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Oh happy days! Rob bought and installed a new Dell 8401 desktop with 17 inch TFT screen. My old one was already six years old and couldn't keep up anymore with my productivity. Now I know what real speed is.
In the evening my philosopher friend Evert Jan paid me a visit and - as usual - we talked till late at night.
At Greenbelt the Church Mission Society recruited me for their legion of cross bearers. They started a social justice campaign titled 'Restoring the Image', in which they highlight the war in northern Uganda, asking what it would take to restore the image of God in this devastated people.
To fund their peace and reconciliation work, they sold 'Cwa' crosses from Kitgum, made by young people who have fled the Lord's Resistance Army rebels. The crosses are made from the branches of the Cwa tree, which are thin, flexible and tough. They are used as instruments of torture by the rebels, who thrash the hands of their captives with them. It's incredible, but since 1990, some 28,000 children have been abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army, 12,000 of those in the last two years. The boys are turned into child soldiers, the girls are being used as (sex) slaves. So now you know why, at least for a season, I'm walking with an instrument of torture around my neck.
It's good to be home again. Last week David came up to Karolien: "Mum, I miss daddy very much and completely forgot what he looks like." Karolien: "Why don't you check out daddy's picture on the wall in the living room." After a while: "Mum, I looked at daddy's picture, and now I feel happy again." So cute.
Because I returned from England with the same red eyes I had in Geneva, I went to see a doctor. She told me it's conjugitis, a bacterial eye infection, and gave me some medicine for it.
Real English breakfast today: bacon, eggs and white beans in tomato sauce. We talk with John Smith about spiritual upheavals and changes in society. Interesting stuff.
The program this morning is an open air church service and communion with 17,500 people around Greenbelt's theme 'Freedom Bound'. But before the service ends we have to run to catch our National Express coach to Heathrow. Just in time; the gates of heaven swing open and the rains pours down on Greenbelt, changing the grasslands into muddy pools.
Journey. Struggle. Moving on.
Exodus. Wilderness. Promised Land.
Ever onward. Not always upward.
Let's go together...
Because we're freedom bound.
Greenbelt is a place of artistic freedom, where Christians and God seekers from all kinds of backgrounds camp, create, celebrate and chill-out together. I like the atmosphere, that is pervaded with a sense of social justice. Nice for people like me who missed out on the Jesus Movement. And with 18 degrees and sun even the British weather is wonderful.
In one of the breakfast tents I enjoyed an excellent small theater performance by a Bulgarian YMCA group. Later I attended Charles Strohmer's seminar 'Is Christian publishing still Christian?', an insider's look at the good, the bad and the ugly of Christian writing and publishing.
In the afternoon I joined an in-depth interview with John Smith, a passionate and outspoken Ozzie biker, prophet and cultural philosopher. Nice combination of hobbies and ministries. This guy really has something to say; a pity Bush and Blair are not here.
Andrew (and in the Greenbelt progam I read also Connect Europe) set up a worship installation called 'Freedup: A Global Reflex'. Around the world, God is freeing up the next generation to be church in a new way, and respond to Him in new media. It's the kind of worship where you lie down and undergo a multi-layered video presentation, beamed on the walls and ceiling. The VJ's obviously wanted me to feel at home because they threw in a lot of flashing windmill shots. I like this stuff, and for those of you who only listen to Hillsong: this is also worship, trust me.
Because I heard a lot of talk about the Labyrinth, an interactive installation for spritual journeys, I also tried that one. There were two parts: a chill-out circle and the labyrinth itself, a copy of the original at Chartres cathedral. The basic idea is that you 'empty yourself' while walking from the outside in, then 'receive from God' when you're in the centre, and 'meditate on what you received and will do with it' when you walk out again.
Now here's my honest report. I really liked the chill-out area, which had the feel of a 24-7prayer room without graffiti. A good place to reflect and rest in God. But I disliked the labyrinth. First of all with 25-30 people walking the thing one-way you quickly end up in a traffic jam. Maybe they adapted it to the British queing culture, who knows. Secondly I experienced it as boxing-in rather than freeing-up. I'm not really claustrophobic, but I simply don't like to be forced in one specific direction. So after walking the prescribed route for 10 meters or so, I broke the rules of the labyrinth and walked straight out. Thirdly I'm not so sure how far you can go with redeeming pagan symbols. The Chartres labyrinth may have had a Christian meaning, but most if not all labyrinths originate from Crete and ancient Egypt, where they were part of the not-so-Christian death cult. And I prefer life over death for sure.
In the evening, when Delirious played on the main stage, we grabbed a Guinness in the Winged Ox. The end of an inspiring day at Greenbelt.
Tallskinnykiwi Andrew picked me up with his impressive Volkswagen van and caravan. We are heading for the Greenbelt arts festival at the Cheltenham Racecourse (a two hour drive from London), where Andrew and Jonny Baker set up the Epicentre Global Roundtable for Emerging Church. Quite a mouthful, but in essence it's a get-together of people who are planting churches in the (postmodern) emerging culture.
Andrew had asked me to take notes during the Roundtable, but I was so tired that I fell asleep (does that sound familiar?), so Reinhold ended up doing the job. The nice thing of a roundtable is that you can meet some folks that you only know from their weblog. Like Will Samson and his wife and novelist Lisa, Maggi Dawn, Bob Carlton, Si Johnston and Karen Ward. It was also good to hang out with Ron Willoughby who will bring in the 'results' of our roundtable into the worldwide forum of the Lausanne movement in Thailand next month.
Andrew, who loves desolated places (like the Orkney Islands where he plans to move his family to start a monastery) found a nice far-away place to park our caravan. Because I didn't like the idea of sleeping with three snoaring men in a caravan I put up my own tent and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the hills of Cheltenham.
I'm in Greenford in West London, an area with many Indian immigrants and curry restaurants. Corien invited her Anglican friends for an open space discussion on 'how to get dechurched without loosing your faith'. Or perhaps a better title would be: 'how to be the Body of faith that Christ intended after all'.
God seems to take more and more Christians through a huge paradigm shift from church-as-religion to church-as-a-radical-lifestyle. It's not about buildings, pastors and programs, but about bringing Jesus where people hurt, the priesthood of all believers, and developing a lifestyle of intimacy with the Father and doing the works He has prepared for us. For many people it's scary to let go of organised church, but when they do a whole new window of opportunity opens up. No need to say we talked till late at night.
Today God hit me with this word: "I'm not so much interested in what's happening on the platforms, but what's happening in the corridors." Made me cry. I guess if Jesus would show up in our church service, He would not head for the stage, but hang out with the backbenchers, the outcasts and leftouts, the smokers and sneakers near the doorway, and the people who are tired of religion and long for a real encounter with the Man of Life.
I'm back home, still enjoying the rich blessings of our time in Geneva. But it's only a touch-and-go, as I have to pack my bag tomorrow for a trip to the UK, where I will hang out with Corien and her friends in London, and join the Epicentre Roundtable at Greenbelt.
This morning is our final meeting. We take time to evaluate the weekend (what was good and what should be improved), and ask everyone to indicate the area where they sense God is calling them, and what they want to contribute to and receive from the Connect Europe network.
Tim Fellows presents our basic development plan, after which we break up in regional groups. As Europe has 50 nations (counting the UK as four and including Israel) and is hard to 'grasp' as a continent, we decided to create an extra 'level' of 7 European regions: the nordic (north Atlantic, Scandinavia and Baltic nations), the anglosaxon (British Isles and Ireland), the germanic (Benelux and German-speaking nations), the catholic south (Spain, Portugal, France and Italy), the balcan (all nations in the triangle Slovenia-Greece-Moldova), the slavic (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) and the russian (Belarus, Ukraine and Russia). The first four regions are represented here in Geneva, so we use the opportunity the strengthen relationships and encourage the nations in these regions to pray for and help each other where possible.
Then it's time for communion. Not in the churchy sense of the word, where everyone puts on his solemn funeral face, while quietly passing on the bread and wine. No, this is a time of joyful celebration, encouragement and ministry to each other. We put the elements in the centre and everyone can take bread and wine and share Christ. All over the room people are praying for each other. It's this kind of community that marked the first church in Acts and made many people decide to follow Jesus.
The first Christians made their 'bond of love' very practical: they shared their resources, so that all needs would be met. Andreas from Germany suggests we have a special love offering: "Give joyfully as the Spirit leads, but feel also free to take money out of the offering if you have any need." I love this, wished every church would do this on a regular Sunday morning! The basket is filled with ease, but no-one takes anything out. Maybe because this is unusual and public, but more likely because God already blessed us out of our socks these days. Still I believe He wants us to experience something special, so I suggest we take a minute silence to hear from God whom of the participants He wants us to bless and with what amount. About 15 people come up to me, whisper into my ear what they received and we divide the money accordingly, praying over everyone. It's wonderful to bless people this way, and a great experience for us all to learn to share our resources in Christ.
After this experience no-one wants to leave. Jussi comes up with some specific words for people and we pray over them. Then it's time for a group picture and really close our gathering.
In the afternoon we have a debriefing with the team in the park overlooking Lake Geneva. We look back on a blessed time together, but also look forward. Today it's exactly two years since the start of our adventure in Herrnhut. A new window of opportunity is opening up, a new phase of God's plan to raise up the emerging generation in Europe for his purposes. We feel it's important to pray into and connect the (missing) regions in south-east Europe. We will meet every two weeks in a virtual space on the internet to pray and plan together. Connect meetings will be held in different nations this year. It's time to focus and develop the network, as God's Spirit leads the way.
