US Greenbelt and the Christian Glitterartsy

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 23 October 2009 06:41:45

So this appears to be the much anticipated and discussed US version of Greenbelt, I'm guessing.

Interesting it is called the "Wild Goose" festival. Does this mean they have links to a certain UK based publishing company or community?

What I do like is their description of what they're doing....which I think sums up Greenbelt more than alot of the fancy theme stuff that the Christian glitterartsy* have come up recently about our festival. "A festival of conversation, music, art, justice, and worship - hosted by a collective of Jesus followers"

In some ways I think it might do Greenbelt good to get back to that definition. This year was good, but one got the sense that they had started drifting away from this core a bit, at times. For me the best Greenbelts were the ones at the beginning of this decade when the festival was in deep kak and really struggling for survival. They had to get back to the basics to keep it going. Yes it evolves and grows, it has to. However, as they begin our US neighbours might have some stuff to teach us, just as we appear to have inspired them.

*(note I know the correct term, but feel that "Christian glitterartsy" might just be the right term to describe a certain male-dominated bunch of people who we do owe a great debt to. Their contribution to the 21st Christian faith communities should not be under estimated but my more cynical side does note the irony in their critique of a patriarchal, homogeneous, modernist, "celebrity" based, commercial, evangelical sub-culture when their fronting of the emerging/ new-monastic/ post-evangelical, late/post modern movement in this country and elsewhere they might just have created their own version).