What Good Is the Goose?

The final entry in my series of reflections on the Wild Goose Festival.

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I occasionally tend towards hyprer-criticism. I realize my posts on the Wild Goose Festival might make it sound like I didn't enjoy the updated camp meetin'. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Or perhaps it sounds as if I'm tired of progressive Christianity and its insistence on social justice and hospitality. Again, that's not the case.

I came back from Hot Springs excited to shower, sleep in my bed, see my wife, and eat something not cooked outside, but also excited for the future of the Church.

I came home excited to go back to the Goose in coming years.

Why am I so critical of Wild Goose, then? Because the festival, its organizers, and its presenters can handle the criticism. More than that, they appreciate, listen to, and incorporate the criticism. There is a shared hope that the festival can and will improve.

But I have to say, the festival is in a pretty good place already.

It's a place where people live into a economic of God's abundant provision - where a group shares meals - three of them a day - with strangers and asks only for donations, trusting that they'll receive what they need to do it all again next year.

It's a place where Catholics celebrate the Mass with an open table.

It's a place where liberation of the oppressed is proclaimed.

It's a place where critical self-examination is not just about individuals but about entire systems - including the featival itself.

It's a place where children, adults, and the elderly talk and think together as teach each other.

It's a place where care for creation is the norm.

It's a place where, in Christ, ALL welcome each other regardless of gender identity, sexually orientation, political affiliation, or race. All are unique but also one in Christ.

It's a place that looks a lot like what the Church should be, where we come together in all of our brokenness, in all of our healing, with all of our ideas, and listen to the Holy Spirit.