Today and tonight were awesome. So many people were talking about how great it was to be at the conference and feel like we are taking part in a really great conversation. There were so many stories and people who simply wanted to find a way to bring love and renewal to our communities. I also felt like the evening session was the reason I was supposed to come.
After lunch I sat in on Dwight Friesen’s session. It was a really great dialog (and I mean dialog) on finding common ground and conversation with those who are part of the traditional church. So much of what we do is deal with the tension of deconstruction, but Dwight was passionate about finding ways to be agents of renewal, especially those who came before us. He brought a great point about Derrida, who wanted to ultimately find beauty and grace in deconstruction, and ultimate find something constructive. He expressed what I thought was a brilliant point – We are called to honor our fathers. Dwight doesn’t lead from a deposit model of communication. For the first 65 of his 70 minute session all he did was ask questions and create dialog. He commented a lot on what was said but it was really driven by what we wanted to talk about and were feeling. He challenged all of us to be creative constructionists by learning to dance in the rhythm of grace.
My ankle was killing me so I didn’t get a chance to go on the afternoon walks. I’m bummed because the stories that were told were absolutely incredible. I’m not kidding. The one that stood out to me, and I’m gonna try and track this guy down to get the exact words, was a small group that walked into a store. Inside was a guy that apparently looked just like the American version of Jesus, hair and all. They struck up a conversation and the guy said, “they looked just like Christians.” But then he said, (and know I’m paraphrasing) “Now I know I have to watch out for my rights.” Everyone in the audience was stunned. The guy apparently was not a Christian and said that we have to find a way to move past the oppressive way show up in culture. (I’m not doing it justice). It kind of felt like this small group was wondering if this really was Jesus and if he was a prophet.
In the evening session, Shane Claiborne from The Simple Way told stories about being love in an intentional community way. It’s hard not to love Shane because he’s very humble and just wants to love. He talked a little bit about his new book, Jesus for President. I got to ask him about losing his community in the fire and how he found love in the midst of that. His response was really cool. He said, “This year I found out what it was like to be just like the people I’ve been serving. I was homeless and they supported me.”
And the moment that I would have paid a thousand dollars to show up for was during the question and answer session. About half way through a guy stood up and said, “I’m a Palestinian Muslim. But I like what you are doing so I wanted to come and listen.” This is why Shane is so powerful. He’s not getting stuck in orthodoxy and all the squabbles that come with that game. He’s just practicing love. Well done Shane.
I uploaded some more pictures from the sessions here.
Shane Claiborne during his talk.
Jonathan Neufeld leading the stories from the afternoon walk.
Missio Dei 