Ah, lovely day at Greenbelt. Although I remained uncharacteristically anxious about my show all day into the evening. (More about that in a moment).
I first listened to James Alison give a talk about the New Testament Clobber passages (most often used to clobber lesbian, gays and bisexuals). Last Year James covered the Old Testament passages, and after hearing him speak, I declared on this blog that I want to have his Biblical love child. I still do.
In his talk he discussed Romans 1 and expertly unraveled it. I left during the Q&A, but Trevor told me about a man who stood up and said something like, "All my life I have been condemned by that passage in my churches, but now you tell me it doesn't condemn me." And Trevor said you could see the light and freedom breaking over the man's face. You can read James Alison's thoughts on Romans 1 here.
Next I just chilled a bit knowing I had to pace myself, especially in the hot sun. I did go to the Liquid Lunch where a panel of four funny people (comedian types) talked about Greenbelt, what they saw, what they recommend and comments about the festival. Very fun and I even got a mention!
In the afternoon I heard worship leader Matt Redman present at the Main Stage. I will have more to say about this when I have more time.
Most of the rest of my day I prepped for my show. Took a nice long nap in a quiet worship space (I think I snored). Sat with my Friend Esther. Wrote in my Journal. Ran through my lines.
Then I had my show. People lined up an hour in advance. Crazy. I felt the show went well. The pace and the length seemed just about right. I am in the midst of still tweaking bits. Vlad's dance seems long here to UK audiences. Maybe in the US too, but no one has said that since my earliest workshop presentations of the piece (before I edited the song some). Good laughter (they laughed more than most US audiences) and I felt well connected.
After the show James Alison came forward to greet me and inform me that the ushers had to turn away 500 people. The venue already held 500. Hope they went instead to the Beer and Hymns at the Organic Beer Tent.
After my show I dashed to see Ikon, a group from Northern Ireland that does provocative theater. This year's theme was The God Delusion: Where Does Your Faith Lie. Lots of deep questions they asked. Not much more to say about it right now. Left me lots to think about.
I need to go to bed immediately before I have a 30 minute interview with Premier Radio from 8.30-9.00 UK time. Premier is a fairly conservative national Christian radio station. I am shocked that they invited me to it. I believe you can listen live.
So many people to thank for today, but especially my host James in Cheltenham (Jimbo at GCN) for providing me such a restful place to lay my head.
I first listened to James Alison give a talk about the New Testament Clobber passages (most often used to clobber lesbian, gays and bisexuals). Last Year James covered the Old Testament passages, and after hearing him speak, I declared on this blog that I want to have his Biblical love child. I still do.
In his talk he discussed Romans 1 and expertly unraveled it. I left during the Q&A, but Trevor told me about a man who stood up and said something like, "All my life I have been condemned by that passage in my churches, but now you tell me it doesn't condemn me." And Trevor said you could see the light and freedom breaking over the man's face. You can read James Alison's thoughts on Romans 1 here.
Next I just chilled a bit knowing I had to pace myself, especially in the hot sun. I did go to the Liquid Lunch where a panel of four funny people (comedian types) talked about Greenbelt, what they saw, what they recommend and comments about the festival. Very fun and I even got a mention!
In the afternoon I heard worship leader Matt Redman present at the Main Stage. I will have more to say about this when I have more time.
Most of the rest of my day I prepped for my show. Took a nice long nap in a quiet worship space (I think I snored). Sat with my Friend Esther. Wrote in my Journal. Ran through my lines.
Then I had my show. People lined up an hour in advance. Crazy. I felt the show went well. The pace and the length seemed just about right. I am in the midst of still tweaking bits. Vlad's dance seems long here to UK audiences. Maybe in the US too, but no one has said that since my earliest workshop presentations of the piece (before I edited the song some). Good laughter (they laughed more than most US audiences) and I felt well connected.
After the show James Alison came forward to greet me and inform me that the ushers had to turn away 500 people. The venue already held 500. Hope they went instead to the Beer and Hymns at the Organic Beer Tent.
After my show I dashed to see Ikon, a group from Northern Ireland that does provocative theater. This year's theme was The God Delusion: Where Does Your Faith Lie. Lots of deep questions they asked. Not much more to say about it right now. Left me lots to think about.
I need to go to bed immediately before I have a 30 minute interview with Premier Radio from 8.30-9.00 UK time. Premier is a fairly conservative national Christian radio station. I am shocked that they invited me to it. I believe you can listen live.
So many people to thank for today, but especially my host James in Cheltenham (Jimbo at GCN) for providing me such a restful place to lay my head.
Comments
But I agree that you need to be on TV!
Wow. What an opportunity. My grandad listens to that - you'll be reaching a very very very different audience.
Anyway, glad you're enjoying Greenbelt. Our Friends meeting this morning asked me to pass on their best wishes to you and say that once our building work is done, they hope you will be able to perform there.
CA
PS. Do you have time to meet up before you go back to the States?
Peterson, glad you are having a great time in England. I've been trying to get a hold of Sarah to arrange for you to come down here to California. Can you let her know because I'm not sure if she got my emails.
May God bless you in all your doings,
Alan
PS I am woring on a new blog that is a synopsis of the Gospels...if you're interested in checking it out, go to
http://holygospelofjesuschrist.blogspot.com/2007/08/introduction.html
I presume in the seminar on the "clobber passages" there was someone from a more conservative position giving a response?
CA, Got your partners' message. I will call you SOON!
Alan, I will get her in touch with you.
Anna HP, yes, will do tomorrow when I finally stand still for a few minutes :-)
Peter O, I believe James Alison's address, in a large part, was in direct response to decades of Conservatives voicing their views about queer folks and using these clobber passages to support their beliefs.
so glad you liked ikon. we enjoyed every minute of it from preparation to the last knitted stitch!
i was one of your hour-long queue-ers. worth every second of the wait. thanks again!
shirley