The Emergent Gathering - A synopsis

Hey Everyone,
I attached a description of what took place at the Emergent Gathering in
Glorieta, New Mexico. This time was a 'cure for the common conference' by
creating space for real life genuine interaction on an equal field for
everyone involved.

I highly recommend this gathering to anyone who would like to experience new
thinking in how to follow Jesus and to witness deeply thought out faith.

The conference was coordinated by emergentvillage.com

Thanks,
Eric R.

The Emergent Gathering:
October 2-5, 2007
Glorieta, New Mexico
Cost:
Registration $75
Housing $2-$80/night depending
Attendance: 120 people (room for 200)
Travel: for me was $226 by bus + $40 food

This event is best described as a ‘gathering’ because there are no paid speakers and virtually no plenary sessions where you sit and listen to a central figure. The main activities of the gathering are ‘conversations.’

Events:
Each day there was an informational meeting where the day’s conversations were explained and directions were given as to which hour the conversation would take place and where it would happen. There were 3 conversation hours in a day; each 90 minutes long. Anyone could create a conversation. The groups varied from 5-30 people, depending on the conversation. At the conversation it almost always was a ‘guided discussion,’ meaning that someone introduced the topic and then asked a question. Then it just went from there, everyone would interact in a conversation. The topics varied from “Exploring the Essential Message of the Gospel” to “Felt making for Beginners” to “Utopianism, Isolation and Communities of Justice.” The beautiful thing about this gathering is that everyone was a contributor and everyone took ownership for what happened. This prevented the passive attendance and fostered a time of genuine interaction.

Meals:
Meals were also announced at the morning meeting. Meals were the individual’s responsibility but most of the meals took place communally. The whole time I was there I only ate one meal by myself. What this meant was that someone would announce, for example, that they were making spaghetti at 6pm for dinner at cabin 358. So if you wanted to join this event you came, cooked, cleaned, chipped in a few dollars for the people who bought food and you all ate together. It was a fantastic way to eat in genuine community, support a sustainable lifestyle and interact with many different people. Every meal was this way. One group from San Francisco offered breakfast every day at a different location. They cooked eggs, hash browns, etc and different people were there each day.

Housing:
This conference center is owned by the South Baptist convention, so there was everything from $2/night tent camping to $100+/night luxury hotel. Many people stayed in some sort of communal arrangement like a cabin with multiple bedrooms or a dormitory.

Hospitality Center:
This really got my attention. Every night a place was designated as the hospitality center. Which indicated where the after dinner conversations took place! Invariable there was crackers & humus, cheese & wine, beer & Chips, stogies & wine, bread & wine, and some more wine. What I liked about this was that about 20 bottles of wine would be consumed each night and it was a given that this was OK, there was no pretense for consuming alcohol. It was a very genuine time together with very deep conversations ranging from the influence of Heidegger on Derrida (philosophy) to how Nate met his wife, to what is going on in Holly’s faith community, to how to properly pack a tobacco pipe. It generally filled out with 60+ people at about 9pm and lasted past 1am.

What Was Significant for me:
• There was no competition on any level. For example everyone was dressed in normal clothes, as opposed to the newest and latest fashion show going on at every meeting.
• There are no experts, no super stars; just beautifully flawed followers of Jesus. I talked with everyone- those who had written books and those that had not. When everyone shared and contributed to the gathering this changed it from a passively involved conference to real life interaction. It brought home the reality that I can live as a follower of Jesus at every moment of my life. This also allowed those who would not be the main speaker to share and contribute significantly.
• The connection to people living in new monasticism. Think of a relevant, 20th century monastery that dives into the culture of the street to communicate the good news that Jesus proclaimed. I met amazing people who are living out there faith in creative ways that match the context in which they live. One of these communities takes vows each year to live out the teachings of Jesus. This was a blast of sunshine to the dark cellar where my faith as resided for so long.
• Hippies. Oh, yeah! Vegan hippies! They taught how to make felt from raw wool!