Larry returns from a four day event “stoked” by the things which were explored.
The closing paragraph also is the kind of thing I need to be hearing right now, which is a looking to the role of the church as the purveyor of hope, renewal, and refreshment, and , once again, it’s coming from a Methodist (these two blogs — this one and the one from my previous post, were among the first to show up as having been updated most recently among my RSS feeds that I noticed first this morning)
I leave the conference enamored with another thought. In this culture that is often so coarse, shallow and utterly material, I believe there are those who deeply want something with greater depth and purpose than popular culture can ever offer. What they want is something worthy enough, and big enough, to believe in. Something large enough to commit one’s life to.
Here’s the big thought. As a Wesleyan Christian, this means to me making a commitment to heal the earth of our environmental harm, work for peace and end poverty because personal commitment to Jesus Christ, at the level of the heart and the depth of the soul, impels one toward this lifestyle. To know Jesus is to know the face of the poor, the war-ravaged and the forgotten.
This individual commitment further impels us to collective expression of faith; to a community of faith in which we are renewed, refreshed and in which we find hope.
