Making Sense of Mountain Tops (it’s a long one...)

"It was fun."

"It was great."

"It was a good experience."

How do you come back from a mountain top weekend and explain all the nuanced amazingness of what happened. People ask, "How was it?" I say, "It was great!" But it's hard to delve into what was jam-packed into my brain. It's moments like that in which I wish I could do the Vulcan MindMeld so you could just experience this weekend for yourself.

I now know why there are so many workshops, insight sessions, etc. that focus on how to help (mostly youth) process mountaintop experiences. Because no one who wasn't there with you, could ever really get it. That's not their fault, but it's the truth.

All that to say, let me give you the tip of the iceberg of my experience in Chicago this weekend at the Volunteers Exploring Vocation (VEV) event.

The theme was: Your Sons and Your Daughters Shall Prophecy. The event was held at the ChicagoCenacle Center from Saturday, May 18-Tuesday May 21.

Our first Keynote Speaker was Daniel White Hodge, a North Park professor. Here are some notes I took from his talk (some won’t make much sense but hopefully you’ll get the gist of it:

• “People always defer to tradition rather than truth.”
• “Look at God in the profane of life.”
• “assumptions of normality” (quoting John Rock?)
• “What happens when you’re on the highway of your faith and the lanes run out?” (talking about how churched we are as a society and what do we do when we hit a certain point where we don’t know where to go next because no one has prepared us for it)
• We should be “constantly unsettled” (quoting Edward Said (sp?))
• Matthew28:16-20 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
• Tupac – why he touched millions with his music
• Transparent person
• Connected w/fans
• Direct
• Narrative in rap
• Engaged oppression (a universal and panracial issue)
• Was spiritual in a neo-sacred manner
• Questioned authority
• “Christian rap tries to answer too many questions.”
• Resources to check out for further study of the topic:
• Crips and Bloods: Made in America – documentary
• No Country for Old Men – movie
• Dr. Daniel White’s book – TheSoul of Hip Hop (Which VEV so kindly gave each of us a copy of! More on the book once I’ve read it.)
• Lauryn Hill – Musician
• LiquidChurch by Pete Ward – book
• So Many Tears by 2Pac– song 

The big take away I had from him – When we reach the doubt stage in our relationship with God, that’s when we get closest to God and learn the most about ourselves.

We closed with an evening prayer . Everyone was asked to envision a beautiful world, an idealistic world, and told to write down what that would look like on a note card. Then we all shared our hopes and dreams one by one as our prayer for the evening. As much as I like writing and sharing in front of people, it was actually really hard to share what I wrote out loud. I can’t really explain the feeling, but I had written my heart down, not knowing I had to share it out loud and it was really hard to put that out there. Even though it wasn’t anything mind blowing, it was just hard to open up and share with everyone. It was a good exercise in letting people in even if they forgot what I said two seconds after I said it.

Sunday morning we broke up into groups and went to four different churches. I went with the group that attended Trinity UCC. Check out the website and you’ll get an idea of what it was like. It was very different than what I’m used to, but they were very kind, the music was great, and you could definitely feel the Holy Spirit moving in our midst.

It was Women’s Sunday so all the women were wearing white and it looked lovely. They had a guest female preacher who was awesome, a women’s choir, and an all women drill (step) team! So much fun and so much to take in. The scripture was 2KINGS 4:8-21, 32-35 and the preacher talked about how Elisha delved into the deepest part of the woman, a side of her that she had come to terms with and had hidden away, and pulled it out of her. She had decided it was okay to not have a baby because that’s where she was but he promised her the world. It was a lot to chew on. I could write a whole blog just about that sermon, so just ask me if you want more.

When we got back from church we had just enough time to grab a bite for lunch—Chloe and I went to The Pasta Bowl which I would highly recommend—and then headed to afternoon electives.

My first elective was with Angela Gadsden and it was called Educating for Social Justice. It was very interesting but didn’t really pertain to what I was doing personally. So, while I enjoyed the content and the stories, I didn’t take many notes on that one. I have some resources, though, if this is something you’re interested in and want more details.

My second elective was lead by Ashleigh Hill and it was all about gender. Again, it was interesting, but it was more of a discussion on stereotypes than anything else. I didn’t take any notes in that one.

We had small groups (in which we had some great conversations) and evening prayer. But our next keynote speaker was Phil Jackson pastor of the LawndaleCommunity Church and so much more!

He has such good experience and has done some amazing things in the Lawndale Community. He shared a few stories with us and left us with some great pieces of advice, wisdom, and empowerment. A few of my notes from his talk:

• We’re all just “doin’ life together.”
• Filling legitimate needs legitimately—harder to do.
• Stimuli and response
• “See what others aren’t seeing, so you can do what others won’t.”
• “Real Talk”
• “Churchianity”
• “Making the impossible possible”
• Resources
• Black & Free by Tom Skinner – book
• The Hip-Hop Church by Efrem Smith and Phil Jackson – book (VEV got one of these for each of us who wanted one so I have it...again, this will probably be a whole other blog post once I finish it.)
• Hope House Mission
• Family Properties by Beryl Satter – book
• Tha House – hip-hop in Lawndale for youth

P.S. After he spoke, I decided I’m all ready to go to seminary in Chicago, get a duel Master of Divinity and Master of Community Development and Social Justice, and then go work for him. Or at least intern at the Firehouse (caution, the website plays music so check your speakers ;-D).

Then, Monday afternoon, we got fired up again with MatthewWilliams who talked about the book The New Jim Crow and expanded on what’s happening—or not happening—in our legal system right now. We left more educated, but more angry at the injustice of it all. This was another book they got for us and I’m sure I’ll have a follow up post on it once I’ve read it and looked more into what’s happening. Some resources from this workshop:

•  Video of the author (not the one we watched in the elective, but still gives you a taste of what we discussed)
• “A black child born today is less likely to be raised by both parents than during the slave era.” (chew on that...)
• Clockwork Orange – movie
• Google “SouthernStrategy” to get more info on what’s happening
• TheNew Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander – book

My second elective was with a panel of Chicago seminarians. It was one on one, really with only four participants so it was a nice little discussion/Q&A time.

Dinner followed and then small groups. Our final keynote Speaker was Brenda “Mama”Matthews, a Hip Hop Poet and Activist in Chicago. She woke us up, broke our hearts for the people of Chicago, and shared some awesome poetry. A few quotes/thoughts from Mama Matthews:

• “Time to get busy!”
• “That is our job—to give people hope!”
• “Did nobody give up on me so who am I to give up on them?”
• “God is bigger than any circumstance.”
• “I can’t make him see that [God is bigger than any circumstance]. I can’t give that to him. He has to get it for himself.”
• “They’re not going to come to you. You gotta go to them.”
• “You don’t have a testimony until you have a test.”
• “You got to share your story.”
• “It’s time to stop fearing the unknown. Step into the water. Get your feet wet.”
• “We are looking at the souls of people.”
• “People understand what they hear but they believe what they see.”
• “You can see my pacifier (gestures to herself, talking about food), but everyone’s got one.”

We ended the evening with prayer and started the next day with small groups to close up. We had worship and sending with an anointing. And with that, they sent us on our way to implement what we had learned.

Not an easy task but one that we are all hoping to work towards.

Love & Peace,

Rachel