Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

indiefaith.org

stories that are mostly true, by a guy who has never been famous....

The Table

This post is part of the july synchroblog – an eclectic bunch of bloggers writing on the same topic.  This month is centered on the wild goose festival, a justice-arts-spirituality festival held the last week of june in North Carolina.  This synchroblog will include stories from the gathering as well as from those who couldn’t go, centered on what the wild goose (the celtic image of the Holy Spirit) is stirring up for us.  The links so far are at the bottom of this post, with more to come as they get posted. ********************************************************************************** I have spent the last few days sort of re-toxing if you will after being immersed in the beautiful care-free life of the Wild Goose for four days and three nights last week.  It was a wonderful experience that involved meeting new people and hearing good speakers talk about justice and about their most recent publications.  On top of that the music was just amazing.  I got to see Jennifer Knapp again realizing it had been 20 years since I saw her in concert and she was better this time, free-er and seemed much more sure of who she was.  I also saw Over the Rhine and Michelle Shocked and Billy Jonas, each of which blew me away in varying ways. 
Media_httpa6sphotosak_qgdix
If freedom of expression could be summed up into one event it would be the Wild Goose Festival.  When I read the description of the Goose initially on their website, the creators of this event seemed overly optimistic.  It was to be a place and time where folks from differing backgrounds in Christianity with very different ideas could come together under one tent (so to speak) – one activity, and have open dialogue about those differences. Now, when it comes down to it, as much as I might deny wearing any particular kind of label I do believe that those that like labels could easily categorize me into that of a left-leaning Christian.  Those are the nice people.  Many just call me a bleeding-heart liberal and some don’t bother to call me at all. There was nothing going on at the Goose that made me feel uncomfortable or challenged in my beliefs, but I imagined that if I were still a person that believed homosexuality was a sin I would have a lot of challenges at this event.  If I were someone who interpreted the Bible literally I would have something to say about this event, and if I were the kind of Christian that believed that marriage was between one man and one woman, I would have quite a few things to say about this open event that seemed to be representing my current view of things quite well. The Wild Goose for me has exposed something about me and my community and communities everywhere that want to claim to be open to all – that want to encourage open dialogue.  It has exposed the fact that maybe the only way to be open to all is to give folks from both sides of the argument the microphone.  Maybe the only way for us to be truly united is to allow the other to speak and be heard.
Media_httpfreechristi_lzbaz
I think that the ideals that the creators of this event sought after were plowed under by the fact that there were too many people just like me speaking and singing and leading, and not enough of the other.  Now that is not to say I did not get completely energized, empowered and inspired to continue doing what I do.  I loved the festival.  It was amazing.  But, if we are truly seeking after those open conversations with the other, truly, we have to make room for them, and I don’t think we did that very well.  And maybe again, this is more a reflection on the folks like me that attended this event and not on the creators of the event itself. Maybe it is time we just quit taking sides all together and just focus on being on the side of Jesus.  I am not saying that we should stop being activists or stop doing the sorts of things Jesus would do.  I am saying that we have to find some way to come to the same table together with those that would disagree with our ideas and our theologies and our platforms. They are not the enemy.  The people “standing up for ‘Godly’ marriage” are not the enemy of marriage equality, but the victims of marriage inequality just like the rest of us.  The real enemy is fear.  And guess what?  They are us.  We are them.  The enemy of a Jesus of love and compassion and acceptance is not the Conservative Christian who excludes those that are different, but exclusion itself.  The enemy of the poor, the naked and the outcast is not the Religious Right with its worship of the power and success of the Republican machine, but power and success itself. Our real enemies are gleefully standing by while polarization and prejudice, pride and politics (4 Ps) fight the war for us with all of us as the victims in those wars.  The real enemies always win while we end up bogged down in our own mire fighting a war of words for principles that will never be realized fully until we can all stand together against those very real enemies. This is what community has become for me, it is what a real family looks like.  Not a place where I can go to commiserate my deep felt opinions about the issues of the day with people who look, act and think just like me, but a hodge podge of people all coming together out of love and friendship and a real sense of family who have any number of passionate differences; all of us, together at the same table learning how to speak to one another and how to disagree lovingly.  All of us united together against the enemies of humanity --  division, exclusion, power, success and fear. My hope for the future of Wild Goose is that it too will become that table -- the table that we share with our ideological enemies and our real life friends (both of which being  the same) -- a place where we can all be one. But, if the Goose decides that it is just going to be a gathering of all sorts of crazy Christians like me from all over the country that come together to celebrate justice and spirituality and art and music in the woods somewhere, I will be there with my campsite and my favorite girl (Tammy).  Because frankly, I had the time of my life there and I would do it all over again if given the opportunity. ********************************************************************************* Other posts so far – thanks to Christine Sine for copying from Kathy Escobar who had both a great post and a ready-made list of fellow bloggers.
​