction to my partner in this conversation.  Over twenty years ago, Kendra Williams and I knew each other as friends who worked together in our high school theater.  Following graduation, we lost touch with one another, as so many high school friends are prone to do.  But in recent months, we have reconnected through Facebook; and tonight, she has agreed to engage with me in a conversation about her beliefs as a Pagan/Wiccan and how these beliefs shape her interactions with the broader culture and with Christians, in particular.  Kendra holds a degree in the theater arts from the University of Illinois (Chicago) and later went on to study the Japanese language at the University of Maryland.  She presently works as an Office Manager in downtown Chicago and moonlights as an artist in the medium of henna.

 

Voices in the Static

It has been said that “the most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood” and that “the best way to understand people is to listen to them.”[1]  If that is true, I wonder if we, as a society, are not in real danger at this very moment.  For it seems to me that as a collective whole, we seem to be rapidly loosing our ability to hear the voices of the people around us, even as we continue to turn up the sound of the static that underscores our daily lives.

Today, I want to introduce to you a new series that is dedicated to turning down the white noise of culture so that we might be better equipped to hear the sounds of the ordinary people all around us.  This series is all about their stories.  It’s about what drives them to live in the way that they do.  It’s about their fears and their hopes.  It’s about the thousands of little choices that they make in circumstances that are sometimes dramatic and life changing.  These are not the stories of the people who shape history.  But they are the stories of our friends and families – the stories of people who are all made in “the image of God.”

So I want to invite you to sit down in your favorite armchair with a cup of coffee in hand; and I want to invite you to listen in as I sit with these people and ask them about the ways in which they see the world. You may not always agree with everything that these individuals have to say.  But if you silence yourself and commit yourself to listen to their voices, you may just learn a thing or two about the world all around you.

May these stories illuminate you, even as they have illuminated me.

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[1] Ralph Nichols.