I’m typing this from my hotel room, hoping that a little moblogging tonight might work out. I have been told my numerous people (incl. Anna Aven) that Fuller’s library had wireless internet, so I tried to find it tonight to no avail. I finally was directed to a note on a whiteboard on the 4th floor of the library in a little room that said that Fuller’s Wireless Internet was a “pilot project” and after that project, they’ve decided to stop offering it. Well, that’s great. Thanks Fuller.
Today was a good but full day. We had seminars first thing after morning worship, and I attended one led by Phyllis Anderson from Seattle University, titled “That They May Be One: Unity and Division in the Church.” It was pretty interesting, talking about ecumenism. I think my heart is really in the ecumenical movement, but one thing she kept stressing was the importance and the resurgence of denominationalism in our postmodern era. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like more people don’t so much *care* about denominations…am I way off there?
Dr. Miroslav Volf spoke with us on “Dancing for God” in the morning, and the importance of theology to be focused solely on God, and done for God, and not to please others, academies, constituents, etc. Our goal in theology should be to know and love God more, and to be dancing and living “for an audience of One.” After Volf’s talk, I met Anna Aven for lunch at Barney’s Pub in Old Towne Pasadena – a nice place. I survived her wonderful driving in downtown Pasadena and had a fun time making more face-to-face blogging contacts.
In the afternoon we learned about our fellowship. I am amazed. I have $5000 to do WHATEVER and do that WHEREVER I want next summer. This will definitely be something I am going to be processing, thinking about, and hopefully doing it collectively with all of you who read this blog. I’m very excited about the many possibilities of travel, research, ministry and new opportunities and connections. We’ll talk more about this later. But what freedom and creativity…!
After some roundtable discussions this afternoon with fellow “fellows” we met and worshipped and listened to Dr. Volf share a homily on “Passing the Faith,” in which he described what it is like for him as a son (a preacher’s kid), and as a father now of two sons, to think about how to pass on the faith. Incredible to hear him share just a small portion of his life story with us.
Then we were off to some dessert and fellowship and now…I’m tired. Feeling like I can’t shake this cold, so 2 Tylenol PMs and I’m off to sleep like a log. I’m definitely going to become a huge proponent of the FTE. There are amazing people putting this conference on. Also, there are 110 absolutely wonderful Undergraduate & Ministry Fellows here. People are all wonderfully creative, have had diverse
multicultural experiences, share a deep hope for unity, are passionate about peace & justice and making a difference. It’s a very exciting group to be a part of this week. And for the most part…we are mainliners. I’m sure there are some Evangelicals here, but for the most part, we’re United Methodists, Presbyterians, United Church of Christ (which I’m very interested in) and Episcopals (I think those are the largest denominations represented). We’ve had some interesting conversations about denominations, and about terms like “mainline” and “evangelical” (and the difference between evangelical (which is probably a good thing) and Evangelical (which…well, yah, I don’t need to go there)).
I’m very excited to be here, and glad that I took the time to fill out this application. Off to bed.