Hussy Cowboy

Two nights ago, after our evangelistic conversation with an atheist named Annika who has both homosexual and heterosexual attractions, we ran into a Swede named Åshilde and her friend, a 51 year-old Cuban-American recording artist named Umberto who goes by the stage name "Hussy Cowboy." He heard us speaking English and asked us to point him to a bar. We got into a funny conversation with him for a few minutes.  He is a very outgoing guy.  He invited us to come hear him sing the next night on the Gay Pride Week Festival stage.  This we did. He was happy to see us, and wanted to chat some more.  He eventually asked me what I'm doing here, so I told him that since I am studying to be a pastor,  I had an assignment to meet people and talk to them about the Gospel.  He lit up and asked me if I would tell him about the Gospel.

Well, there was actually no time to even begin the conversation.  But we exchanged numbers, and arranged to meet the next night (tonight) after the Gay Pride Week Festival parade.  Meanwhile, he had to take care of some business with one of the stage event coordinators, which gave Omid and I a chance to talk with Åshilde again.  Small talk and polite conversation eventually led to some deeper questions of faith.  She also informed us that Umberto was gay and is not her boyfriend as we had mistakenly assumed.  She calls herself an atheist, though she had a terrifying encounter once with what she believes was a ghost, and so she admits that a spiritual world must exist.  It was challenging news to her when I told her that God is the source and perfection of love.  She is instead hopeful that she will find unconditional love in a man.

In several other friendly conversations we later had with other Swedes hanging out at the Festival, this is the common response: I am an atheist who believes in something spiritual, like an afterlife and that there is a reason for everything.  Their defeater beliefs, those beliefs which undermine all other arguments for the Christian faith and the Gospel concern Creationism, the history of patriarchy in the church, and belief in miracles.

This morning we hit the trail again, this time going to two outdoor flea markets that immigrants frequent on Saturdays.  There we handed out tracts, a few bibles, and lots of Jesus Films to the passersby.  I was able to get into several conversations with people, usually in simple Swedish, concerning the faith, inviting some to come worship with us.  One of them actually came to our church this evening!  At one point, though, some hard-core Muslim hotshots tried hammering us with arguments which lasted well over a half-hour.  Their main argument was that the Koran is perfect, and since there are many differences in the manuscripts of the Bible, the Bible cannot be trusted. I was told that I must study the Koran for myself before I have the audacity to evangelize Muslims.  It was just a way for them to try to shut me up, and behave aggressively.

Tonight while riding the tram into the city center to meet with Umberto the singer, Omid and I ran across two Mormon missionaries, "Elder Hart" and "Elder Siduoretti."  Both are 21 year-olds from the US who have been in Sweden for two years. We had a discussion with them about the differences between Mormon and classic Christian doctrine, particularly concerning the Gospel and the nature of God and Jesus Christ. We exchanged numbers with them at the end of our ride, hoping to follow up with each other later. They remarked to us how  it was a breath of fresh air for them to speak with us because we showed interest and were respectful.  Our meeting with Umberto was also pleasant.  But boy, does he have some crazy ideas!  Essentially, he believes in aliens, and that God is probably an alien himself. Kooky as he is, he is a very interesting, kind and laid back guy who has a very non-judgmental attitude. He also volunteered feedback to me about how I shared the Gospel with him.  (It was very positive, complimenting me on my respectful attitude.) I've agreed to look at the "research" he says he is going to show us about aliens, in exchange for his agreement to look at the expert opinions I send him.  Omid wonders what the point of meeting with him really was. Who knows but God. (I have since learned that his ideas bear resemblance to what is reportedly believed by Scientology).

It has been a great experience doing all this evangelism with Omid.  He is Swedish, he has a gift for apologetics, a lot of experience with evangelism, and he is a science teacher who can better answer some of the more scientific objections that are raised in response to us.  He is also very encouraging and has offered me good advice and feedback.

Tomorrow I will join two others from the church who go into the city center once a week to hand out tracts and partner with another larger church called Agape that does street preaching.  Omid assures me that it is a very good church.  He believes that it would be good for me to do this so that I can see how Swedes react to this, and because my identity as an "American visitor" will be an asset in approaching onlookers, in order to ask what they think about what they have been hearing and hopefully find opportunities to dig deeper with them.  Speaking with immigrants and handing them tracts is one thing.  But handing out tracts to Swedes who I know will be irritated by the preaching is another thing.  I'm not totally convinced I want to do this yet.  I'm willing to be a fool for Christ, but is it worth it in this case?  Is this method really effective for this post-Christian society, the most rapidly secularizing society in the world? I suppose the only way to find out is to give it a shot.