my fish is still alive
Well
I am home. Listening to Sigur Ros/ Jose Gonzalez /Regina Spektor/ Joanna Newsom, and recuperating after trying to clean my office, my house, my mind.
Deconstructing Amsterdam
Since my last post I’ve mostly been in Amsterdam at the “Global Theology Conference.” It was an interesting experience. In order of joy-moments,
1. The people, the people [old & new friends]
1. The idea of reconciliation was brought up, developed and became a word-on-the-lips-for-this-moment.
2. The ‘up-all-night’ with Larry and Jamie, chatting and laughing
3. The ‘graduate student’ group experience
4. The Eucharist being celebrated [waitforit] not ONCE but TWICE
5. The small group idea [though somehow I missed the e-mail asking me to lead a small group, and therefore missed saying no, and therefore one of the worlds’ worst ‘small group facilitators’ ended up trying to facilitate one. Argh]
I am still ruminating on the overall experience. My perennial dilemma in being a Nazarene is the question of what that actually means. If there is a spectrum of thinking allowed, then I think I am on the Wesleyan end. What, you might ask, does that mean? It means a swimming pool not a font. The various potentials within a Wesleyan embrace allowing multi-faceted thinking and also permits a range of views to be held, and considered legitimate. The possibility of being allowed to think as a believer of the historical creeds and a postmodern questioner, the room for perspectives to be at the table, the ability to share story as something that genuinely matters… it’s all there.
Things I wasn’t comfortable with [does that matter? Comfort and theology have never been good bedfellows, I don’t think]:
I didn’t think it was a joined-up-thinking conference. The summative papers were great, but somehow I was left wanting …
The maleness of it – though it makes for wonderfully few queues at the ladies’ loo, it was still very masculine, from the first platform, right the way through to the conveners of the ‘discussions’
The lack of ability for presenters to respond to their respondents… The conversation was limited [perhaps I am just speaking for myself…]
Several people seemed to hint that this was a more gracious conference than the Guatemala experience [a lot of you will be clueless as to what I mean, but there we are] which was tense. True. One of the reasons for that was that the sharp, edgy, outsidethebox thinkers are now, well, outside the box. I found that a point of grief. AND, I guess it makes me inside the box as well, which I don’t really like.
Funny things:
A man-who-shall-remain-nameless said to me 'well done, gal.' hmmm. [was that a cross-cultural experience?!]
Another man said 'you're likeable on the platform' [code which became relatively clear in the rest of the conversation] but your paper was pretty crap...!
I accidentally [really] ordered a drink with alcohol when I was out with a group of Southern Nazbo's. I don't know if they noticed, but I did have thought bubbles going on over their heads about 'Europeans'
Longsight
Well, I’m back at the Community Church of the Nazarene Longsight. It was so lovely to see friends/family again, and people who know my name. We celebrated the Resurrection at the Ancient-Future service [with some quite comical moments thrown in, ah, to be home], and then had Church@4, which was even more, well, chaotic.
Levenshulme
My overwhelming sense of being at home was probably summarised by the litter, watching a drug deal go down with a mum using her pram [complete with baby] as the drop-point, and a 4x4 mow down a pedestrian and smash them into the door frame of TopKapi a local takeaway. So, welcome back.
Actually, I had forgotten that Levenshulme was so deprived. It is probably because I was in the gloriously litter free Lowlands, preceded by the relatively clean Kansas City, that the culture-shock of it all struck me.
Fortunately, Andrew and I have been able to go walking, and [since I gave myself Easter Week off] we’ve been at the allotment daily. Planting, thinking, talking - hoping for answers to questions we are still trying to articulate.
Anyway, a lot is happening in my head, so who knows what will happen, in the meantime…
I’ve started reading Madelaine L’Engle as a devotional writer again. Her writing moves me. And I’ve gotten Andrew totally and utterly hooked on Anne Lamott! I consider that a triumph of good taste.
I am home. Listening to Sigur Ros/ Jose Gonzalez /Regina Spektor/ Joanna Newsom, and recuperating after trying to clean my office, my house, my mind.
Deconstructing Amsterdam
Since my last post I’ve mostly been in Amsterdam at the “Global Theology Conference.” It was an interesting experience. In order of joy-moments,
1. The people, the people [old & new friends]
1. The idea of reconciliation was brought up, developed and became a word-on-the-lips-for-this-moment.
2. The ‘up-all-night’ with Larry and Jamie, chatting and laughing
3. The ‘graduate student’ group experience
4. The Eucharist being celebrated [waitforit] not ONCE but TWICE
5. The small group idea [though somehow I missed the e-mail asking me to lead a small group, and therefore missed saying no, and therefore one of the worlds’ worst ‘small group facilitators’ ended up trying to facilitate one. Argh]
I am still ruminating on the overall experience. My perennial dilemma in being a Nazarene is the question of what that actually means. If there is a spectrum of thinking allowed, then I think I am on the Wesleyan end. What, you might ask, does that mean? It means a swimming pool not a font. The various potentials within a Wesleyan embrace allowing multi-faceted thinking and also permits a range of views to be held, and considered legitimate. The possibility of being allowed to think as a believer of the historical creeds and a postmodern questioner, the room for perspectives to be at the table, the ability to share story as something that genuinely matters… it’s all there.
Things I wasn’t comfortable with [does that matter? Comfort and theology have never been good bedfellows, I don’t think]:
I didn’t think it was a joined-up-thinking conference. The summative papers were great, but somehow I was left wanting …
The maleness of it – though it makes for wonderfully few queues at the ladies’ loo, it was still very masculine, from the first platform, right the way through to the conveners of the ‘discussions’
The lack of ability for presenters to respond to their respondents… The conversation was limited [perhaps I am just speaking for myself…]
Several people seemed to hint that this was a more gracious conference than the Guatemala experience [a lot of you will be clueless as to what I mean, but there we are] which was tense. True. One of the reasons for that was that the sharp, edgy, outsidethebox thinkers are now, well, outside the box. I found that a point of grief. AND, I guess it makes me inside the box as well, which I don’t really like.
Funny things:
A man-who-shall-remain-nameless said to me 'well done, gal.' hmmm. [was that a cross-cultural experience?!]
Another man said 'you're likeable on the platform' [code which became relatively clear in the rest of the conversation] but your paper was pretty crap...!
I accidentally [really] ordered a drink with alcohol when I was out with a group of Southern Nazbo's. I don't know if they noticed, but I did have thought bubbles going on over their heads about 'Europeans'
Longsight
Well, I’m back at the Community Church of the Nazarene Longsight. It was so lovely to see friends/family again, and people who know my name. We celebrated the Resurrection at the Ancient-Future service [with some quite comical moments thrown in, ah, to be home], and then had Church@4, which was even more, well, chaotic.
Levenshulme
My overwhelming sense of being at home was probably summarised by the litter, watching a drug deal go down with a mum using her pram [complete with baby] as the drop-point, and a 4x4 mow down a pedestrian and smash them into the door frame of TopKapi a local takeaway. So, welcome back.
Actually, I had forgotten that Levenshulme was so deprived. It is probably because I was in the gloriously litter free Lowlands, preceded by the relatively clean Kansas City, that the culture-shock of it all struck me.
Fortunately, Andrew and I have been able to go walking, and [since I gave myself Easter Week off] we’ve been at the allotment daily. Planting, thinking, talking - hoping for answers to questions we are still trying to articulate.
Anyway, a lot is happening in my head, so who knows what will happen, in the meantime…
I’ve started reading Madelaine L’Engle as a devotional writer again. Her writing moves me. And I’ve gotten Andrew totally and utterly hooked on Anne Lamott! I consider that a triumph of good taste.
posted by erdreid at 18:00
4 Comments:
Welcome back! I'm sad I wasn't around on Sunday (though happy I was having an out-of-life recuperation experience of my own).
On a rather random note to do with writing, did you ever read Kierkegaard? It seems I really like and appreciate so few Christian writers, there must be something special about him :)
I have indeed, and really enjoyed him. We have provocations, published by the Bruderhof, and I've turned to it over and again in the past. Congratulations on being Student body president as well, by the way!
d
AL huh? Its those NOR CAL girls I tell you- they are just somethin' else! :)
Dear Deirdre, I share the some of things you weren't comfortable with regarding the conference, though I only spent two days there. It seems much more could have been accomplished by allowing more time for focussed discussion. But if you want an outcome, a result, it might not be a bad idea to start with a clear description of a problem. Which I never heard.
I'm rather grieved as well to read that most out of the box thinkers have left? That would be so sad.
I'm considering attending the Feb 2008 conference at NNU, featuring Brian McLaren, on "Holiness as Furtherness". It seems the folks there are still heading in the right direction.
Blessings,
Hans Deventer
Post a Comment
<< Home