One of the interesting and sometimes puzzling aspects of the Epiphany Explorations conference I attended in Victoria last week is the eclectic line-up of speakers over the five days. One might call it a smorgasbord at its best and a bit of a dog's breakfast at times. Don't get me wrong, it was very stimulating again this year, but trying to find a logical thread to the choices escaped me. Maybe that's good. I was intrigued that Philip Yancey, an evangelical writer who has sold more than 16 million books, was the key speaker, addressing us three times. He is frank in saying that his fundamentalist upbringing was toxic and that he has spent a lifetime overcoming it. He is willing to say that several of the tenets of evangelicalism in the States including political lobbying against homosexual marriage and abortion don't make a lot of sense to him, given that they were not addressed by Jesus and barely addressed by the apostle Paul.
On the other hand he is refreshingly Christ-centred and willing to talk directly and openly about what this means in terms of the grace of God and in prayer. He is intelligent, personable, and quite funny. I think the audience enjoyed him even though he comes from outside the more liberal ethos of the United Church. Hey, I might have been most impressed by the fact that Yancey has now climbed all 54 of the mountains over 14,000 feet in his home state of Colorado.
Is it important to get the perspective of those who don't "toe the party line" theologically? Do you ever wonder if we get too ingrown in our denomination, to our detriment? Have any of you read a book by Philip Yancey or heard him speak?
3 comments:
I enjoy Yaney's books and I have done a couple of his bible studies in the United church - one that was particuluarly good was his video series on grace. I owe the series if you would like to borrow it. So I have heard him speak on video and the thing that I most remember is his humbliness.
We all need to be exposed to the breadth of beliefs to define what we believe in and to discover what others believe. And we need to be exposed to those beliefs in a variety of mediums. For example, I find Spong's books difficult to read yet listening to him on tape or in person, I find him to be very understandable.
People get hung up on many little things. It seems to be exasperated in a church community. Is a Jell-O salad part of a meal or desert??
I've spent time in Baptist church, Presbyterian Church, and now United. The basic message is the same. Jesus loves us.
To go off on subjects that are not, or hardly mentioned in the Bible is not what church is about no matter what church you go to.
He's been on my list and now I will move him to the top.
Often reading, talking with people of different beliefs/backgrounds makes me clarify my own beliefs and that is a good thing. I dare say we may even learn more from those who see things differently than ourselves, than we do from our "own kind".
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