10.25.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:32 am by Thurman
Just short of two years ago, I emailed Rachel Barrenblat at Velveteen Rabbi and asked her to tell me if I was crazy or not. I don’t know exactly how I worded it, but I basically said, “I just got an email asking if I was going to Godblogcon and after looking over the speakers, I have to say I don’t feel like I’d be particularly welcomed. I’m hoping to put together something similar, but based on a much more inclusive faith identity. Do you think it is doable and will you help me?”
Fortunately for me, the answers were “yes” and “yes”. I am still awed by the way the Progressive Faith Bloggers Conference came together. I can honestly say that I was quite often “the least of these” when it came to putting things together. More often than not, my job was to listen in on the phone and say, “That sounds good to me.” Then they destroyed the motel where I was going to have everyone stay and I felt surely that the one little thing entrusted to me would fall through. Then Enterprise Rent-a-car refused to let me rent a van because I didn’t have an airplane ticket.
But it worked. Somehow, despite my absent-minded professor approach to life, enough good people came together to make something happen. And, if I do say so myself, that something was pretty damn wonderful. I still shiver to realize that Christian, Jew, and Muslim stood shoulder-to-shoulder in Montclair, NJ and joined in prayer on the very same day bombs began landing in Lebanon.
My will and best intentions were not enough to pull off a second blogcon this past summer - more indications that I had incredible help with the first one. But we are beginning to pull together the basic where and when details for next summer (in Amherst, alas, not Jerusalem - or even Texas!). To show everyone how much I’ve learned in the past two years, I’m not going to get involved in that (much). There are able people in charge of it, and I will leave it to them to do their job.
What I want to do is what I think I’m best at - stir up a hornet’s nest. Or something.
Whatever we call this “progressive faith” thing - a movement, a phenomenon, a community - it is fairly obvious that we are much different than when we first met. At that point, I was just happy to find that I wasn’t so much John the Baptist, crying out in the wilderness, as I was maybe Jonah, waiting to be belched out of the fish belly. Whatever we call our conglomerated selves, I cannot say that I am alone or even that much a renegade (this is not to say that I fit in easily anywhere, though).
I don’t know that we have grown so much as we have awoken and discovered others who are so much like us and yet so unlike us. But we have formed organizations and set foundations and begun buildings. Like making sausage and democracy, progressive faith seems to work best when it is messy.
So with probably six months or so before we begin our face-to-face thing, I want to fling open the door and offer everyone a seat at the table. What are your concerns and/or questions? If you could gather a dozen progressive faith bloggers at a single table, what would you want to discuss? Who would they be? What is our role in the blogosphere/public sphere/local church/worldwide body of believers? Do we share goals, values, and/or favorite pizza toppings? Is a blogcon necessary or even desireable? What can we do together that we cannot alone?
Can I actually shut up long enough to let people try to answer these questions? (If yes, then that is proof that God is with us. But if no, then that is not proof that God is not with us - just that I enjoy the sound of my own voice a bit too much.)
This post is so open that the door hasn’t even been built nor the hinges wrought. Grab a cup of whatever thrills you and open your mind so that we might know each other better.
Update: Rachel emailed me to tell me it is in Newton, Ma - just outside of Boston. This is why they don’t let me arrange for travel.
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10.20.07
Posted in conference planning at 2:18 pm by rbarenblat
Thanks to the hard work of blog con member Michelle Murrain, the Prog Faith Con Blog has moved from our former home (at Blogsome) to this spiffy new WordPress install. Thanks, Michelle!
If you’re receiving this message, folks, stay tuned; the planning group is hammering out details now, and we hope to be able to announce the date and venue of the 2008 con soon.
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04.26.07
Posted in community, faith at 6:55 am by admin
Last weekend three folks from the first Progressive Faith Blog Con gathered for a sweet reason — the baptism of PFBC co-founder Thurman’s twin sons. The boys were baptized at an Episcopal church in Secaucus, and for a special twist, they received Jewish and Muslim blessings from Rachel and Hussein. Progressive faith in action!
Thurman wrote about the experience here; Rachel’s post is online here.
Now I’m looking especially forward to the next con — is it summer ‘08 yet?
Technorati tags: religion, progfaithblogcon, progressivefaithblogcon.
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04.16.07
Posted in conference planning at 11:54 am by admin
Months of radio silence, and suddenly two posts in one day — go figure!
Consider this a PSA. If you’re interested in keeping abreast of PFBC developments, there are two ways you can do that:
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Obviously you can read this blog, either by visiting the site regularly or subscribing to our RSS feed.
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And/or, you can join the ProgFaithBlogCon google group.
The google group currently has pretty low email traffic, and I expect that will continue to be the case until next spring when we ramp up to PFBC II (Electric Boogaloo!), but it’s a great place for conversations about what we want the next con to be.
This is not the google group for conference planners — so never fear, you won’t be spammed with planning details. (Unless that sounds like fun to you. In which case, have you thought about joining the planning committee? :-)
Technorati tags: progfaithblogcon, progressivefaithblogcon.
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Posted in conference planning at 8:34 am by admin
Hi, all! After much conversation on the conference-planning email list which was established at the first blog con last summer, we’ve decided that the PBFC will be a biennial event, so we’re planning to hold our second conference in summer of 2008. Those of us who are active in domestic political work will be ramping up to the next Presidential election, and hopefully it will be a great time to gather, share learning and ideas and meals again, and energize ourselves for all of the various forms of progressive religious and political work that we do.
The conference website has been updated to show that the next con will be in ‘08. Meanwhile, if you’re interested in joining the planning committee, let us know! We’ve got a great core group of volunteers, but we’re always happy to have more hands on deck.
Technorati tags: progressivefaithblogcon.
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01.24.07
Posted in community, conference planning at 9:49 am by admin
Hi gang! Long time no blog, I realize; apologies for the lengthy radio silence.
Thurman just posted over at Street Prophets, asking whether there’s general interest in a second annual Prog Faith Blog Con coming to pass (and, as a related query, who out there might be willing to join the planning committee to make it happen, since neither of us is in a position to orchestrate things again.) It would be great if you would weigh in on that question; his post is here.
Hope to see you soon!
Technorati tags: progfaithblogcon.
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08.15.06
Posted in community at 9:20 am by admin
Emily Ronald from The Pluralism Project has posted her post-con write-up. She talks about exploring a new means of communication, defines blogging, and recollects and summarizes the weekend’s events, panels, and conversations.
Well worth a read. Thanks, Emily!
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08.06.06
Posted in carnival at 2:23 pm by admin
This week’s Progressive Faith Blog Carnival is being hosted at Metacentricities. We have a new Carnival Page up, so please have a look. Also, if you would like to host a carnival (we need hosts!!!) please drop an email to carnival@progressivefaithblogcon.com.
There are some other changes afoot, like a webring, and blogroll. We’ll keep you posted!
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07.31.06
Posted in carnival at 1:33 pm by admin
Um, I’m gonna say this one was called due to excessive heat and pretend like it isn’t every bit as hot today as it was yesterday when I forgot to post this.
Anyway, here we go:
Take a highbrow look at how spirituality is necessary for humanity. Then ponder the meaning of a witch. Pause and dispell a nasty rumor or two, while you’re at it.
Wayfarer has news from New Jersey. Peter gets a meal and an update on Lebanon. Over at CAP, Mainstream Baptist looks at defective conscience. Then we find some Q & A concerning the war on terrorism.
See the rest at Xpatriated Texan
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07.26.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:04 am by admin
If you’re interested in hosting the Carnival, leave a comment and I’ll get you set up for it.
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