Reflections on Day 2 @ Greenbelt

If I were to pick a theme for the day other than saying it was awesome it would be light. So many of the talks and workshops mentioned light or it was like a light was going off in my mind when I listened to people talking. am notsure that   even writing down what i experienced today can convey what i took in. talks are part of the experience but so is seeing every kind of person gathered in one place with a common cause. there are babies and seniors, people of all abilities, every kind of hair  colour and all sorts of different styles of dressing. One person described it as a huge carnival except that it is all for Jesus. 

I started the day at a talk by an American speaker named Jim Wallis. He talked about the common good. He said that as a people of Faith it is not about God being on our side but us being on God's side. We are on God's side when we seek the common good which means caring for the most vulnerable people in society.  Our life together can be better. Another thing that he said was that when people are cynical it is because the church does not live out what says, people under 30 are about the common good.  He finished his talk with a powerful story about a church in a small town in Tennessee how found out that the Muslim cultural centre was moving to their community. The church put up a sign to welcome them. When the Imam saw the sign he asked the pastor why they did this. The pastor said that the bible says to welcome strangers. The two communities became friends. Their story appeared on CNN. A group of people in Pakistan saw the program and called the pastor and told him how moved he was by the friendship between the two communities. They promised that they would always protect the Christian Church in their  community. What works better, he said, drones or love thy neighbour. 

The next was a workshop on dance. It was great to dance with be of all ages and abilities. We learned a choreography and did a little improv. It was all about sharing our light with others and passing the light fro one person to another. The words to the song are "I can beat the night. I am not afraid of thunder. I am full of light. I am full of wonder."  

The next was a talk about being real in a technological age. It was an interesting talk about how church and technology can blend. The speaker Vicki Beeching said that the church can use technology as part of our prophetic voice. She also said we are now living in the interactive world of Web 2.0 and the church should move in that direction. This means that instead of one person providing content the worship and community life is driven by all the contributors.

Next I was off to the big top for some music. It was called last orders the village fete and it was a celebration with music by Folk On and Grace Petrie and some beer and hymns. It was amazing to sing with so many other people .

After my supper break I took in some of Graham Kendrick the writer of Shine Jesus Shine and other pieces. It was amazing to stand and sing with so many others wow. The last act of the night for me because i could have stayed longer and gone to Goth Eucharist or a dozen other things was the London Community Gospel choir. They were fantastic. I was this little light of mine with thousands and thousands of other people! Wow. They lifted my spirits and sent me home dancing. 

So here in ends day 2. I wonder what treasures lie ahead of me on day 3, I'll keep you posted.  The Spirit is indeed alive!