Jubilee!

I'm back from my whirlwind trip to Pittsburgh for the Jubilee Conference run by the Coalition for Christian Outreach. It was a fantastic weekend for a number of reasons - especially catching up with old friends! The theme of Jubilee this year (and every year) is connecting your faith to what you do in the classroom, the gym, the club, the grocery store, and anywhere else (sound familiar Calvin people?). The difference is that the CCO is often giving people their first exposure to this. As a campus ministry organization that works on both secular and Christian campuses, they're teaching people for the first time that a Christian doctor does things differently because he or she is a Christian (and that doesn't mean just praying for patients either). The Saturday afternoon seminars are chosen by area of academic interest, so you can learn about teaching as a Christian, business as a Christian, politics as a Christian, etc. (Check out the list of seminars here) Again, this is nothing new for Calvin folk, but what was new and refreshing was watching other people respond to it. Their passion reminded me why this stuff is so important. We've beat the idea of a Christian worldview to death at Calvin, but the truth is that it's an important concept. Being told to engage culture with discernment causes a gag reflex for us, but I saw people this weekend being freed from a lifetime of watching and listening to crap simply because it's "Christian." I also saw people genuinely struggling to understand why the most important thing for a talented musician who is a Christian might not be to preach about Jesus in their songs. I don't want to sound to high on Calvin here, but we often take it for granted.

The main plenary speakers were the highlight for me. Again, nothing revolutionary, but solid, Biblical teaching that encouraged us to be forces for positive change by interacting with the world in the name of Jesus. The lineup included Elaine Storkey, a lecturer at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford and president of Tearfund - a international charity, Saleem Ghubril, a one-time Lebanese refugee who is now the head of the Pittsburgh Project and actually got to deliver the eulogy at Mr. Rogers' funeral (yes, that Mr. Rogers), and John Perkins, the Mississippi civil rights activist and community development worker who really needs no introduction. They were all excellent in their own ways: Storkey for raising awareness of prominent global issues (specifically international debt and global warming) and discussing a Christian response to them, Ghubril for his heartwarming and convicting challenge to get involved, and Perkins for his inspiring call to be a force for change in our communities and churches. (For more detailed bios check this out).

One of the seminars I went to was by Carl Trueman, a professor at Westminster Seminary. Now I'm not really high on Westminster, but this guy spoke on a topic that is near and dear to my heart: the idolatry of the theological practice. Scholars of theology need to talk about how to be a Christian theologian because it's not as simple as it seems. How do you keep a balance between talking about God and talking to God? How can you be a good parishioner when you know more about theology or the bible than your pastor does? And, most importantly, how do you prevent the subtle shift from worshipping God to worshipping knowledge of God? Trueman did a very nice job with his discussion, though it had the overtones of a conservative who sees himself as in constant battle with the ultra-liberal academy.

I also had another big question answered for me this weekend: yes, it is possible to modulate eight times in one song. Don't get me wrong - the worship leader was terrific and thoughtful, his band was tight, and everything was well done - but the man simple loved to modulate! He was good at it and it always felt very smooth and appropriate. Yet, I can't help wondering if it was too much. I wonder if I was the only one who noticed (I'm pretty confident I'm not). And I also wonder why nobody ever modulates down. Why can't we drop a song of confession down a half step before the last refrain to add that extra depth of despair? Can't we throw a few downward modulations in the next kyrie we sing? This is lent after all!

So, all in all, I had a wonderful weekend of Jubilee! I even got to spend an hour walking around the 'Burgh feeling homesick for Pennsylvania. Maybe I'll try to post some of my pictures later.