What's Tony Thinking

Mockingbird, Theology and New York

The 15th annual Mockingbird Conference is in the books. A bunch of amazing talks, great worship/ music and friendly/ interesting people. I’ll give you a link here to the site for video’s of the talks/ presentations. I particularly recommend, “The Gospel of Wellness” by Rina Raphael, “Shhhh . . . Can You Keep a Secret” with Helena Dea Bala, and “Of What Value Is It?” by Jonathan Linebaugh. All the presentations were great, these three were especially superlative, i.m.h.o.

There was a good group from Crackers and Grape Juice at the Mockingbird Conference. Fun to see and hang out with folks that I had until now only know on line.

Speaking of Crackers and Grape Juice: Here’s the video/ audio of the first session, last Monday, of “What’s Theology Got To Do With It?” As noted in the message with the video, it’s not to late to join the 150+ who are signed up. Next session is Monday May 1 when the reading is pp. 31 – 60 and the topics are 1) the difference between natural and revealed religion and why it matters and 2) when we say “Scripture” what does that mean and why does it matter?

New York is a rainy place this weekend, but before that we had enjoyed what Jane Jacobs wrote of as “public life.” One particularly beautiful spot is “The Little Island,” just west of the Whitney Museum on the Hudson, and part of the High Line of New York with walking and bike paths all the way along the lower west side.

Perhaps part of the now oft-mentioned “epidemic of loneliness” has been the atrophy and diminishment of the places of public life, places where we enjoy “the company of strangers” in Parker Palmer’s memorable phrase. The photo doesn’t do the magic of Little Island justice. It is a delightful spot.

Many of the public spaces in Seattle were given over to defacto tent camps. Even if needed for that it came at a cost to the whole community.