The Last Seder of James, Episcopal Church and Contemplative Christianity with Rev. Ryan Wiksell

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I'm delighted to welcome The Rev. Ryan Wiksell today. Ryan is an Episcopal Priest in Kansas City, Missouri. He is also my friend and I am his Anamchara, or Celtic soul friend. We both belong to the Community of Aidan and Hilda, a dispersed Celtic Christian community in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia. Ryan has a fascinating journey in charismatic and liturgical Christianity and Ryan is an co-author of a new book, The Last Seder of James: A Journey Through Passover. He has so much to share about his ministry, his appreciation for contemplative practices, and a deep understanding of the meaning of Passover and the other Jewish holy days. 

Welcome Ryan, it is so nice to see you again. And to share our friendship with the audience. 

Teaser Questions:

Give us a brief background about you. What brought you to the ministry and to serve your congregation? You've seen some new life in the congregation. Tell us how you are connecting with them. 

You've told me about how your charismatic background informs your ministry today in a different way. What is it like to serve a liturgical church now. It seems that many younger people have been on a similar path. Are you seeing that too?

Your book is fascinating because it helps understanding what it must have been like for James, Jesus's brother in Jerusalem and John his beloved disciple in the decades after Jesus's resurrection. 

While it is a fictional account, it realistically some of inevitable personal tensions between the characters and the common devotion they had to Jesus and his ministry. 

It is also deeply Jewish in its language and perspective. I think this accurately portrays the closeness between Christian and Jewish communities in the first century before they were ripped apart by strife and imperialism in later centuries. 

I am reading Paula Fredriksen's Ancient Christianities which describes the diversity of the Christianity before the imperial Constantinian takeover of the Roman. What are your views about the wide variety of Christian expressions? 

What is your contemplative practice? What does Celtic Christianity and being a soul friend mean to you?