Well, I’m finally on my way home. There were great times at this conference, and there were frustrating times. I was geographically close enough to Britain to get away with something close to “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” What can I say, though? I’m no Dickens. That was quite the thought rabbit trail, right there. I have a feeling it will still make it through the final editing process.
Where was I? Oh, yes—the best and worst of my times at the conference. The ‘worst of times’ moment about this conference was the inevitable posturing of young, overambitious theologians. It seems to be inevitable at these sorts of events. For those of you
who care, I would deem this as ‘bad hierarchy’, not to mention profoundly artificial hierarchy. It was pretty obvious that the scholars (professors) who gave papers at the conference were the only ones truly at liberty to assume an air of superiority, yet they seemed the most reluctant to do so. Oh well. A few more arrogant theologians in the world: it’s analogous to another greedy lawyer or two finishing up their J.D.’s. (Sorry, Jessicas)
On the up-side of things, the great majority of those who attended the conference were nice folks—at least the Americans were. I guess the nice U.K.-ers would have to be called nice ‘blokes’. I learned a lot of funny U.K. language ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’, speaking of. For instance: I met a gentleman at the conference (an American currently studying at Oxford) who described a linguistic faux pas he had made at a party last year. Having been particularly impressed with the chosen attire of one of his professor’s, this young man chose to compliment the stuffy British lecturer on both his pants and suspenders. All the while, he didn’t realize that, in the U.K., the former is understood to mean underwear and the latter is a term referring to the lingerie straps that hold up a woman’s stockings. Well done.
Probably the second funniest Scottish language episode was on Sunday night. My flatmate, in describing the indigestion caused by our dinner, stated, “It went right down like a fart in a spacesuit, didn’t it?” Yes. Yes it did.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the goods. Probably the best aspect of the conference was the statistically anomalous number of long conversations I had over meals. People really didn’t seem to be in any hurry, preferring instead to truly engage in meaningful community—community that was still in its most infant stage, I might add. This was quite a diverse little group too. Here’s the short list of folks I spent time with—just note how different the backgrounds are:
Gwendolyn—A Canadian who is married with four kids. She will be uprooting her family next year to study the interaction between theatre and theology at St. Andrews.
Scott—A native Californian who attended Trinity for his MA and is now at Oxford studying medieval theology, with a particular emphasis on Thomas Acquinas
Allison—Though originally raised in a non-religious home in the south of Britain, she is now attending the University of Durham, training for full-time ministry in the Church of England.
Eilleen—She began her upper level theological training at Calvin College, but found it to be an oppressive atmosphere when she declared her intention to become an ordained minister. She has since transferred to Princeton and has been studying abroad in the U.K. for the past year.
Gretchen (and her dad,
Bob)—She is an undergrad at Wheaton studying systematic theology, but is studying abroad in Edinburgh for this year. Bob was like the coolest over-40 guy there. He went to seminary WAY back in the day, and was attending the conference both to visit his daughter, and to support her interests.
I could certainly name others, but these were the folks with whom I spent the majority of meal/pub times. Good people—thoroughly unconvinced of self-importance to the point that conversation was second nature. These are the kind of interactions that I think we all crave at a very deep level. These are the kind of people that make a trip worthwhile.
I am writing this during my last 90 minutes of the flight home, and I am certainly ready to be home. Just one thought to leave us all with. During my 8.5 hour flight, I had a chance to listen to Rob Bell’s sermon (again) about being ‘fully present.’ For all of the uproar about what the emergent church folks are/are not saying, this sermon gets right to the heart of things with regard to community. In it, he describes how seldom we actually stop and take the time for people—even our best friends or spouses. Think about it—when was the last time you had coffee with someone and turned your cell phone off? When was the last time you did this without a single worry about what you might be missing by ignoring that convenient little electronic device? When was the last time you made your entire goal in a conversation to communicate the love of Christ by genuinely listening to the other person? When was the last time you reminded yourself, ‘This is the most important person I could possibly be talking with right now’?
Now, this isn’t meant to be a guilt trip, or a ‘let’s all just get along’ session. Rather, it’s coming from two places within me, simultaneously. First, every time I go back and listen to this sermon, something deep within me says, ‘Yes!! This is a better way to live’. Second, this week gave me the privilege of being around a number of people who do this, and do it well. They were mirrors into my own life about the critical importance of exhibiting this behavior in order to foster true community. I trust it will do the same for you.
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