In August I traveled to Charleston, South Carolina to speak and play at the STEPS conference, an annual event for church educators and other leaders put on by Charleston Atlantic Presbytery. This time together was three years in the making, as I was booked to do this event when the pandemic interrupted so many plans.
In meeting with the organizing team, we talked together about how best to spend that time, and what we most needed to say and do, and it became clear in our conversation that all of us were trying to figure out how to be together again, after these years of physical distance.
Questions We Are Asking
What does it mean to be community? How could we create warm and welcoming space for each other? How do we navigate conflict in the community, after so much time apart, and in such a divisive time? What work is ours to do in the pursuit of justice? There are so many questions as we create the new normal together.
I couldn’t offer the answers to those questions, of course, but I spent a lot of time choosing and arranging some music, stories, and ideas that might provide some framework for how we wrestle with them. My goal was to help people to laugh, mourn, hope, and dream together, sharing an experience that might remind us all of why it matters so much to be in community and walk through all of it together.
It was a beautiful time, and as I drove back up the interstate afterward, it occurred to me that I’m having a lot of conversations with folks at churches and colleges who are navigating a lot of the same questions and surfing some of the same waves.
Please Get in Touch
So I’m offering it here to let you know that I would be happy to bring that event to your faith community, university, or other group. The presentation is a weaving of story and song, and I’m calling it Coming Alive Again, which is also the name of a song on my new album. If you would like to talk about bringing me to your town, please get in touch, and we can explore possibilities. I’d love to help folks in your community navigate this strange time of re-entry.
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