A local view on being host and guest - by Mark Hofman

During the opening worship service of the Reformed Youth Forum, delegates and stewards alike were asked to bring forward a “gift.” These gifts were not material possessions or even specific talents or strengths – these gifts were written on small pieces of paper and hung on nails protruding from a cloth-wound cross.

In this act of both self-submission and celebration we demonstrated one of the central themes of this Uniting General Council: it’s not all about what you bring, but who you are. As a local steward, I have been happy to represent my college and seminary, my denomination and country in this gathering of Christians from around the world. I have delighted in conversations with Lithuanians, Indonesians and Cubans. I have been asked questions like, “where is your favorite restaurant” as well as, “How can you live in a country without national healthcare?” Each time I answer questions like these, my prayer has been to not only offer my gifts of hospitality and stewardship but that I also speak with the same voice of unity and peace that we are all here to celebrate.

The challenge of unity in diversity is that no matter where you go or who you are there will always be some reminder of the brokenness of our world, our cultures and our gifts. There is no ideal form of government, no perfect politics of peace, no place that one can say is equal to the Kingdom of God on earth. As a local, I have tried to be honest about this broken reality while also celebrating the unique gifts I have to offer. It has been a blessing for me to serve and I have been blessed by those who in turn have served me in their gracious acceptance of who I am.

At the closing worship service of the Youth Forum, Rev. Neal Presa from Middlesex, NJ shared with us a lesson about unity involving the Greek language. Well, I have my own to share: xenos is the Greek word commonly translated as “stranger” or “visitor.” Most often we encounter its meaning in idioms involving fear and strife or xenophobia. However, its original meaning was ambiguous. It was used to both describe the visitor or stranger as well as the host. There was already in early Greek culture the recognition that to be a good host is to know the stranger, and to be a guest is to “host” those who show you hospitality. I can say that as a steward for the 2010 gathering of the WCRC, I have truly understood what it means to be a xenos.

Mark Hofman from Grand Rapids has been a steward in the Press Room

WCRC Blog in French

The French delegates to the WCRC are busy posting away on their own blog:


http://communionmondialedeglisesreformees.blogspot.com/

No skateboards, Calvin!

Seen at the World Communion of Reformed Churches:

Richard Twiss

Richard Twiss' Address to the Uniting Council was both impassioned and of great theological depth. He spoke very personally - I was particularly moved to hear about how he lost his own language, how his own parents chose to make their children speak English so that they would not be forcibly removed as the teaching of English was often given as the reason to remove Native American children from their parents and school them elsewhere. Twiss's name in his own language is Taoyate Obnajin which means "He Stands with His People".
Twiss is passionate about Jesus Christ, about a real indigenous Christian theology and about challenging churches and society to take the issues of justice and reconciliation seriously.
You can find a version of his presentation online here, an article here and more about his book, One Church Many Tribes here.

Hands up for the MDGs!

There are some really lovely postacards with this great image on them in the exhibition area. they come from the Christian Reformed Church's Millenium Development Goals campaign.

I think the image works really well, with different parts of the world on each hand and the idea that the goals are achievable if we all put our hands to the plough. Each hand has 5 fingers - there are five years left to achieve the MDG's - Are you going to put your hand up?
Find out more here.

A few initial photos and impressions from the Pow Wow

So here are some initial mobile phone photos from the great Pow Wow that is still going on next to the River at the Mound in downtown Grand Rapids. the weather is utterly glorious and one of the very moving aspects is how so many people have brought their own drums and worn their best dress for the Pow Wow dance. The atmosphere is relaxed and authentic, what the French would call "une ambiance bon enfant". A wonderful experience, there are fabulous stalls selling Native American crafts and food and it's really just great. an inspired day, particualry following a blessing to start the Pow Wow from Richard Twiss who had given us such a brilliant and challenging presentation in the morning. A day of contextual experiential theology.

Tweet it from Grand Rapids!

As we got off the buses bringing delegates to the Grand Rapids Pow Wow I saw this and this made me smile. Hope you folk are following us over on our Twitter feed
http://twitter.com/reformedcomunio maybe I'll even use the Grand Rapids tag for now we're using the #WCRC tag. Do keep up with your tweets folk. Especially if you don't need an internent connection I'm not able to tweet form the great Pow Wow because I don't have a US mobile. Sorry that should be cell phone.