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June 18, 2010
WONDERing
This blog post was produced during our 2010 Leaders in Ministry Conference in Boston, MA
I forgot the beauty of Boston—and how the sun gently falls on one’s face much earlier here than it does in the South, especially after staying up late having deep discussions about theology, science, and the messiness of our world. But what better way could I be greeted before a morning run and an astounding, challenging, fruitful day at the FTE Leaders in Ministry conference than the whisper of a city awaking with the sun?!
I have already learned so much. Last night, I learned just what I gift it is to be able to see wonder in this world. I discovered the part of myself that struggles to share that wonder, laughed about the ridiculous incomprehensibility of omniscience, and discovered that the bountiful source of my faith despite my need to question, to hypothesize and test hypotheses (or perhaps because of it), is the ability of humanity to give grace. It is the one good thing that makes the least sense to me, and yet it allows a narrative that does not always seem to fit our world fit much better.
After delicious breakfast, today began with worship, unique and inclusive as always. Then, prompted by Dr. Sarah Drummond, we pictorially depicted our moments of “Life’s Transformations” and shared stories with others. We grappled with the concept of inviting these “epiphanies of recruitment” that hold more power if they are unplanned. But does not every experience that is planned have elements of the “unplanned,” the perfect plan that we are working to find? This prepared us for our site visits to Boston churches from Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral to the Cooperative Metropolitan Ministry in the basement of a United Church of Christ Church. I attended the latter, and there we met a Buddhist student, a Muslim Imam, and two Christian pastors—working together for social justice and interfaith cooperation. They have intensive activism and youth outreach programs, and the two pastors bring unique stories to the ministry. They have learned how to integrate their passions—poetry, ministry, reflection, activism, and service. It is a vibrant picture of the Church of which I want to be a part.
How encouraging it was for me, too, the Amnesty International activist struggling to discern a path of medicine and/or ministry, to see the ways that the needs of a community and a leader can intersect so fully and continue to be a catalyst for change. We will all need Sabbath when this micro-journey ends, but I cannot emphasize enough the wonder that I see in the dialogues happening here—inside and especially outside of the spaces created for us. Today I learned about ordination, Roman Catholicism, liberation theology, and physics from my peers. In this snapshot, I hope that I have shared even a piece of that wonder—our narratives intertwining in a chapter of a story that started long ago and will last forever.
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