No, the above is not what happened right at the end of the last post, for between then and this I went into another building, met more people and sat through an orientation session, which covered things I already knew by having been involved with Bread, and a little bit of new about the national gathering. But the above sets the stage for several of the experiences of Saturday and Sunday, well except for the food, typically just water, tea, coffee… was there not the cheese and fruit…

In this room with tables draped with many colours, centerpieces with beans upon them, I found myself one of many. I found myself in a few ways transported to the wonderful experiences of my seminary past. For I sat in community at the table, with people of faith, engaging, growing, learning in it. The preacher for our opening worship was Rev.  Dr. Frank Thomas. When I heard his name my mind went “why do I know him” and then I realized, he was the author of one of my seminary texts for one of the homiletics courses I took. They Like to Never Quit Praisin’ God: The Role of Celebration in Preaching still resides within my collection of books. The scripture text for his sermon was Matthew 6:11 “Give us this day our daily bread.” As he proclaimed the good news, as he expounded upon this text, he and the Spirit with him brought forth passion and inspiration, new insight and awareness, along with old.  As he explored the manna, talked of Moses and the people, about today and the needs of this world.  As he talked about the sharing with all and the non hording of food. Talk of the need to ask of the holy, not expect, not demand… many were moved.  As he preached and proclaimed the good news, as he challenged us, as he spoke of being prophetic as speaking truth to those in power AND truth to those denied power. He spoke of how it is US not me, not you not some of us, but all of us… (I wish I wrote this early and thus express more clearly his words than now several weeks out I can). It was a wonderful and powerful experience, as as Rev. Thomas spoke and I quoted him in a tweet saying “Capitalism deserves to be critiqued… [it] will never end poverty” I learned my friend from seminary had arrived as was present in the arena for she tweeted at about the same time: "capitalism will never end poverty" and that the faith community must humanize capitalism.

That’s all for an in-depth reflection I shall give of the services and sessions of Saturday, we had another one where the David Beckman, president of Bread for the World spoke, and also we spent time in regional groups (the reason for the coloured tables). Good things were said, I learned things, but I was also starting to wear down a bit after being up so long with so little sleep… It was after the Opening Worship as I was leaving the area to head out to dinner in another building I encountered my friend in seminary, we shared in conversation, meal often in the next few days… It was good to have a companion at the event that saw with eyes opened from a view similar yet different than my own, to digest and process all that streamed into my head that weekend.

At the close of the final plenary we went to “The tavern” for social time, an odd name for a place on a dry campus, and then with a few young college students we took a risky drive on a golf cart and walked around a Methodist seminary next to the Methodist University we were at. A Lutheran and a Community of Christ person, who had gone to a different Methodist Seminary now here one another one (which I think was not as nice of a campus, and much smaller than the one we had gone to). Then finally after all the explorations, I would find my self back at the dorm, my room, and to my surprise my roommate still not present… he never did show… and sleep finally arrived over 34 hours since I had awaken the morning before…

Till next time…

(sorry for the delay in these, I had meant to reflect on the whole gathering the week I had returned, but life sometimes makes one busy…)

Peace,

I  got onto the red line, counted stops again, though this time hearing the station announcements more clearly, got off, walk to the turnstile put in my fare card, and proceeded on out and up a very long escalator, and then a short walk to the corner and the awaiting university shuttle. As the shuttle made its way to American University, I met a few others who were also heading there for Bread’s national gathering and at one of the final turns I once again had brief flash backs of DR Cong… as the bus turned right, the driver honked and kept going right at a car, that was in the left turn lane, making the car back up, never slowing… not quite like the experiences in the Congo, but still when already thinking of the copper mine, brought back memories…

Soon, I would find myself checked into my dorm room for the next few days, and then into the gathering. Resources in a bag on my shoulder, name tag  hanging around my neck, and a very expensive key (if lost) in my pocket, I started to explore a bit, started to meet people, and started a energizing adventure, though one I wish there was no need for. An opportunity and experience that I am grateful and thankful for, but for a need I am extremely sad exits… hunger and poverty…

stay tuned for the next part…

Peace,

There are some problems with reading though… I haven’t been reading much beyond news stories and brief articles lately. Well, in preparation for sermons and other worship tasks I have found myself at least engaging a bit more in reading, but still not a lot. I’ve made steps to change this, including after many months of debates, and testimonies from trusted friends, the procurement of a Kindle. In the past week I have found myself reading a lot more. I’ve downloaded many free books, and bought one or two inexpensive ones. In the past week or so of having it I have found myself reading a bunch, reading the entirety of some works, in the middle of some, and read the samples to a few books that I decided against reading further, or putting aside for a future day. (I’ve been reading more in other forms as well..) I wasn’t so sure  about this endeavor and if it would truly help fill the need I had been craving to fill regarding reading. Would reading a book on an e-reader work for me. It isn’t my first experience with electronic books. Various articles, parts or entries of books have been read by my eyes upon computer screens over the years for school.

In the summer of 2004 I purchased by first e-book, somewhere I may have the file still. It was in Microsoft’s electronic reader format and I read it upon my pocket pc, it was a science fiction title and part of a series that I had been reading. The previous books in the series I got from the Kirtland Library, but this one they didn’t have. (I read a few books on that thing) It was okay, and I was able to get into the book, yet I must admit the e-ink screen and the larger screen of the Kindle is more enjoyable than the smaller screen of that pda, and navigation so much easier. It feels a lot closer to reading a real book, and I think it will pan out to be a good investment. Especially if after the “yeah I have this new to me thing I must use it” phase moves on. For I just can’t see myself not using it. (I guess if I get to a point where I read all the free books out there and don’t have funds to buy other books…). It’ll never completely replace  paper books for me… I now need both But it is so much better than any e-book reading experience I have ever had, and has a much more “book” feel to it…

There are a lot of things I think would be nice to have in e-book format that aren’t there right now. How wonderful would it be have a few multi volume biblical commentaries on it.. I love my hardbound commentaries and my paperback ones (well I have no full set, but I have several individual volumes), but I can’t easily take several volumes with me on a overnight hiking trip, while if they were available for on the Kindle I could hold up in my tent  (or next to it)  on the side of a volcano and read them for days on end..

Hmm, sounds all good. As you know I love reading BUT I’m also frustrated. why, because of a book I read. The book wasn’t one I normally would be drawn to but it was free, and was only a couple years old. (I was curious what type of recently written book would be free, it is the first of 3 in a series the others are not free so…) I started to read it and for the most part I thought it was going good. Well at least the first part was. Then in the last 1/4 – 1/3 or so of the book it went down hill. I had to keep reading as I found myself invested in the story and the characters, but well the quality of writing wasn’t as good, well it wasn’t consistent, it was like the author didn’t flush some things out, rushed to get some places, and also she started to throw in more religious elements… and the theology was often bad theology.  The ending of the story was rushed, and not flushed out, and very cheesy, cliché…. There were some okay things in the religious aspects, but a lot of it was just based on just plain bad theology. Some moral understandings that were drawn form the faith expressions were good (such as killing is wrong), but still the theology expressed and implied was for the most part bad… It made me frustrated, it made me angry at times. Perhaps more so is that I know that the theology expressed in places is popular, but it just isn’t good. I’m sure the author and others might argue with me, hey this stuff sells to the masses, but my theologically trained mind says “no”, my Community of Christ raised self says “no” this is not representative  of the peace of Christ, the eternal love of the Holy One… does not fully uplift the worth of all persons… 

But perhaps what made me the most frustrated, is in the description of the book no where does it mention it is a “religious themed” work, and in the first 1/2 or more there really is no clue, the mentions of faith etc. are things you might expect people of the time period and place to say and be part of their lives, it seems like a detail that is used to flush out and make the characters more realistic to the setting, and then wam, bam… and I don’t think some of the changes and the ways it goes about and is brought in fit with the characters, or with the period. Thus I had to force my self through the final chapters, frustrated by the bad theology expressed, the rapid changes in quality from one chapter to the next, and flipping back to the style of the first portion of the book… So I am frustrated… Had I known some of these things I probably wouldn’t have read the book… Now do I regret it, no for a large portion of it was entertaining… I just wished the author had flushed the book out more, and that the author had used better theology, and had used religion/faith in a way that fit more true to the rest of the book rather than the agenda that seemed to get pushed in a few chapters and didn’t flow… and have feelings similar to my own about this stuff… And that the marketing material of the book clearly expressed what type of book it was… rather than not mentioning it at all. It just amazes me that people express some of this stuff… even though I know a lot of people in the pew in many Christian traditions do embrace the type of stuff expressed in parts of this book, even if their tradition and/or their minsters don’t preach and teach it… and in part it gets promoted by works like this, actually I know the stuff in this is extremely tame compared to what I heard, read, seen  being expressed in some so called “Christian” fiction and “non fiction” out there… (My main issues perhaps is with the salvation theology expressed, and also some “it’s for the pest” “it’s part of a plan” that is not flushed out and they way it is left could devalue people and their experiences, their pain and suffering…

(I found the author’s web page and she expresses her writing in ways that makes it clear some expression and aspect of faith will be found in her writing… so it definitely was the marketing people who wrote up the blurb for the book that were misleading, maybe they just read the first part of the book…)

So yes, I love to read, but I am frustrated (I just finished the book before writing this), I’m looking forward to reading some old classics, and some non fiction stuff I have… If you have and books you think I should read, let me know. I’ll read just about anything… I may get frustrated by the quality of the writing… I may get frustrated by bad theology, but I still will enjoy reading.. Though I do prefer marking people being honest about the books…

Well time to sleep, so I get arise, work, and read tomorrow…

Peace

We were a group representing several  Christian faith traditions, represented a range of ages as well, but united with some common sense of calling of engaging the needs of the worlds, in particular with this group the issues of hunger and poverty. Though I am sure some of us share together desires for engaging in other aspects of social justice as well. As we shared together in formal and informal ways, I found myself filled with joy and wonder. Being with a group with a desire to engage and seek needed change to help address the issues from local to global. I found as well as I looked back over it, how wonderful it was once more to be in that ecumenical setting engaging one another, sharing one another. Diversity is wonderful, one Catholic there that I share in a few small groups with expressed a similar joy of engaging this issue of hunger in an ecumenical level. I look forward to what this group might be able to accomplish as we move forward and figgure out what it is we will do.

It also brought to my mind the wonders and joys I had in seminary as I gathered around tables with people of various traditions and we shared and grew together. Ecumenical community is amazing. I think perhaps one way to sum it up is to say, each tradition has its gifts and talents, all of which are needed to truly be the body of Christ and engage the issues of the World, so let us celebrate our diversity and recognize our interconnectedness and work together and with other faiths to heal the broken world we live in.

Peace,