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[photo by Courtney Perry // flickr group here]

Some moments in life are only appreciated years after the fact. Time gives you the perspective to recognize that a specific moment in your past has deeply changed you.

Other moments, it’s obvious to you that change is happening – in the now. For me, Christianity21 was a collection of those kinds of moments….

Twenty-one presenters, all women. There was a time in my life (it almost feels like a previous life) when I thought it was important to have women’s voices heard in the church so that things were fair. This past weekend, it became clearer than ever that we, the Body of Christ, will be utterly and embarrassingly incomplete without these voices. These voices stand on their own. Its not about equality. Its about being whole.

A gathering where all are welcome. Again, for me its about our communities being whole. How are our church gatherings complete and whole if entire groups of people are missing/excluded/prevented from being there? While not representative of every demographic on the planet, Christianity21 felt like a more whole representation of the Church than most churches I’ve been in lately.

A way I can follow. I’m too tired (and getting too old) to spend much more time determining what ways of following God I’m not interested in. I need to be around people who follow God in a way I can believe in. A way I can follow myself. I heard these ways articulated this weekend, and I saw snapshots of people walking in this way.

Like I said in a previous post, I’m a little biased because we were involved in the event, but I’m certain that the ways in which I was changed by the event had little to do with me, or our work there.

Can’t wait ’til next time.

This entry was posted on 10/16/2009 at 1:53 pm and is filed under about imago, faith, gatherings . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.