Editor’s Note: Good Faith Media is a 2024 Wild Goose Festival media partner. The following appeared in the March/April issue of Nurturing Faith Journal.
Headlines that once shocked us are becoming less surprising. Faith communities are producing more divisive boundaries. “Us-versus-them” thinking is so dominant that significant conflicts are perpetually unresolved, making enemies of us all.
Is this the end? Or could it be the end of the beginning? Perhaps we are experiencing the dying gasps of entrenched social constructions refusing to let go. Maybe what we are feeling are enticements to systemic level change.
A seismic, pervasive paradigm shift is upsetting convention, challenging values and inviting the complete restructuring of social systems. Responding to these dramatic changes requires extraordinary imagination and deeply invested innovation to increase human flourishing and expand social justice.
The Wild Goose Festival: Spirit | Justice | Music | Art is a transformational, experiential gathering and a hopeful place for working together toward these ends.
The festival emerges from a Celtic tradition that sees the Holy Spirit as untamed, disruptive and surprising. This Spirit upsets the status quo, fans the flames of hope and creates space for imagination, like a WILD Goose.
Wild Goose participants visit with many of today’s most creative, thought-provoking authors, artists and status-quo disrupters. They dive into lively conversations with dreamers, social justice activists and peace-makers. Some of these folks are on the official program. Most are not.
Author Brian McLaren sums it up this way: “At Wild Goose, people flock together to celebrate a way of life rooted in faith, justice, creativity, and beauty. It’s like a family reunion where you meet relatives you never knew you had. There’s nothing like it, and I look forward to it as one of the best weeks of my year.”
Wild Goose gathers over a long weekend in July, from Thursday evening until a powerful closing gathering on Sunday around noon. In addition to sessions, intentional and serendipitous conversations occur in tents, under shade trees, around discussion circles, and at campsites. There are celebrations with nightly Beer and Hymn gatherings, as well as incredible music. And there is dance—silent disco, honky-tonk, contra dancing—so much dancing. And there is creation and encouragement.
Many people camp, which is included in the cost. Hundreds of others stay in RVs or at hotels nearby. There are several options for campers to rent camping gear on-site, ranging from basic accommodations to air-conditioned tents.
Summer Faith & Democracy Summit Pre-Festival – Wallis, Hendricks, Lewis, and More
In addition to sessions from Thursday evening through Sunday, Wild Goose offers day-long, cohort-based pre-festival gatherings on Thursday. Led by high-impact thought leaders, these gatherings present a creative, drill-down opportunity to examine important issues in greater depth.
In this defining election year, Christian nationalism will be a Wild Goose focus. A renowned leadership team headed by Jim Wallis, Obery Hendricks and Jacqui Lewis will anchor the pre-festival “Summer Faith & Democracy Summit.”
The Summit will build on a series led by Wallis, New York Times bestselling author of The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy. For decades, Wallis, founder of Sojourners and now the Georgetown University Center on Faith and Justice director, has been a cutting-edge leader helping create the lexicon of social justice conversations.
Cornell West calls Obery Hendricks “one of the last few grand prophetic intellectuals.” As a seminary president, professor, scholar, author and more, Hendricks is one of the foremost commentators on the intersection of religion and political economy.
Dr. Hendricks’ book, The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teaching and How They Have Been Corrupted, is considered by many to be a classic. His most recent work, Christians Against Christianity: How Right-Wing Evangelicals Are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith, challenges right-wing evangelicals on their own terrain.
Jacqui Lewis, pastor of NYC’s Middle Collegiate Church, is a widely regarded public theologian, author, conference curator, and sought-after media personality. Her Ph.D. in Psychology and Religion gives her a unique understanding of the world, and her years of on-the-ground social justice engagement lend remarkable insight and credibility.
Other 2024 co-creators will include David Gushee, author of Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies and Doug Pagitt, executive director of Vote Common Good. Both Gushee and Pagitt are leading voices in calling people of faith to help advance principles of good faith in the public square.
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