If a disaster like the latter doesn’t break out, then we face the possibility that a Christian festival will devolve into a scene at which precious things like fine art, theology, worship and good taste will be savagely bludgeoned.

I have been to one or two Christian music festivals that made me want to switch religions.

Yes, I’m being snarky and critical in a tongue in cheek way. I have friends that would say that God met them in a meaningful way at a Christian festival at some juncture in their past, but I have spoken with a great number that share my experience of leaving these productions feeling bereft and anxious that we’ve participated in the trivialization of the Holy.

This past weekend however, I went to the Greenbelt Festival in England and I not only left feeling full to the brim, I departed feeling hopeful and warmed anew towards my tribe.

Here is my Top Ten List of Things I Loved about the Greenbelt Festival. See if the vision and ethos of the event I describe resonates with you.

1. It was roughly 20,000 very diverse people–infants, octogenarians, an inspiring group of mentally challenged people from a L’Arche community, black folk, white folk, gay people, straight people, wheelchair-bound people, conservatives, liberals, atheists, seekers, believers, charismatic’s, passionately Reformed folks, Eastern Orthodox clergy, Roman Catholic monks; not to mention people from who knows how many countries.

2. An atmosphere of hospitality to all of the people mentioned above that would have made St Benedict proud.

3. A challenging, provocative, intellectually muscular army of speakers, artists and performers, with very few “A-list Christian celebrities” meant to draw the masses. People like Duke theologian Stanley Hauerwas, Father Laurence Freeman, Fr Richard Rohr, Maggi Dawn, Mark Yaconelli, Gareth Higgins, Eliacin Rosario-Cruz, Iona community leader John Bell (who gave a message on pedophilia and child abuse in the church that was gripping), Palestinian Christian Sami Awad speaking on Gaza, among many, many other world class presenters. Interestingly, Greenbelt does not pay speaker or artist fees beyond travel expenses for those with no means, but few ever turn down an invitation.

4. Music, dance, theater, film, live performance art, and comedians, of unusually high quality.

5. An atmosphere of whimsy, mischief, surprise and self-deprecation. The moment I arrived, friends rushed me to a Beer and Hymn Sing in a tent with 1,000 people hoisting mugs in the air and shouting choruses of classics from All Creatures of Our God and King to How Great Thou Art until they’d lost their voices. I’ve never heard hymns sung with such conviction.

6. A culture that valued unity over uniformity. I felt an unspoken commitment on everyone’s part to civil and respectful discourse, even when a person passionately disagreed with another person’s perspective. There was also a spirit of humble openness to having one’s own assumptions interrogated, and perhaps recalibrated. No yelling, no demonizing, no hurtful dismissing of other people. Would that this were true here at home.

7. Food vendors from around the world, a commitment to responsible environmental stewardship onsite; surprising examples of excellence in details everywhere you looked (I went in a port-a-potty and found a vase of freshly cut lilies. That’s novel.)

8. An environment in which even an introvert can’t go home without a pocket stuffed with the contact info of new friends.

9. A tented exhibition center stuffed with information booths and displays representing every kind of type of social justice organization or kingdom initiative imaginable—many of which I’d never seen or heard of before.

10. Throughout the day and night all over the campus, there are countless opportunities to worship and pray in both experimental and traditional styles. (BTW try not to tear up when participating in an outdoor Eucharistic service with well over 10,000 people or watching a group of L’Arche members acting out the account of the Samaritan woman).

Could I say more? Yes, but my new friend and blog guru Michael Hyatt will chastise me for writing more than 250 words in a post and I’m way past that number.

So to finish: Around 18 months ago a group of highly capable people who I know and trust, asked me if I would be on the Founding Board of an American festival to be modeled after Greenbelt and held in June of 2011, dubbed the Wild Goose Festival. I’m returning from my first Greenbelt convinced that American Christians, followers of Jesus, or whatever it is we self-consciously call ourselves these days, really need this potentially culture changing event.

In a national climate that is increasingly religiously, politically and socioeconomically contentious and polarized, we need a container where people of faith can really listen to one another, disagree without demonizing the other; where we are challenged to leave the echo chamber of our own theological silos where we only hear the like-minded ideas of our peers rather than hear new voices; a place to dance, laugh and sing with each other, and leave determined to stay in the struggle to “conspire goodness” together.

Wouldn’t it be cool if Jesus’ friends could show the Left and the Right what redemptive generosity and hospitality towards others looked like, instead of participating in the polemic of hatred that dominates the secular media? Why are we allowing them to dictate the field we play on?

The first Wild Goose Festival is scheduled for June of 2011. A wild array of speakers and artists has already committed to participate (for free!). The exact dates, location, price, and a major call for volunteers will be announced when the website goes live in the next few weeks.

“O Lord, make haste to help us.” (The Book of Common Prayer)

I want to strongly encourage you to check out the Greenbelt website to learn what this event that has drawn 22,000 people from all over the UK since the early 1970′s is all about.

Here’s why.

Plans to put on a Greenbelt-like gathering in the US in June of 2011 are moving forward at breakneck speed.

A year and half ago a group of people who had been touched through their speaking at, performing music at, or just attending the Greenbelt Festival over the years, got together and said, “Isn’t this “the moment” for a Greenbelt-like festival to happen in America? Given the contentious and polarized climate we live in, isn’t it more important than ever for us to have a similar gathering on our own soil?” (I’ll write more on this later).

Well, the answer was an enthusiastic, “We don’t have the slightest idea what we’re doing, but we’re in.”

Since then a Founding Board has been formed (yes, even though I have never been to Greenbelt I was roped into being on it), we’ve raised some money, hired an Executive Director, secured a site for our first festival (can’t tell you yet) and we’ve begun securing speakers, musicians, and volunteers. Our first festival will be in June of 2011 and it will be called, The Wild Goose Festival.

The name for the festival was inspired by the ancient Celtic Christians who chose the wild goose as a symbol for the unpredictable, and untameable person of the Holy Spirit. We hope its a reminder that the Holy Spirit is not only a comforter, but at times, a squawking, disequilibrating reality that calls us to a life we would never choose for ourselves apart from his call.

The other members of the founding board have told me that Greenbelt is impossible to describe until you’ve experienced it for yourself, and even then its frustratingly difficult to put into words, so I will do my best when I get back to communicate what it was like.

In the meantime, check out the Greenbelt site and let me know what you think. If you have been to Greenbelt before, tell us about your experience. Tell us your thoughts about whether or not you think it’s time for a similar gathering to happen in the US.

Time to go. Cheers!

Sunlight on Footworn Stairs in Assisi

In 2006, I went on a pilgrimage to Assisi, Italy to immerse myself in the life and teachings of St Francis of Assisi. It was a magical three weeks. Every morning during my stay, a mist enshrouded the city, and I felt like each well-worn stone yearned to speak of the sacred events it had witnessed over the millennia. It’s no wonder they call Assisi “a particle of paradise.”

A few days into the pilgrimage, a friend introduced me to an 80-year old, Catholic priest named Father Arcadius. Arcadius looked like an Old Testament prophet. He was dressed in a frayed and dusty cassock with a rope belt and sandals with soles made from recycled car tires. His grey beard had grown down to the middle of his chest, an explosion of white hair crowned his head, and his eyes were an arresting blue.

For years, Arcadius had been a hermit living in the Apennine Mountains until God called him to a ministry of walking across Europe and the Middle East to hear the confessions of pilgrims who were visiting shrines.

Yes, I said walking.

He estimated that over his thirty years of ministry he had clocked tens of thousands of miles on foot, carrying no money or extra clothing but relying on the charity of others to survive.

I spent several amazing hours sitting on the steps leading up to the Church of San Damiano speaking with Arcadius about my life with Jesus. At the end of our time, I asked for his blessing and for any final wisdom he could give me about how to move deeper into the heart of God. Without pause, he grabbed my forearms, gazed piercingly into my eyes, and said, “Become a mystic!” Not quite what I expected.

Drop the phrase word ‘Christian mysticism’ into a conversation among a group of Jesus followers, especially among our more conservative brothers and sisters, and you will get a wide array of reactions. Some correlate it with New Age spirituality; others associate it with creepy psychic phenomena that have little to do with “normal” Christian life; others, however, will speak reverently about a transcendent experience of God that occurred in their past that made them wonder if for only one brief and beautiful moment they themselves were mystics.

So, what really makes someone a mystic? In the simplest sense, a mystic is someone who has a lived experience of Jesus in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. They have experienced Jesus, and through contemplative prayer and meditation, continue to encounter Jesus in such a way that they gain a new perceptive appreciation for the urgent immediacy of God in all things. (This is but one of several thousand definitions of this term. Trust me, I will hear about it’s shortcomings!)

Contrary to what many think, however, these God-encounters are not always seismic events, like those experienced by St Francis or St Teresa of Avila. Catholic theologian Karl Rahner (a theologian we desperately need to revisit), would argue that these unmediated encounters with God are often so delicate and subtle that most people do not even know that what they have experienced is mystical in content.

So, let me take the “mist” out of the word mysticism; make it something less opaque and more accessible.

Have you ever found yourself inexplicably capable of forgiving someone who has deeply wounded you?

Have you ever been surprised by your ability to maintain a spirit of faith, hope and joy in the face of crushing circumstances or perhaps even in the face of unspeakable horror?

Have you ever spontaneously laughed out loud at the absurdity of life?

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the sense that everything in your life is a gift?

Have you ever been given the gift “seeing the inner splendor” of something in creation?

Have you ever been stopped in your tracks by the sound of wind moving through a stand of trees or by the sight of a markless snowfield illuminated by moonlight?

Have you ever received the Eucharist and felt tears of gratitude well up from your soul?

If your answer is yes to some of these questions, then welcome to the fellowship of “everyday mystics”, as Rahner would call them.

I do admit that some mystical encounters with God are more dramatic than others. Several years ago, a group of dear friends went on a hiking trip on a beautiful fall day with a friend who was in the early stages of dying from bone cancer. His gait was already becoming slow and unsteady, but he managed at one point to get ahead of us. As my friends emerged from a patch of undergrowth, they found our dying friend on his knees weeping, with hands raised in worship, before a single bush whose autumn leaves were aflame with breathtaking red and orange leaves. He had been graced with seeing that the “earth is crammed with God”, and these men who were witnesses to this moment were brought to silence.

Karl Rahner famously wrote that “the Christian of the future will either be a ‘mystic,’ one who has experienced ‘something,’ or he will cease to be anything at all.”  I would like to be part of a conversation about how post-evangelicals/emergents might begin to think about articulating our own mystical theology (a required course in many Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican seminaries.) Without one, I believe our ability to help people who yearn to make contact with their own transcendality will be impaired.

PS: If you can, come to the Big Tent Christianity Conference in Raleigh, NC, September 8-9. Its going to be a time filled with rich conversations, and perhaps we’ll all experience the “urgent immediacy of Jesus” together.

(I originally published portions of this post in an article for the 2009 Catalyst Conference. It has since been updated and expanded on.)

Other people presenting are: Philip Clayton, Brian McLaren, Shane Claibourne, Phyllis Tickle, Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Bill Leonard, Keith Ward, Tripp Fuller, Gareth Higgins, Hugh Hollowell, Anthony Smith, Tim Conder, Terence Fretheim, Jo-Ann Badley, Jay Bakker, Brian Ammons, Tim King, Spencer Burke, Tom Oord, Christopher Copeland, Frank Green, Peter Rollins, Greg Boyd, Stephanie Spellers.

Instead of individual’s making presentations, there will be panels of five addressing a major theme, such as justice, sexuality, the Bible or denominationalism, among others. Each person on the panel gets five minutes to give their two cents on their respective area.

I am on the panel talking about spirituality and its place in the next iteration of church. Let me repeat, each person only gets FIVE minutes and our topic is “spirituality”. Yikes. The word ‘spirituality’ is so hackneyed and smooshy, can any two people agree on what it means, no less in five minutes?

In grad school I studied Sandra Schneiders, a pioneer in the methodological study of spirituality. She is doing empirical research around the subject of spirituality, not just offering subjective personal opinions on the topic like most of us do.  She writes that…spirituality in the broadest sense refers to “the experience of consciously striving to integrate one’s life in terms not of isolation and self-absorption, but of self-transcendence toward the ultimate value one perceives.”

This is brilliant material that would wow me in a classroom (and it did), but its not how I would choose to describe spirituality to new friends at a cocktail party. Isn’t there a way of talking about Christian spirituality that is intellectually satisfying, richly resonant with our experience, and accessible to people outside the academy?

What do you think Christian spirituality is? What is the role of spirituality in the future of the church? Tell me an earthy, personal story of some event in your life that helped you understand what spirituality means to you? Try giving a more formal, academic answer, if you feel so moved. Tell me about a poem or song that from your perspective, captures the essence of spirituality.

Most importantly, post a comment by midnight on September 7th, so I can use it the following day. I should be good and desperate for material by then.

Big Tent Christianity: Becoming and Being the Church is going to be a great gathering, so move stuff around on your calendar and join us if you can.

As promised, I downloaded as many of your suggested songs as I could, unless I already had them. This cost me hundreds of dollars. We had no money for food on the road. Steve Jobs sent me a handwritten thank you note.

It was all worth it. As I sped down I-81, I never knew what song was coming next on my “Franklin Journey” playlist. A few times I could imagine one or two of you in the car with me, passionately explaining why you loved this lyric or that melody, or some arrangement. These auditory hallucinations were also helpful cues that I needed to either take a nap or turn up the air conditioning. In all seriousness, thanks to you the trip was safe, melodious and tuneful (with the exception of one flat tire).

Lots of you asked me to publish the song list in toto. Its long but here it is. Love to you all for taking the time to make the ride to our new home filled with surprises, joy, and you.

When My Morning Comes Around—Iris Dement

Thank you (falettin me be mice elf)—Sly and the Family Stone

Show the Way—David Wilcox

The Ballad of Mary Magdalen-Cry, Cry, Cry

Arvo Part-Te Deum

God Only Knows—The Beach Boys

Pacing the Cage-Bruce Cockburn

Why I Am-Dave Matthews

Midnight Train to Georgia—Gladys Knight and the Pips

Gabriel and the Vagabond-Foy Vance

Child of the Wild Blue Yonder—John Hyatt

Soundtracks to Saving Private Ryan-John Williams

Some Kind of Wonderful-Joss Stone

Nine in the Afternoon-Panic at the Disco

Tony-Patty Griffin

Musicology-Prince

Sign O’ the Times-Prince

A Few Words in Defense of Our Country- Randy Newman

My Love Will Follow You-Richard Shindell

Although It Is The Night-Rob Mathes

Showdown at Big Sky-Robbie Robertson

Tumbling Dice—Rolling Stones

Staralfur—Sigur Ros

Glosoli-Sigur Ros

Valley of Tears—Solomon Burke

Voodoo Child-Stevie Ray Vaughan

Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own-U2

Yahweh-U2

Agnus Dei—Rufus Wainwright

October-Eric Whitacre

Start Me up—The Stones

An Ending-Brian Eno

The High Road—Broken Bells

Lying in the Hands of God-Dave Matthews

No More I Love You’s-Annie Lennox

Hurt-Johnny Cash

Charlie Darwin-The Low Anthem

Love of the Common Man – Todd Rundgren

1901-Phoenix

Six Days on the Road – Dave Dudley
Running Down a Dream – Tom Petty
Into the Great Wide Open – Tom Petty
Time Has Come Today – Chambers Brothers
Couldn’t Get It Right – Climax Blues Band
East Bound and Down – Jerry Reed (every third song or so)
Convoy – C.W. McCall
I Want You Back – Jackson 5
Are You Ready For the Country – Neil Young

Get Rhythm – NRBQ (or go with the original by Johnny Cash)

Chris Rea – Auberge
Brothers Johnson – Strawberry Letter 23
Crowded House – Pour Le Monde
Buddy and Julie Miller – Gasoline and Matches
The Heavy – How You Like Me Now?

Jesus and John – Lisa Gungor
Only a Man – Jonny Lang
Turn Around – Jonny Lang

The Cello Suites by Yo Yo Ma
Restless by Audrey Assad
Pontiac album by Lyle Lovett

God Forbid-Point of Grace
God of Justice-Tim Hughes
Chicken Fried -Zac Brown Band

Broken Things’ – Juliet Turner
‘I Will Worship You’ – Matthew Ward
‘I Could Be Happy’ – Altered Images
‘I Only Have Eyes for You’ – Art Garfunkel
‘Country House’ – Blur
‘All My Trials’ – Cerys Matthews
‘Personal Jesus’ – Johnny Cash
‘Talking With My Father’ – Dougie MacLean
‘Allison’ – Elvis Costello
‘Pokarekare Ana’ – Hayley Westenra
‘Build’ – The Housemartins
‘No Rope As Long As Time’ – Latin Quarter
‘Soap, Soup and Salvation’ – Lone Justice
‘Don’t Turn Out Like Your Mother’ – The Proclaimers
‘The Blessing’ – Sammy Horner
‘That’s Not My Name’ – The Ting Tings

Tear inducing:
Vista – by David Wilcox
Everywhere – by David Wilcox
Hold it Up to the Light – David Wilcox
Albertine – by Brooke Fraser
Let it Ride – by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Free Ride – The Edgar Winter Group
Don’t Fear the Reaper – Blue Öyster Cult
Danger Zone – Kenny Loggins
Ramblin’ Man – The Allman Brothers
I Feel the Earth Move – Carole King
I’m Your Captain/Closer to Home – Grand Funk Railroad
Born to Be Wild – Steppenwolf
Tennessee – Mindy Smith
For the Widows in Paradise – Sufjan Stevens
Heart of Gold – Neil Young
Old Man – Neil Young
Stay – Alison Krauss
Forget About It – Alison Krauss
The Valley Road – Bruce Hornsby
Who Wouldn’t Want to Be Me – Keith Urban
Live to Love Another Day – Keith Urban
What About Me – Keith Urban
Great Adventure – Steven Curtis Chapman
Only Natural – Steven Curtis Chapman
Let’s Get Loud – Jennifer Lopez – plain fun
Unforgettable – Natalie Cole (great sing along)
Carole King – Tapestry
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – So Far
James Taylor – Live
A Knight’s Tale – Soundtrack
Nickel Creek
Anything by the Wailin’ Jenny’s
Anything by the Weepies
Bobby Jones Stroke of Genius
The Horse Whisperer
Searching for Bobby Fischer

Papa Dookie and the Mud People by the Sub Dudes.

Poison & Wine by The Civil Wars.

“Blind Willie McTell”-Dylan
“Foot of Pride” -Dylan
“Dark Eyes” -Dylan
“Girl From The North Country” -Dylan
“Seven Curses” -Dylan

“Yellow Moon” The Neville Brothers
“Voodoo” The Neville Brothers
Save You – Matthew Perryman Jones
Beautiful Things – Gungor
Here Comes The Sun – Yo Yo Ma & James Taylor

Travel’n Through – Dolly Parton
Chasing Pavement – Adele
Let’s Get it Started – Black Eyed Pea

Where is the Love? BEPs
People Get Ready – Eva Cassidy or Bob Marley
Speed of Sound – Cold Play
When the Stars Go Blue – The Corrs with Bono
Beat It (Fall Out Boy with John Mayer)
Ring Them Bells – Bob Dylan
Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics
New Day – Griffin House
Blessed to Be A Witness – Ben Harper
Million Voices – Hotel Rwanda Soundtrack
Are You Gonna Go My Way – Lenny Kravitz
Whatever Gets You through the Night – Los Lonely Boys
Extreme Ways – Moby
Rockstar – Nickelback
Shine Your Light – Robby Robertson
Gimme Some Loven’ – Spencer Davis Group
Born in the USA – Bruce Springsteen
Beautiful Day – U2
Days Like This – Van Morrison
Be Thou My Vision – Van Morrison
Hand It Over – Keb Mo
Vivaldi – Madolin Concerto in C RV 425 1. Allegro
Vivaldi – Concerto in A for Guitar, Violin, Viola & Cello
Dancing Queesn – Abba
Knowing Me, Knowing You – Abba
Hard Days Night – Beatles
One – Mary J Blige
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitude – Jimmy Buffett
I Feel Lucky – Mary Chapin Carpenter
Viva La Vida – Coldplay

Knock’n on Heavens Door – Warren Zevon

Nickelback – If Today Was Your Last Day
Every Day Woman – Emerson Drive

Andrew Peterson’s Counting Stars–the entire album.

Traveling Wilbury’s
All the Road Running (Emmy Lou Harris and Mark Knopfler)
Etta James Greatest Hits
Chill out in Paris- Disc 1
RESPECT – Aretha Franklin
South African National Anthem “Nikosi Sikelel’i Afrika”
Dragonsti Din Tea- O-Zone
Wind of My Soul – Cat Stevens
The Mountain Song – Vertical Horizon
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy- Andrews Sisters
Daphne- Django Reinhart
Upside Down- Diana Ross
In this Heart: Sinead O-Connor
Non Nobis Domine – Henry V Soundtrack
The Young Lutheran’s Guide to the Orchestra: Garrison Keillor
Chocolate Cake for Breakfast – Bill Cosby
The Same Thing Happens Every Night – Bill Cosby

Walking in Memphis – Marc Cohn
Miles Away – Marc Cohn
Walk on Water – Marc Cohn

I Wanna Be Your Lover – Prince
I Would Die 4 U – Prince

Two Princes – Spin Doctors

Sir Duke – Stevie Wonder

Hello Hurricane – Switchfoot

I’m So Paid – Akon

Thank U – Alanis

Stayin Alive – Bee Gees

Johnny Cash – The Man Comes Around
Selah, Jason Crabb & Adam Crabb – Ain’t No Grave
John Fogerty

Jackson Browne – These Days

Henryk Górecki – The Symphony No. 3, Op. 36
Kristin Vigard – Slave to my emotion
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Higher Ground
Mark Heard – Second Hand
David Sylvian – Let the Happiness In, Ghosts
Jane Siberry – Hockey

American Hearts – A.A. Bondy
Belle – Al Green
Bear – The Antlers
Ill With Want – The Avett Brothers
Everlasting Light – The Black Keys
Lenny Bruce – Bob Dylan
Born in the USA – Bruce Springsteen
Hang You From The Heavens – The Dead Weather
Anything off of Either/Or – Elliot Smith
Oliver James – Fleet Foxes
Hounds of Love – Kate Bush
Closer – Kings of Leon
Drunk Girls – LCD Soundsystem
Search Me – Mike Crawford and his secret siblings
Sigh No More – Mumford and Sons
Cry on Demand – Ryan Adams
Anywhere I Lay My Head – Tom Waits

The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance – Vampire Weekend

Tupelo Honey – Van Morrison
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart – Wilco

Let me frame it this way: Try to come up with a song you couldn’t live without on a two-day car trip. I will send a free copy of my book to the person who submits a song that ends up either 1) making me cry or 2) inspires me to get out of my car and dance on I-81 with my Portuguese Water Dog, Hobbes.

I went through my Ipod and came up with this list to get us started.

When My Morning Comes Around—Iris Dement

Thank you (falettin me be mice elf)—Sly and the Family Stone

Show the Way—David Wilcox

The Ballad of Mary Magdalen-Cry, Cry, Cry

Arvo Part-Te Deum

God Only Knows—The Beach Boys (Don’t laugh, this song is to pop music what The Odyssey is to western literature)

Pacing the Cage-Bruce Cockburn

Why I Am-Dave Matthews

Midnight Train to Georgia—Gladys Knight and the Pips

Gabriel and the Vagabond-Foy Vance

Child of the Wild Blue Yonder—John Hyatt

Soundtracks to Saving Private Ryan-John Williams

Some Kind of Wonderful-Joss Stone

Nine in the Afternoon-Panic at the Disco

Tony-Patty Griffin

Musicology-Prince

Sign O’ the Times-Prince

A Few Words in Defense of Our Country- Randy Newman

My Love Will Follow You-Richard Shindell

Although It Is The Night-Rob Mathes

Showdown at Big Sky-Robbie Robertson

Tumbling Dice—Rolling Stones

Staralfur—Sigur Ros

Glosoli-Sigur Ros

Valley of Tears—Solomon Burke

Voodoo Child (Live at Montreux)-Stevie Ray Vaughan

Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own-U2

Yahweh-U2

Agnus Dei—Rufus Wainwright

October-Eric Whitacre

Start Me up—The Stones (Predictable, but great at 6am)

An Ending-Brian Eno

The High Road—Broken Bells

Lying in the Hands of God-Dave Matthews

No More I Love You’s-Annie Lennox

Hurt-Johnny Cash

Charlie Darwin-The Low Anthem

Theologian and prolific author Dr. Marcus J Borg wrote me a kind email saying he had just finished reading Chasing Francis and had really enjoyed it. I emailed him back and told him that my publishing company was putting new resources into marketing the book after it recently received a surprise endorsement from the Archbishop of Canterbury. He graciously agreed to pen a few words in support of the book as well. He wrote,

“A powerful and wonderful book! I was deeply moved by this story of the conversion of an evangelical pastor to a much broader vista of God’s passion for the world.”

Marcus J. Borg, author of Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time and The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions

Some years ago I read a book Dr Borg co-wrote with renowned theologian NT Wright titled, The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions. This book left a profound mark on me, not only because its content was so rich, but also because it was written as a conversation between two world class theologians who deeply disagree with each other on a wide variety of issues, but who share a genuine affection for each other. Imagine that! I remember thinking, why can’t more people who have divergent theological views speak to one another in this tone of civility and mutual respect? Why do so many believe that anyone who disagrees with them theologically is automatically the enemy and therefore should be treated as such?

For me The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions set a bar for how Christians living in the age of rage and vitriolic polarization could relate to one another. Thanks Marcus for the kind words about my book.

Gareth has the spiritual gift of encouragement.

So why write a spiritual memoir? People write memoirs because they want to make sense of their lives. It works. Literally as you write, you find yourself following the footprints of grace through your life and discovering God in places you hadn’t expected. You also find yourself asking why he seemed to be absent in other places as well.

One thing I have learned in this process is how important it is to “own your story.” I haven’t always done this well, and I fight the temptation to disown parts of my story everyday when I sit at my computer to write. The truth is we all have a past that is filled with mistakes we regret. Others have wounded us, sometimes profoundly, and we’ve done our share of inflicting pain on others and ourselves along the way as well. But rather than own our stories in their totality, most of us engage in some form historical revisionism. We edit out the parts of our past stories we don’t want to own.

Have you ever heard an actor in an interview bemoan the fact that a scene in a movie they just made didn’t make it into the final version of the film, a scene they really loved? In film making they say it, “ended up on the cutting room floor.” Writing this memoir I’m learning that there is a film editor in our hearts who snips away at the films of our lives, often choosing to leave the more painful parts (and even a bunch of the wonderful parts) on the editing room floor of our soul. I know firsthand that there is an enormous danger in not owning our whole stories, namely, if you don’t own your whole story, it will start to own you.

When you leave the most painful pieces on the editing room floor and don’t acknowledge they really happened, you literally become dis-integrated. To accept as a whole package the totality of everything we’ve done and that’s been done to us; to name it, own it, grieve it, celebrate it, this is where Shalom is found. Its also hell getting there.

Here’s one last thing I’m learning. Every life is revelatory. Your and my story reveals to others something about the heart of God that no one else’s life story can reveal. In a sense I can’t fully know God without knowing something about your life story. Your life is revelatory of God’s love, his ability to heal and redeem. Even his ability to work through his apparent absence.

We owe it to share our stories with each other in appropriate places, ways, and times. When we do, others will see the thread of grace in our lives and be able to say, “So that’s what the heart of God is like. That’s how he works.” I guess what I’m trying to say is that I am not sure any of us have exclusive proprietary rights to our life stories. At some level they belong to all of us. I know this might hack off lawyers who specialize in intellectual property rights, but I think this is how it works in the economy of God.

Of course, there is a time for everything. Now may not be the right time to tell our story to anyone. Maybe we still have work to do before we’re ready or we don’t have the right community to tell it to yet. That’s OK. You’ll know when its time.

Fredrick Buechner wrote a book titled, A Room Called Remember. Here’s a relevant passage from it.

“To remember my life is to remember countless times when I might have given up, gone under, when humanly speaking I might have gotten lost beyond the power of any to find me. But I didn’t. I have not given up. And each of you, with all the memories you have and the tales you could tell, you also have not given up…So in the room called Remember it is possible to find peace—the peace that comes from looking back and remembering to remember that though most of the time we failed to see it, we were never really alone.”

As it turned out, the Bishop was scheduled to be in New York City later that week and we agreed to meet for coffee. Bishop Griswold could not have been more gracious. The ninety minutes we spent together weren’t nearly enough for us to cover all the interests and passions we share in common–our powerful, (if not mystical) encounters with St Francis while traveling in Assisi, our love for the beauty and power of the liturgy and Eucharist, our mutual attraction to the contemplative life, and more.

Bishop Griswold was kind enough to write an endorsement for Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale. I received it early this morning.

“Cron provides us with a deeply moving account of loss and discovery which brings to mind words of Jesus and the experience of the Apostle Paul. It also bears witness to the ability of the saints from the past, in this case Francis of Assisi, to speak with a full voice to contemporary seekers and persons of faith.”

Frank T. Griswold, Twenty-Fifth Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church

Needless to say, receiving this email was a magnificent start to my day. Bishop Griswold kindly gave me a copy of his book Praying Our Days: A Guide and Companion. I began using this great book in my prayer time this morning. I highly recommend it.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim’s Tale is doing something I am told doesn’t happen very often in the publishing world. It was released three years ago and its picking up more attention, sales, and interest now than when it first came out. Go figure. Its a late bloomer. As my grandmother used to say, “Keep those cards and letters coming, kids.”