Here I Go...

Well, it’s been some days and I had several phone conversations this morning that started with “WHERE ARE YOU???”

I am in Lynchburg as of last night.

A new friend picked me up at Little Flower last Tuesday and drove me down to Lynchburg and 8 of us left town the following morning to attend PAPA Festival.

We stopped in Philly first to spend the night with a housemate’s sister and her family. They were so wonderfully generous with their space! They had dinner waiting for us when we got there and we were introduced to their two boys (age 3 and 1.5) and their brand new baby daughter only 10 weeks old! Such a blessing to be on the receiving end of that kind of hospitality, especially for me since I am usually far more comfortable on the other end.

But after many hours of driving, we made it!

PAPA Festival was actually a pretty disappointing time for me. I’ve been feeling pretty far from God lately (thought incredibly dependent on God…) and I think I was hoping that being with a bunch of radical Christians might help make me feel closer, but it didn’t at all.

I’ve been struggling a lot with the balance between criticism and judgement. I have a really hard time being critical without being overwhelmingly judgmental, and that often keeps me from being able to find grace or joy in spaces where I notice anything that needs attention. I’m trying to find ways of balancing the two, but I don’t think I’m very successful. There were a lot of beautiful things that happened at PAPA Festival.

I met some wonderful people, had some nice conversations and had the opportunity to bond with folks who I will be living near for the next month or so.

There was also a lot of cultural appropriation and commodification and there was an overhwhelming and upsetting abuse of patriarchal language and assumptions. I really let that get in the way of enjoying some of the former.

I do not pretend to know the answers to where we should draw boundaries… what should be celebrated as multicultural worship and understanding, and what is an inappropriate use of tradition that does not belong to us (us being white, American Christians) but I do know that it is incredibly problematic to refuse to have the conversation.

So, now I have a lot to think about.

And now I’m in Lynchburg

Staying in this room (Thanks, Shannon!)

And some dear friends are always around to keep me cheerful.

That’s all for now.