EP Gathering 2010 Reflections

Last week I attended the Ekklesia Projects annual Gathering in Chicago. The theme was "Wordcare," that is being intentional about the language that we use to communicate with others. Among other things, I've started to question the validity of this blog and the (often hurried) language I use here. Nevertheless, I continue with these rather dubious, bullet-pointed

Reflections* from the Ekklesia Project:

• Words matter and the words we use to talk about God matter.
• "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" is a fine example of wordcare in hymn.
• St. Benedict, in his Rule, understood the importance of wordcare as evidenced through his repeaded cautions against using words flippantly.
• Stanley Hauerwas is an incredible person, and it was a joy to witness him receiving his festschrift and other honors. Thank God for Stanley Hauerwas!
• Debra Dean Murphy: "To be human is to live within limits." The story of individual freedom (Western Liberalism) claims that humans have no limits; the gospel story critiques the claim of human limitlessness.
• D. Stephen Long: "We are all creatures [and we have] the means for communication and miscommunication." And communication assumes truth.
• D. Stephen Long: Based on Exodus 21:1-7, we can learn three things about God. 1) God is active; 2) God is not creature; and 3) God's name must be used, but not misused.
• D. Stephen Long: All of God's communication can be seen in Jesus.
• Barry Harvey: Language can be "colonized" by the powers and principalities; e.g., "No one likes war, but sometimes it is unavoidable;" "Yes, Jesus did talk about a kingdom, but he was referring to a spiritual reality, not a political one;" and "To die in defense of your country is to make the ultimate sacrifice." These are examples of colonized language.
• Stan Wilson: Is this country worthy of the sacrifice it asks its soldiers to make?
• Stan Wilson: [On Obama's Nobel Speech:] No Christian language in it; the bible doesn't speak to principalities and princes about how to use power to bring peace.
• Professors are incredibly open to conversation and supportive to students like myself, looking for programs.
• New friendships can be refreshing and encouraging.
• There are lots of interesting projects floating out there in peoples' minds. It's exciting to catch a glimpse of such projects in their infancy stages.
• Our flight got delayed by several hours, and I was surprised by the reactions of some people. Airports and airplane schedules are beyond our control. We have to roll with the punches. It certainly doesn't help to blame or to get angry with the flight attendants; they are just as frustrated by delays as travelers are. The crew on our Southwest flight were wonderful folks.
• God is at work through the church and through the ministers in the Ekklesia Project.

* Above, I have listed thoughts and quotes from plenary addresses and sermons; I have tried to use quotation marks only where each speakers' respective handouts are quoted directly. Where there are no quotation marks, the ideas come from my notes and may represent quotations as I recorded them. If they are inaccurate, the fault is mine and any such inaccuracies in no way represents the author associated with the given idea. Therefore, I ask that you not cite these reflections in any way outside of this blog. Thanks.