about that

Urbana 09 -- Part III

I’m beginning to understand the Urbana-is-life-changing thing. It’s slightly overwhelming.

Since this is a highlights reel and not a third-grade book report, here’s a bit about what is rocking my world:

The evangelism track of seminars includes a bunch of sessions about homosexuality and the way the church and gospel relate to GLBTQ people. One such session was led today by a conservative, fundamentalist Christian who has been living with gay people, immersed in gay culture, for the last ten years. He talked about how we should respond to the big questions: Was I born this way? Can I be gay and Christian? Am I going to hell? (and others). He spoke with more relevance, truth, and understanding, and with fiercer love, than I’ve ever seen anyone bring to the topic.

In some ways, the lessons I’ve been learning about loving gay people were reinforced. In other ways, my entire paradigm was rocked. I’m still processing it.

In our main session tonight, two speakers and a number of dancers and dramatists brought messages about displaced people groups and human trafficking. The statistics are worse than I could have imagined; the stories are more devastating than I can comprehend. Poverty. Slavery. Forced prostitution. Millions of lives. And but for the grace of God, I am one of them.

I’m not sure what decision this awareness will elicit in me, but I’m no longer satisfied with my former justice agenda of avoiding Wal-Mart – unless their prices were just too good to pass up. I don’t want my comfortable prosperity to rest on the shoulders of slavery and injustice.

One last thought: A speaker tonight suggested that we should live to be forgotten. That we should spend our whole lives lavishly for the gospel. That when people remember us, they should be able to see nothing but Jesus. In this celebrity and legacy-driven culture, the idea is intriguing.

Lots to think about.