I shared a table with a satanic group & it gave me hope.

Not quite the title you were expecting from a pastor’s wife, huh? Which makes it all the more interesting.

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The other day I was sitting in Starbucks and I shared my table with a satanic group who was there doing a meetup. Their group had run out of seating to accommodate everyone and since I was sitting at the table next to them, I offered to share mine. At the time, I had no idea what type of group they were. Not that this would not have made a difference, but knowing your surroundings is a curiosity for anyone. Before I knew it I was completely immersed in the middle of a satanic group meetup.

While I know that society screams “religious freedom” and will tell me I’m casting some type of judgment onto this group by mentioning it in a blog, my eventual point casts a light opposed to judgment. I offered a seat at my table to those who greatly opposed the very beliefs that make me who I am, I was kind and even chatted with one of them. My heart is not here to judge. And my goal as a Christ-Believer is not to shovel my beliefs onto others, but to show love and kindness through the way I present myself as a “Christian.” With that disclaimer put out there, I’ll continue on!

I quietly opened up my laptop and began to work, completely oblivious to what I was about to hear. The stories started to get interesting, I could not help but eavesdrop. They spoke about a “God” and I began to question what type of group this was. Was this a Christian group, and if not who was the God they were talking about? It didn’t take me long to learn this was a Satanic group meetup. An interesting concept since, according to my husband and the Satanic Temple website, Satanist neither believe in God or Satan (but that’s a different blog post!). The God they were referring to will remain a mystery to me since I remained outside of the conversation.

I continued to keep to myself, submerged in the middle of this group when they started passing out candy canes and offered me one. Quite ironic. I wondered “do they know what a candy cane symbolizes?” The candy cane is actually a religious symbol, a symbol that opposes the beliefs of a Satanist. You see, the white of the candy cane symbolizes the purity of Jesus, and the red symbolizes the blood He shed for us. This tiny symbolism of Christ being passed around in the form of candy, amongst a Satanist group. I’m still pondering that.

One of the members of the group had noticed some blogger stickers I had on my laptop and asked me what I blogged about. I didn’t share that I was a pastor’s wife or a Christian, but I explained that I wrote about family, food, travel, and faith. I even gave her the name of my blog (because that’s what we bloggers do – get our name out there!). Who knows, she might even read this.

As I left, she told me “Merry Christmas.” I smiled and told her “Merry Christmas” as well. The irony and the depth of such a statement, Merry CHRISTmas, said without much thought.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. – Matthew 1:21

Honestly, I’ve been thinking about this whole weird (for me) encounter for over a week now. Should I blog about it, should I not? I felt pressed to write about it, but wasn’t sure until Christmas. Christmas offers hope, a baby born unto us to one deliver us from our own destruction. To give us hope for our eternal future! Holidays also bring some of the hardest times for people; grief, loss, loneliness, and painful reminders. To some, this is the hardest time of the year for those going through struggles and that hope is sometimes hard to see in the midst of darkness.

But I was reminded of my Starbucks table sharing experience. I was reminded of hope three times in my conversation with a satanist: the candy cane, the purpose of what I do (writing), and through the simple (but powerful) phrase, “Merry Christmas.” Hope can be experienced in the darkest of times and through the most unlikely scenarios. It can even be offered as a reminder brought to us by those most opposed to it. God can use anyone, in any place, and in any situation, to remind you of His existence and promise. The promise of hope through His Son.

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. – Romans 8:24-25

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