I just got back from the Fund for Theological Education Conference on Sunday. It was fantastic! I greeted this guy by saying "Hi, you're David Reese's friend!" and the conversation proceeded from there. When I told people I went to Oberlin, some of them said "I hear they have really good mozzarrella sticks there." And they'd never even met David! It turns out he and Andy told the mozzarella stick story at the conference talent show last year, and the story percolated through the ranks of some of the older FTE Fellows.

Speaking of modern and improv dance class, Bethany, I got to do liturgical dance at a couple of the worship services. We danced to a psalm that we semi-choreographed, and I added the obligatory Kate Bush bow and arrow move to the choreography. It went over well. I also got to dance in with a jug full of grape juice for Communion. It was a little scary, but I'm glad we covered props in improv dance! It was a really worship-tastic experience for me.

I left feeling very reassured about the future of America's churches. I found 200 passionate, intelligent, visionary individuals committed to dialogue with others with diverse beliefs and experiences. They came from various denominational, theological, and geographic backgrounds, and yet they had a lot of the same questions, concerns, and hopes that I do. It was a thoroughly empowering event.

I also got to visit Adalberto Methodist Church, which has become famous in recent news for sheltering an illegal immigrant named Elvira Arellano and her American-born son Saulito so Elvira won't get deported. It was the most unique Methodist church I've ever visited. It was started by a group of Mexican Catholic immigrants who were not accepted at the local Catholic Church, so they asked the UMC if they could start their own Methodist Church. They asked one of those who left the Catholic Church with them to go to seminary to become the minister for their little storefront church. It's the only Methodist church I know that has an icon of the Virgin of Guadalupe in it, where people come to pray the rosary. They have also developed their own liturgical calendar based on the life of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and their ministries and focuses follow that seasonal rotation. I thought that was a really powerful idea. The Christian tradition in which I was raised did have a liturgical calendar, but aside from individual days like Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, plus Advent and sometimes Lent, the vast majority of the ministries and worship in the Christian year was not defined by a season. Adalberto's method shows a cyclical understanding of time and ministry that I think sounds healthier, and it also shows the influence of Native American thinking in this church's theology. It sounds healthier to me because it recognizes that substantial time needs to be devoted to just praying, and discerning God's will. Sometimes I think that I have so little time to accomplish my ministry on Earth that I always have to be doing, doing, doing, and I forget that God calls us to pray, and pray A LOT. Like the time I spend praying should seriously rival the time I spend acting. I've resolved to do more nothing next semester, if I can help it. It's hard: Americanized, consumerized Christianity tells me that successful ministry can be quantified, and more is better. Backing away from active ministry to spend time in prayer is downright countercultural. I have to remind myself that Jesus only needed three years of active ministry out of 33 to make his lasting contribution to the world.

I also learned about the dangers of the octopus church that has one tentacle chasing after everything but never actually gets anywhere. That's another reason it's important to pray a lot for vision: realizing the kingdom of God often means doing one thing, and doing it well. Adalberto Methodist is proof of that.

In other news, I've finished my coursework (finally!) and I feel much better now. I'm going back to Oberlin on July 14.