Day One at Soularize 2011

I’m still operating from the haze of fatigue from a breakneck day in San Diego with some of the most exciting thinkers and activists in Christianity today. That, and I cannot, for the life of me, find the coffee in the guest house where Amy and I are staying. All of this, combined wit the fact that it all starts up again in less than an hour, compels me to jot down only a few thoughts for now, with the hope of expanding another time.

Mission Gathering Church, the host congregation, has an amazing newly remodeled facility. Not only is it inspiring; it is a resource that, once discovered, will be a true gift to the surrounding community.

John Caputo rocked several worlds with his discussion of postmodern theology. Too much to digest even now, but one of the big take-aways for me was that God does not exist, per se, as this “other” being independent of us and creation. Rather, God insists. God is the call that draws us out, toward the possible. God is the thing that gives us hope that, just maybe, the wrongs of this world will one day be set right.

That’s my interpretation anyway.

Peter Rollins told all of us why we should stop trying to be happy. Thanks for that, Pete. Seriously, his point was important, suggesting that when we put God in charge of making us happy, we simply relegate God to the cosmic vending machine from which we solicit all other happiness by superficial, material means.

His conclusion was that it is this illusion of finding that thing out there that will make us happy is, in effect, what keeps us miserable. and the irony of letting go of the illusion that we have some divinely ordained right to be happy ultimately is that this is the key to actually finding happiness, joy, peace or what have you.

Way too much heavy thinking pre-coffee, so I’ll leave it at that for now. Much more to see, hear and do today; my hope is to blog about it as I have enough words to string together into a cohesive handful of sentences.

Gratefully from San Diego,
Christian