Refreshingly Disturbing

Lisa and I spend the last weekend with a great bunch of younger people. Well, generally they are younger. There were some older ones there too. And I would put myself in the older group. It was an entirely refreshing time for me. Also disturbing.

It was refreshing for me because they are a curious collection of people. Nobody necessarily agreed with anything I had to say. That wasn’t the point. The point was for me to come and share what I had discovered with them. In turn, they shared their discoveries with me. No conclusions or comparisons had to be drawn. Even though their spirit is deep and rich, it seemed free of negative religious spirit. When I shared with them an explanation of the z-theory (type z-theory in the subject box of nakedpastor to learn more), it was refreshing for me to see interest in their eyes instead of the usual glazing over or anger or indifference. The discussions were lively, courageous and edifying. When we were nearing the end I had the impression that what had happened that weekend was like two subversive underground collectives meeting covertly. It was an affirmative time for me.

It was disturbing because I realized that these guys and I share the same DNA. I saw that my critique of the church is justified. There are vast numbers of people like them, like me, who desire community that respects and embraces a spiritual component but entirely free of manipulation, control, exploitation, expectations and confined thought and belief. I returned more commitment to authentic community free of all these things. I realized on my drive home that this means commitment to receiving more maltreatment, but I’ll deal with that.

The photo is of the group on Saturday morning working together on one canvas. The themes we worked on were journey, sacred, truth and reverence.