Christ in the Commons

Like many folks, I’ve been wrestling with the idea of Christian festival… Not just the “why” and “how” but the “how it fits.” I’ve been rethinking our EE missiology. Sure, I could go door to door, and have before. But my spirit withers in the face of artificiality. I’m thinking you can’t love someone you don’t share land with. And you can’t love someone you can’t feed. I feel this missiological seed growing in my brain. I want to see God give us joy as we make festival. And I want to see that joy spill over into our neighborhood. And I want this “spill over” to begin with the literal spilling over of food in such a way that it becomes a “real” metaphor for us becoming living sacrifices, thereby assuming our priestly role as intercessors.

For this year’s International Festival, I built a “party wagon” to make our festival experience more fun. Three kids can ride in a detachable seat. (Pictured are the McBride children – LtoR, Eli, Charis, and Isabella). It holds a 100sq.ft. canopy, cooler, and five+ chairs. It’s well-balanced on bicycle tires and so it’s easy to “drive.” The handle breaks down (Bill McBride’s holding it in the picture). We had a blast this year. The kid’s loved riding and we were the envy of the crowd. Everyone was pointing and smiling. Many passersby commented to the effect that we were “master festival-goers.”