The Vandy Conference Paper
O.k., ladies and gentlemen, here it is. Again, this is a paper I presented in January at a student theology conference at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. I was asked to present a paper on the Church addressing the following themes: judgment, faithlessness, brokenness. I agreed to give the paper as a favor to my friend, dante35633. As the paper states, it is a statement from myself from where I am currently in my own life. That's all it claims to be. Even a couple months later I feel that, if I had to write it now, I would likely change or at least reword some things. It may or may not help answer some of your questions concerning my earlier posts. It could just turn out to be a restatement of sorts or it could confuse you more. But since a lot of my thoughts in those posts began to be formed with the composition of this paper, I decided it might be best to share it here as well. Click here and you should be able to download it. Thanks to hobbes for the link advice. And, as always, let me know what you think.
posted by thewalrus at 10:27 PM
12 Comments:
This comment is a test. Someone told me they were having problems posting comments on the site so I am giving it a try.
This is only a test.
12:16 AM, March 11, 2005
Comments are back! My comment: awesome. Honesty as raw and hard-edged as bourbon. A pinch of tact, just enough, like vermouth. Not something you encounter too much these days. May leave an aftertaste, but what the hey, it was poured out with that in mind.
I winced to swallow it. It burned all the way down. I wanted more, but even a shot was pretty heady stuff.
I'm hailing a cab.
I want to savor this all the way home without endangering anyone.
Then I'll come back for a chaser and my car.
9:30 PM, March 11, 2005
yo walrus,
you gonna try and catch the tide in the tournament
10:46 AM, March 14, 2005
2coopers,
Yeah, actually I might. They'll have to get past the first game and maybe the second before I'll see them in Chicago. Any of you guys interested in coming up to join?
12:01 AM, March 15, 2005
kb,
Glad you enjoyed the essay. Even better that it reminded you of bourbon.
12:03 AM, March 15, 2005
"The academy trained me well: I learned to never lose hope in the idea of hope. I still find Gabriel Marcel’s “metaphysic of hope” incredibly compelling. My problem is that I’ve lost my heart. I have plenty of hope but I just don’t care about it anymore. "
"When I heard her say this, every bit of hope I had in my heart for the church simply evaporated."
Okay bud, help me out in reconciling those two statements.
It was good to go back and have a "second chance" at reading this essay. you have my thanks for writing it.
"We have identified the essential problems of the church, namely its current state of irrelevance. We have acknowledged the loss of faith and the lack of identity within the church. But where do we go from here? "
these three problems you identify: irrelvence, faithlessness, and identity... you strike brilliantly at the core of who we are and who we are not. You have much to speak to the church, my friend, much to speak to me.
10:35 AM, March 15, 2005
system,
Your last sentence really hit home with me. There are times that I feel that is true and other times that I don't. But coming from you it means more than you know.
Concerning the two statements: Well, here's what I meant, although I didn't articulate it well. It's the whole distinction b/t the idea of hope and the feeling of it. What I was trying to say was that the academy trained me well in learning to never lose hope in the actual idea of hope. But when I say I don't care about it anymore, that sense of apathy had its watershed moment when I talked to Kathy that day. It was the hope in my heart that left me, not the hope in my head.
1:21 PM, March 15, 2005
system,
Your last sentence really hit home with me. There are times that I feel that is true and other times that I don't. But coming from you it means more than you know.
Concerning the two statements: Well, here's what I meant, although I didn't articulate it well. It's the whole distinction b/t the idea of hope and the feeling of it. What I was trying to say was that the academy trained me well in learning to never lose hope in the actual idea of hope. But when I say I don't care about it anymore, that sense of apathy had its watershed moment when I talked to Kathy that day. It was the hope in my heart that left me, not the hope in my head.
1:21 PM, March 15, 2005
When I responded before to your paper, I asked what kind of response you received when you presented your paper. I'm not sure you answered that.
I also told you how the paper was a little shocking, since I used to know you to be strong supporter of the church. Now, since my many visits and conversations at the second chance I understand where you're coming from when you said you were led to 'leave the church.'
A friend who I actually don't know very well has been struggling with believing, church, etc. She is from a Catholic background. She said that a kid told her her problem was that her church is boring. I know the kid who said that to her also. It kind of pissed me off. Actually it made me really mad, I wish we could stop avoiding the problem by saying church is boring or not contemporary enough or whatever lame excuses people have for not liking church. Not until we realize the true problems, will we ever realize a solution, that is if there is one.
11:27 PM, March 15, 2005
lb,
dante is correct in describing how people responded to the paper at the conference. I have had the widest variety of responses to the paper that you can imagine.
2:15 AM, March 18, 2005
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the paper., even though I did not understand a lot of it. I guess that's all you can expect from a highs chool student.
The one thing that really stuck out to me in the paper is when you said,"They're just taking time to get dressed up with a bunch of people who aren't sure what they're celebrating about". This probably related to what I'm around on a dialy basis more than anything. More than once I have sat in church and wondered if the people I was sitting next to knew aht they were singing about and why they were singing it? I may be totally wrong in assuming this, but I doubt many of them know why.
That's just one thing I took from the paper. For some reason I'm having a hard time putting into words my other thoughts about certain issuse raised from it. Once again, I very much enjoyed reading it, and I think that some of the problems presented in it are 100$ accurate. Good work.
8:37 PM, March 22, 2005
longhorn,
Thanks for taking the time to read it. I think you might be selling yourself short though by saying your just a high school student. Begin where you are and run with it. I expected a hell of a lot out of my students and they responded to it. So, for what it's worth...
11:35 PM, March 22, 2005
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