Theological Conference in Galveston

An interesting first day of the Tri-Synodical Theological Conference in Galveston.

The site is Moody Gardens--a magnificent hotel and conference center.  As per my usual routine at such events, today, I made it a practice of involving myself at the conference activities, tomorrow, I will rest and write sermons for Sunday worship and two funerals, and Wednesday I will be back at scheduled activities.

Today was intriguing to say the least.  Our first worship service was an immersion into the worship of "The Emerging Church."  That's a flashy title concerning "cutting edge worship and preaching."  Honestly, as I sat through the experience, I found it to be absolutely nothing new.  I'd experienced such things 12 years ago as I went through seminary.  Even wrote a short poetical reflection at the end of the experience:

Emergent Worship
Church lite
One giant group hug
Without the actual
Relationship
Feel it
Experience it
Tug the heart chains
Reminds me
Of camp
For grown ups
Nothing new here
Move along.

As you can see, I wasn't too impressed.  I know such worship fills a need for some, and I applaud it.  I am glad that some truly get connected to God and to the church through it, but it was not worship that fed me.  And that's O.K. in my book.  Each must worship in a place where God touches them. 

The second part of today's conference was the keynote speaker: Marcus Borg.  I'd read several of his books before, and hearing him speak was O.K.  I personally consider him an intellectual light weight.  I'd love to see him and Timothy Keller get into a true debate.  Keller is my hero when it comes to Christian apologetics.  He's good.  Real good.  But that is another topic of another conversation.

For now, I'll reflect on what Borg said, file it away for usage if necessary, and enjoy my free evening having a good dinner, a cold beer, and a friendly game of dominoes with my friends.