Categories: uncategorized
Date: 16 February 2009 09:58:18
Anybody who knows me will be aware of how much I love Greenbelt. It's the one place on earth where I feel I can truly be me, all of me, without any contradiction or pretence.
Having looked at this years theme, though, Standing in the Long Now and reading Martin Wroe's reflections I have to say that I began giggling. The theme for the year is interesting and challenging yet it is also thoroughly pretentious. Given Greenbelts attraction to the educated middle classes, (i.e. people like most of us), I don't think this theme is going to be a problem rather it has the potential to market very well. Yet, I am left wondering if ... well, if they've gone too far with the title this year.
Let me explain. The theme fits well with that "spiritual", "eco-friendly", in for the long haul, connecting with our past to make our future type of emergent(ish) Christianity that the radical element of the church seems to have. Yet, what connection does this have with "the average" person on the street or even "the average" person in the pew? Whilst we are trying to make our faith relevant to them we do so by heading off into hippy style intellectualism and theoretical discussions which would mean nothing to many people in our society.
Our faith isn't about talking about stuff, or designing hugely meaningful yet somehow hollow inclusive liturgies.... it's about getting our hands dirty and meaningfully engaging. What I want to learn through Greenbelt and the church is how we actually do that. How do people like us, who do come from this intellectual bubble, actually engage in deep discipleship and making a meaningful difference for Christ in the real world rather than getting distracted into a kind of gynological reflection? How do I stop focusing on me and start seeing how what I have learnt in "the academy" can be taken out to help real people with real problems, (without just engaging in a voluntary social work)? How can I stop feeling a bit sorry for myself and turn the emotion into something meaningful that becomes creative rather than self distructive? How do I become an authentic follower of the Jesus of the gospels in a way which connects with people outside of my bubble? These are the types of things I want Greenbelt to teach me.