I haven’t blogged much lately, as I have been busy creating a dance for the song “Mary Did You Know” by Kathy Mattea for my Modern Dance class, plus I have been sick since Thanksgiving night with a cold. Feeling a little better, and needing to rest still anyway, I thought I’d better take the opportunity to write again.

By the way, do you like the new look? I wanted something easier to read, and this is my favorite one. I use it on my other blog, but I have been inactive there for so long I decided to switch it to this one.

I just finished reading “Velvet Elvis” by Rob Bell. Actually, a couple years ago, David read most of it to me as he was reading through it for the first time. He was so excited!! I caught most of it then. But I just sat down and read it for myself, and it blew me away in classic Rob Bell style. I could blog about the book for months, but I really just want to touch on this one thing. I want to talk about “Christian” as being a noun, not an adjective. A friend on facebook reminded me that it is both, and I agree. But I want to focus on this point Rob made about using it as an adjective in destructive ways, and acknowledging God and truth in contexts which have not been designated “Christian”.

We tend to talk about God as if he is missing from us until we find him. We watched the movie “New in Town” on DVD the other day, and at one point one character asks the other if she’s found Jesus yet. The other answers timelessly, “I didn’t know he was missing,” laughing heartily. The lady who had asked was not amused. Of course, we were. But God is not hiding from us or inaccessible to us or away from us in any way. He is right here, all around us, with us always. It is we who hide.

Not only that, but truth is everywhere, whether a Christian somewhere has affirmed it or not. And if a thing is true, we can claim it for ourselves. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says “All things are yours,… and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” Rob Bell follows this up with, “It all belongs to God, and Christ is of God, and you are of Christ, so … it’s all yours… If it is true, if it is beautiful, if it is honorable, if it is right, then claim it. Because it is from God. And you belong to God.” He then quotes philosopher Arthur Holmes as saying, “All truth is God’s truth.” He follows this with, “So as a Christian, I am free to claim the good, the true, the holy, wherever and whenever I find it. I live with the understanding that truth is bigger than any religion and the world is God’s and everything in it…. Why would we ever be surprised when truth turns up in strange places?”

Bell next discusses the dilemma many experience when they go to university, and discover truth outside of their Christian tradition. But it shouldn’t be a dilemma at all, since Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, the life.” So when we find truth outside of our tradition, it shouldn’t challenge our faith. It should expand it. “To be a Christian is to claim truth wherever you find it,” Bell says.

What’s the point? The point is that we often slap the “Christian” label on things that are not true and good, and, on the flip side, we negate other things that are true and good by avoiding them for their lack of the adjective “Christian” being attached. Labels can be good and useful, but ultimately they fail when it comes to God because he is so much bigger than all of them. And if we are to test things to see if they are good, as Paul urges us, then that means wrestling with things for ourselves, not just going along with others’ interpretations blindly. We should know how to think, not just what to think. Much of the Bible is about sorting through light and dark and distinguishing between them.

This all brings me back to the earlier point that God is everywhere, and accessible to everyone. Imagine if missionaries were in fact bringing God to people who did not previously have him at all. What a burden to bear. We couldn’t possibly carry him. Yet we don’t need to. He is already there. Our job is to show people God. Show them his love, his grace, his compassion, his devotion. This allows us to affirm the truth in their lives, and to affirm the experiences they have had with God in their lives, without trying to take it from them because it was not “Christian”. Or because they were not “Christian”.

Later in the book, Bell says this:

…it is so toxic for the gospel when Christians picket and boycott and complain about how bad the world is. This behavior doesn’t help. It makes it worse. It isn’t the kind of voice Jesus wants his followers to have in the world. Why blame the dark for being dark? It is far more helpful to ask why the light isn’t as bright as it could be.

Let us be a bright light in the world, one of hope, and peace, and reconciliation; not of division and exclusion. Let us live in the way of Jesus, whatever it entails, and live so freely the way we were meant to. Lord, that you would break the chains that bind us, that we might fully live into your Kingdom, and share it with others.

Ken Silva, creator of Apprising Ministries (ministry formed in response to the Great Emergence, which he believes to be unChristian), needs to receive some lovin’ from those of us he deems to be heretics. I think Jonathan Brink said it well in his recent post “We Love You Ken Silva”. This does not come naturally for me, as I am usually one who will supply a quick-witted response who challenges me, but I believe Christians are to known by our love – our love for God, and our love for others. I have never been challenged by Ken directly, and for that matter, the only thing he ever said directly to me was gentle and kind. So I feel particularly inclined to show this love to Ken. I have to admit, though, that he has frustrated me with his ministry and comments on his website, and slander of my friends. Actually, anything I read by him other than his one gracious comment on my humble blog, greatly angers me and hurts me and looks very unlovely and …. But what will I do with that?

I remember the day I met Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones. I had been listening to the critics of EC and was becoming convinced that it was really scary. But I knew I had to find out for myself. I “met” Tony by going to his blog and asking him very directly about the rumors I found most disturbing. I was glad to find out that much of what was being said was taken out of context and was, in fact, not true. I was shocked, in fact, to later discover that the most heinous rumors about him were created by chopping up bits and pieces of his book, The Sacred Way, and putting them together to make it sound like he worships small statues he keeps in his pocket. Anyway, the day I actually met Doug and Tony, in person, is a day I will never forget for many reasons. But I have heard Doug’s exhortation to me echo in my soul many, many times over since: When they slander and lie and hurt us we must respond not in kind, but in love. He didn’t use those words, his were way better, almost poetic. And as deep cries out to deep, I could feel the Holy Spirit in this gentle giant as he looked into my eyes and encouraged me to forge ahead in my pursuit of Jesus, showing compassion and mercy to those who would seek to hurt me. I am hearing that message again through Jonathan, and it is so difficult, yet so touching, for me to hear it that I am posting here all about it!

Here’s where I struggle though: I live with this fear that if I do not correct others when they slander someone then bad things will happen. For instance, when I found out that the idol-worshiping rumor was not true about Tony, I launched into this campaign among my friends to show them the truth about him, but they wouldn’t listen to me because I had already declared myself a friend to him. So I panicked, thinking that more and more people would buy into the lie, and then this movement of God might not reach people who are so desperate for change in their lives. I kinda got hell-bent for a while (very punny, huh?) trying to convince my friends that EC was really a move of God. The harder I tried to show them what I had found the faster they ran in the other direction. They had been told that they might be deceived by Satan like I had been so they closed their ears to me and treated me as though I had joined a cult. Thankfully, I have settled into the realization that they won’t be shown, and our conversations no longer steer in that direction. I say thankfully only because of the destructive nature of quarrels, but on the inside it still irks me that I was not a reliable source to them.

Which brings me back to people like Ken Silva, who make it their life’s work, it seems, to bring other people’s ministries down. I want to fight, to respond in kind, to scream and shout if I have to, to make them stop hurting people and telling lies about people I care very much about. I want to make them unite and move forward in God’s redemptive plan for this world and its people, rather than continue to bring division and discord. That is what I want to do. But I feel like Jesus is ever-pressing me to trust in him to do his will, and to be a participant in it whatever the cost. I feel like he is telling me not to fear, reminding me that I am not responsible for the saving of the world – but rather an active member of a body of believers who are at work in this world bringing his grace, mercy, peace and love to the lives of others. And how am I to bring his love to the lives of others? By insisting that I am right? Or by turning the other cheek and walking red-faced through this world; humbly serving others and loving them as myself?

Go here for a video put together by the good folks at Sparkhouse of some of the presenters and participants at Christianity 21.

I don’t know how to describe what happened today other than to say ‘Holy’. Today was Holy.

As far as the ‘what happened?’ goes, Doug and Tony spoke briefly and then we thanked all of the individuals who helped make the weekend happen. Then after a song from Heatherlyn (who had one of the best quotes of the day with “Each and every one of us is God’s gift to the world.”), the remaining presenters each took a section of the room, and all of us went to the person we were most interesting in talking to some more and spent about 20 minutes chatting. Then everyone got a chance at the microphone and got to say what the event did for them or what they think we should do from here. We closed then with a time of prayer and music.

Now the thanking people is normally somewhat dry and boring, but not today. You could literally feel the gratitude in the room. Several people from the “audience” jumped in to say thank-you in the their own ways as well. It didn’t feel obligatory in the slightest; there was a real sense that something significant had just happened, and that we were acknowledging the people who make that something significant possible.

The conversation with the presenters was awesome as well. The event was so rapid-fire, it was a needed opportunity to sit down with one of them and get to talk more at length and ask more questions.

Then we all got a chance to share thoughts with everyone else, and it was powerful. Again, the immense sense of gratitude for being able to be a part of this experience was overwhelming. I had 2 favorite moments amidst all the comments. The first came when a lady, probably middle-aged, got the mic, and her hand was just shaking terribly. The weight of what she needed to say was just overwhelming. Then she said, “This is the new Pentecost.” This is a new revelation of God’s Spirit. This is God doing a new thing. This is new life being born once again.

The second came when an elderly gentleman is a suit got the mic. I don’t have the exact words, but it was along the lines of, “I didn’t know it, but my soul and my spirit have been waiting for this moment for the last 38 years. I always wanted to go to Heaven when I was 75. My password on my computer is Heaven75. It didn’t happen and I’ve lived four years past then, and now I know why. I got to live long enough to see this dream of mine come alive.” I’m not doing it anything like justice right now; several of us were literally holding back tears.

Nanette Sawyer then got to mention how powerful it was for her to see a group of women doing this. There were certainly men behind the event, but all the teaching, all the preaching, all the messages were the voices of women. And they blew all of us away.

Tony Jones then got the mic for a minute and said he’s heard a number of folks talking about what a powerful experience this was, but confused as to whether or not they would be accepted back in their home contexts, whether this kind of open, accepting, and inviting Christianity would work where they were from. He asked us to look around and feel the courage in the room. And it really was in some sense tangible. He sent us off, along with Doug, encouraging us to take that courage and not live in nostalgia for this experience, or try to recreate it again somehow, but to go forth, create, experiment, do something new wherever we are. We then took 42 seconds in silent prayer, and again I was literally holding back tears. No one said a word, but God was so overpowering in those 42 seconds. It was almost a commissioning without words. We wanted to do a new thing and expand the Kingdom of God in the world, and God was so present and so “with-us” right there, right now. Then one of the attenders named Melody, a lady I had joined for dinner the night before, helped lead us in a song, “We have a song to sing, a song about courage.” Then after one more prayer we were done. I chatted with a few more folks for awhile, including Jay Bakker again, and then I left, and it was done.

The event anyway was done. The impact on the lives of those who were there, however, is only just beginning. And I can’t even begin to imagine what that will look like.

So after the sessions were over, some people went home, others went to one of two restaurants nearby for dinner. I went to one called McCoy’s and had a wonderful dinner with 5 other participants, 3 of which were from Canada. It was a great conversation, with everything from sharing our stories, communal living, rules of life, self-centered preaching, the prosperity gospel, the myth of a Christian America, etc. I loved it. I stayed for about 3 hours and then decided it was time to come home.

I’m not sure I have much to add yet from my closing thoughts yesterday. Many of the presentations are still rattling around in my brain, and I’m sure I’ll have clearer thoughts on them eventually. They were very thought-provoking, and I loved them all. But I think I’m even more convinced that what we’re doing is good, is powerful, and just feels like the Body of Christ should.

Tomorrow the final session will be from 1-3 I believe. It sounds like that was still being put together today, so I’m not sure what it will entail, but I’ll blog whatever I can while its going on.

And now we’re gonna start the 6th session, the last of the day. It’s been another great day so far. I think I probably made better connections yesterday than today, but both have been really wonderful. I feel like I’m reawakening my love for God, love for the church, and for others by being here.

And Alyce is up again, I think for the last time. Only now she’s not doing the skit, but just talking.

“We are a culture, a people, a church, and individuals that have a lot of knowledge … but we are a people who lack wisdom.” -Alyce

She’s talking about the Wisdom Books, how now should we live. It’s sort of a summary of the point of the skits.

4 Virtues:
Bended Knee
Listening Heart
Cool Spirit
Subversive Voice

Now Denise Van Eck, Makeesha Fisher, Lisa Domke, and Carla Barnhill are doing something called an “Ignite” presentation. It’s 5 minutes rapid fire, with 20 slides, 15 seconds a slide. Then there’s discussion of all four together right afterwords.

First is Denise. She wants a church that’s “ready to go tribal. People belong because, they belong.” Instead of trying to define who belongs and who doesn’t, “what can we do together because we belong?” The world is getting more complex and more connected. We have more and more rapid fire friendships, rather than deep, long-lasting connections. She got together with a group of folks who had struggled with church, and they decided to call themselves a tribe. It seemed to be the most fitting word. We’re formed by being truly present to one another, something you see in a tribe. They do all of life together. “Church is about connecting to my tribe!”

Now it’s Makeesha’s turn. She’s focusing on doubt. “We would rather have certainity than to have doubt. It’s safer; it’s more comfortable.”

“The opposite of faith is not doubt but certainity.”

“We’re not called to be people of certainity … We feel like there’s this nihilistic no-man’s land that we enter into when we feel doubt.”

“It was a cultural shift during the Cold War that caused us to fear doubt.”

“Doubt is what drives us to God.”

“We must embrace the profound reality that we are people of doubt who have beliefs rather than people of faith who have doubts.”

Now it’s Lisa on Us vs. Them.

“We can’t exist with these kind of categories anymore.”

“The world has fallen apart, there’s a lot of working to do, and maybe the energy we spent judging each other could be spent working together.”

There is a difference between seeing and naming differences and creating a hierarchy where we usually come out as the superior class of people.

“Would we want to be viewed by our neighbor as an other, a convert, a target .. someone to be reached.”

She just said “I will quote ‘The McLaren.’” Love it!!

Religious pluralism notices and explores differences to deepen one’s own faith.

“We rise or fall together; we sink or swim together.”

“No more us and them, just love your neighbor, then love some more, then love some more.”

Carla’s up now on loneliness. People come into communities of faiths hoping to find connection with other people.

Church is not primarily a place to find friends, but to find purpose.

“We don’t need more friends, we need our lives to matter.”

“We feel like just one in a crowd, whose life doesn’t really matter.”

Profiling the Blue Man Group, where the audience participates in the show. “It doesn’t matter if you’re an insider or an outsider, the fact that you showed up makes all the difference.”

We create something new when a new person walks in the door.

We need to move forward together into the work that God has in the world.

Whew! That was fast, and I loved it. They’re gonna be back in a minute to discuss. Now Heatherlyn is playing. Her voice is ridiculous!

“By tribe, I’m not trying to find another word for small group.” -Denise

“People are looking for places in life where they have a natural connection or withness.” -Denise

We need to let go of the institutionalism to become more tribal. -Denise

There’s a way to form identity without having to be oppositional or against the other. -Lisa

We need to hear everybody’s story, not just from ‘The McLaren.’ – Makeesha

Makeesha is sharing her story now, starting with a form of Pentecostalism that was very certain and rigid, leading to her being called a heretic and kicked out of ministry.

“We cannot actually have faith unless we have doubt with it.” -Makeesha

“We’ve set up expectations for people in community that cannot be met.” – Denise

Tribes aren’t the promise that these are going to be your ‘best friends’ for the rest of your life.

“Churches aren’t gonna be Match.com. The point isn’t for you to come in and make a new best friend.” -Carla

Carla – Purpose-Driven life tapping into desire for meaning and purpose. The title sold the book; it almost didn’t matter what was inside.

A lot of our loneliness comes from a sense that our life is meaningless and has no purpose.

“God is up to something, and I want to be part of that.” -Carla

“People get really freaked out when you start using words like pluralism.” – Makeesha

“Conservative evangelicals don’t do pluralism.” -Lisa

“[Pluralism] is a concept, but its always about relationship. It’s pretty easy to exclude people when they’re just a concept or an idea.” -Lisa

“Holiness is marked by profound joy.” -Lisa

“The Muslim, the Jew, the seeker, and the athiest are all loved by God and are part of God’s tribe writ large.” -Lisa

Can form tribes by choosing to belong together, not necessarily common beliefs. – Denise

Someone just quoted Jeremiah Wright, “Different is not deficient.”

The other for some of us may be other Christians. -Lisa

Now Heatherlyn’s up again, and then I think we’re splitting for dinner.

Lunch was delicious! Chef Shack got their generator working, so we had pulled pork or bison burgers. I went and joined Shane Clairborne and his friend Dee Dee for a discussion of their new magazine Conspire. Got to meet some other attendees and had some great chat.

Now the next session should be starting, and it looks like Danielle Shroyer will be going first. I’m very, very excited for her presentation. Like I mentioned yesterday, her book The Boundary-Breaking God is excellent. It keeps the main thing the main thing and does so with beautiful and poetic writing.

She’s telling stories now of when she was a kid, and the imagination children have.

“Children know that the world is a wonderful place, full of magic and adventure.” – Danielle

“There’s something centrally human about the desire to live in a story that’s going somewhere.” -Danielle

“I fear we’ve taken magic out of our worlds, our jobs, our everyday conversations.” -Danielle

With all the crises in the world, we need a story that’s going somewhere else, and not just any story, but a story going somewhere wonderful.

“No one wants to ride a magic carpet if its going to a board meeting.” -Danielle

“We’ve forgotten that we live in a world that is primed for adventure.” -Danielle

“God’s story is a cosmic fireworks explosion … on an outward bound tragectory in every possible direction.” -Danielle

“The further we travel into the story of God, the more we see light expanding outward.” -Danielle

“We are ALWAYS a hoping people, because we are always hoping in the promise, and hoping in the one who promised it.” – Danielle

“We know who God is because of the promises God has made.” -Danielle

“Promises that are not only about you and not only about me but about everyone, everywhere.” – Danielle

“The further along the story goes, the more boundaries God seems to break.” -Danielle

“God will not stop until all of creation is made anew.” -Danielle

“We need the boundary-breaking God to help us push against the shrinking walls of fear and violence.” -Danielle

“Religious history draws inward. It’s constantly drawing lines, orthodox and heresy, in and out, saved and unsaved. Yet God is constantly moving outward to the day when God will be all in all. It’s worth thinking about which way we’re heading.” -Danielle

“I wonder what we would do if we didn’t think our hope would run out.” -Danielle

Danielle killed it! That was fantastic! God’s story is a story of hope, constantly breaking all our boundaries and walls. No boundary we set up for others or within ourselves is going to stop God.

Alyce is up again, on self-preservation or self-protection.

“Don’t stand out, don’t come out, don’t stand up, don’t speak out.” – Alyce

“Self-protection is making me numb.” -Alyce

She has courage symbolized with a mirror. “It might help you remember who you are.”

Sally Morgenthaler is on now, and has a bunch of folks with their cell phones playing their ringtones into the microphone. That was very fun, if random! I’m curious where she’s going with it.

“Like a strand of DNA, each part contains the whole. The whole is not the sum of its parts, but is reflected in the parts. The Creator infused every part, each part reflecting its creator. God as whole, in, through, under, around, everything, everywhere, all the time.” – Sally

“Jesus found God hitched to a leper, a tax con-man, a prostitute, a thief, a sick woman, a dead relative.” -Sally

“If God is with us, what is the kingdom? Is the kingdom everywhere God is? Or just select places, select situations. God saw everything he had made and it was very good. Everywhere, every part sacred. A God-saturated world. A God-connected world. Each part, presencing the whole. Each part, presencing God.”

“A cell that loses its sense of the whole organism forgets what its supposed to do and begins to divide blindly, threatening the life of the entire body, a state otherwise known as cancer.” -Sally

“Kingdom is not a membership, but a way of seeing. The recognition that each one of us is here to presence the whole. Like the mustart seed presences the entire tree. Remembering who are are and what we’re here to do, fully aware and available to do kingdom work.” -Sally

“Now imagine that born-again means seeing the whole and reflecting it, just so that those who think they are the kingdom don’t become a cancer.” -Sally

Sally was interesting! She said scales are like a world, and the way we sing reflects the scale, or the way we see the world. See yourself as a part presencing the whole, God.

Shauna’s going again! “Consider that your own silence may be part of the problem. If you’ve been longing to hear a new language for faith, may I suggest you start singing.”

“Only I can tell my story, and only you can tell yours. And your story must be told.” -Shauna

Jeanne Stevens is now going, talking about humility and ambition.

Can we find a way to combine the beauty of humility with ambition? Humbitious?

False ambition usually stems from an inner wound that gets overcompensated with a drive for success.

She’s telling a story of being kicked out of an expository preaching class because she was a women. She was told she could take “Message Prep for Women”. She became ambitious as a result, something which was harmful for me.

There’s false humility too, never speaking up, staying in the corner, not sure their opinion matters. People who give up their own dreams because they’re convinced other people’s dreams must come first.

“Jesus was humbitious in every way.” -Jeanne

We’re taking a quick 30 minute break now. Then we’ll be back for another session. There’s so much good stuff here; I’m loving it!

We’re about to start the 4th session here shortly. I only slept for about 4 hours last night, so I’m a little tired. I was too excited for sleep yesterday. Hopefully I’ll be fully awake here soon.

Julie Clawson and Kelly Bean are tag-teaming their sessions, like Nadia and Phyllis did yesterday.

Kelly’s focusing on the power of small, sustainable, and nimble faith communities. She’s run a little church out of her home for 23 years, and its grown and changed and adapted.

“There’s nothing wrong with building community for a season.” -Kelly

She finds the church is working because they are willing to stop. Dropping expectations and doing less leads to something much, much better.

“Real life, in all its glory and mess, is inevitable, and one of our best teachers.” -Kelly

Now Julie’s focusing on the stuff in her book, Everyday Justice. How do the things we buy help support justice, or injustice?

“There has to be doable, everyday ways to subvert injustice.” -Julie

That wraps up their first part, they’ll be back later for Part 2. They’re being followed now by Compassion International. Such a great anti-poverty organization.

Now Julie and Kelly are back.

Nearly 1 in 9 Americans are on food stamps. 1 in 9! I had no idea.

Kelly’s calling all Christians to practice “doability,” encouraging people to simplify and become more adaptable.

Julie is encouraging people to care about how the things they buy were made. Instead of buying chocolate, most of which is tainted by slavery and child labor, buy slave-free chocolate.

Be an activist with the companies and the government. Write letters, shop differently, cut back, subvert the system.

Kelly’s going through meeting time changes in her church due to family dynamics. My tiredness is starting to set in I think. This part is tougher for me to engage I think because I’m a single guy without any kids – I haven’t had to deal with any of this stuff.

Decided to lead by triad, 3 people from the community working together to plan and organize the event. Brought everyone’s giftedness to the table.

They wrapped that up, now we’re getting more music for Heatherlyn. I’m hoping its upbeat to give me some more energy.

And it was! Very loving, large, hopeful and beautiful! Definitely what was needed!

Alyce is back again, on self-indulgence, and replacing it with self-control. This one was pretty funny too!

Now its Debbie Blue! She’s discussing the incarnation, how unlikely it is for God to have a body, to have lived in his mother’s womb, had armpit hair, etc.

“He had an anus. It sounds like something a junior high boy would come up with.” -Debbie

“God reveals himself most fully as a human. A living, vulnerable being.” -Debbie

“Power and Purity, and Body and the Blood, don’t sit that well together.” -Debbie

“You only have to see roadkill once or twice before you start to develop gnostic tendencies.” -Debbie

“The disembodied soul seems comforting in the face of the disembowled.” -Debbie

The story of the Bible isn’t about God helping us escape the world and escape physicality. It’s about the God who created it.

“We keep prefering the immaterial idea to the material.” -Debbie

“We’re often not that patient with our bodies, or generous or kind.” – Debbie

“The flesh isn’t something dark, lurking around to entrap us. It’s who we are.” -Debbie

And Debbie was the final speaker for this session. It was interesting, kind of odd and trippy, but good. Now we’re going to lunch. Although our lunch folks’ generator is broken, so it’s sort of in flux in the moment. Guess we’ll see what happens!

Just made it back to the church at 9 in the morning. It’s freezing cold out, and there’s snow. Yes, snow.

Diana Butler Bass is opening the morning session. She has a Ph.D in church history, and wrote A People’s History of Christianity, which is you haven’t read it is very enlightening.

“Christianity in the 21st century depends entirely on what happened in the 20 centuries previously.” – Diana

“History guides our actions. The best predictor of future action is how people have behaved in the past.” – Diana

There are many similarities between our times today and other times in our past. Some similarities with ancient Rome, the Reformation, the Middle Ages, and 18th century.

“History is the basis for wholeness.” -Diana

“History is to a country what memory is to an individual.” -Diana, quoting Jon Meachum (sp)

She says we are losing our memory, and therefore losing our ability to learn from history, or to remember the great treasures of our past.

“History is the basis for change.” -Diana

“People who know history are not afraid of change. We’ve seen it all before.” -Diana

She said we have forgotten our Christian history in America, and the void has been filled by the religious right, who created a revisionist Christian history in its place.

Alyce is resuming her skit from yesterday again, this time on self-absorption. Fairly self-explanatory this time around – focus on other people’s needs instead of your own.

Now Elaine Heath is speaking, who wrote The Mystic Way of Evangelism. She seems to be focusing on missional ecclesiology and contemplative spirituality. She saw some of her former students here earlier, so she invited them on stage to share their stories. A lot of them seem to be centered on living with a common “Rule of Life,” some practices to keep them grounded and focused.

She says when she introduces the idea of living communally, the first questions she usually gets asked are who gets the buildings and who gets the money, rather than questions on what practices of prayer or life that make this possible.

A singer named Heatherlyn is going to perform. I’ve heard her once before, and I loved her voice.

Not disappointed at all. She’s fantastic! It will be even better later today I think when I’m more awake and alert.

Seth Donovan is closing out this session. She was one of the presenters I was most intrigued to hear from.

“I need a place in this world where I can be wrong.” -Seth

“This world is kind of a fucked up place for someone who doesn’t have a lot of power.” -Seth

She’s grabbing volunteers to be embodied sculptures symbolizing confession.

“Confessing a faith and standing boldly in it” – another aspect of confession

“Church needs to be a place that when I walk in, the most important thing isn’t whether I’m right but whether I’m loved.” -Seth

“That relationship doesn’t get to be taken away because I don’t have something figured out.” -Seth

“I’m asked to compartmentalize myself when I walk into most churches.” -Seth

“I need to be able to show up as a whole person, with a faith that has everything to do with the rest of my life.” -Seth

We all got together with partners and made our own human sculptures as to what confession looks like.

“What would it be like to show up at church and know, know you are loved, and are never asked to be right?”

Shauna Niequist is continuing her presentation again.

She says we all know how to preach in the conventional fashion. We’ve seen it a thousand times. We bring a distant, polished, fancy version of ourselves to church, not the raw and uncut version of our story.

“Please stop acting as if Pastors are the only ones with the right and the ability to tell God’s story.” – Shauna

And that finishes this session. We’re taking a quick 30 minute break now. Be back soon!

So that wrapped up the sessions for the day. Afterwords I spent some time talking to some of the attenders/participants, and then tracked down Jay Bakker to say hello. That was really great – he seems like a very genuine, authentic guy. No pretense or posing or arrogance, just a sense of ‘here I am.’

Today was a great, great day. I loved the presenters, even when I disagreed. Collectively, they were thought-provoking and very inspiring. I think what may have struck me the most was the atmosphere though. It’s a comforting feeling being with people all journeying after God together, but with no judgment. I didn’t have to hold my tongue, or wonder what the implications of this or that statement might be. Everyone was free to share whatever was on their mind, no matter how different or out of the norm or seemingly heretical some may have found it. It’s been a long time, way too long, since I’ve been in a religious environment that had the sense of openness and honesty and encouragement and acceptance that I felt today.

One of the folks I talked to at the end was the child of missionaries, but had been effectively chased out of the church by various people when they discovered how ‘radical’ she was. She said the emerging church conversation has given her the space to pursue Jesus again, without fear of condemnation from her peers. You could just see the excitement on her face, and she was so glad to be able to talk openly and honestly without having to worry that she would be asked to leave when it was over. This is what the Body of Christ is supposed to be. Different people with differing beliefs from different denominations and different walks of life, different races, different ages, different sexual orientations, together as one. Everyone is accepted exactly as they are, united not by a creed or an organizational structure but by a desire to pursue the dreams of God in the world.

Beautiful. Utterly, captivatingly, beautiful.