I’ve heard about the Wild Goose Festival’s (WGF) greatness for years but never experienced it firsthand. Two weeks ago, in the hills of North Carolina, I strolled onto the campgrounds for some of the best three days of my career. There, I found thoughtful Christians and others dissatisfied with the status quo of faith and the world.
Wild Goose is “a 4-day festival at the intersection of justice, spirituality, and art.” It was inspired by American Christians who attended the Greenbelt Festival in the United Kingdom, an outdoor music festival with spiritual and justice-oriented undertones.
From the onset, the festival’s conveners and leaders could not have been more welcoming and gracious. Months ago, Good Faith Media (GFM) and WGF partnered to promote the festival and provide content for GFM’s outlets.
As the GFM team set foot at the festival, we were filled with anticipation and a sense of the unknown. This feeling added an element of excitement to our experience.
However, we were not entirely unprepared. Thanks to the guidance of GFM contributing correspondent Kali Cawthon-Freels, we were equipped to navigate the schedule and the heat, significantly enhancing our overall experience.
The Goose brought some of the greatest thinkers and scholars from the faith arena: AJ Levine, Brian McLaren, David Gushee, Doug Pagitt, Jim Wallis, and Jacqui Lewis, to name just a few.
However, the breakout star of the entire festival was GFM’s very own Starlette Thomas, director of the Raceless Gospel Initiative.
Thomas’ presentations advocating for a Raceless Gospel and deconstructing race as a human construct struck a chord with numerous participants. Listeners gathered in the sweltering heat, shaded by tents, to hear Thomas talk about the importance of “somebodiness” and how the fallacy of race has been so ingrained in our culture.
McLaren spoke about the doom humans are facing due to global warming. If humans do not take climate change seriously and implement wholesale changes, then the planet and its inhabitants are cooked.
People of faith can lead the way, but we must step outside our colonial and capitalistic mindsets to listen, learn and apply Indigenous wisdom. Instead of dominating the world, we must understand our place within it as caretakers of God’s creations. As such, we sin against the Divine when we ignore or abdicate our responsibility.
Other WGF speakers sounded warnings about the rise of white Christian nationalism, an existential threat to the Christian witness and democracy. Wallis, Gushee, Pagitt and Lewis are doing their part to help counter Christian nationalism and promote a path forward championing inclusion, freedom and justice for all.
Professor AJ Levine was an intriguing speaker for numerous reasons, but her ability to remind the crowd of Jesus’ Jewishness was most important. As a Jewish New Testament scholar, Levine was perfectly positioned to discuss how Jesus operated from his Jewish culture and faith. Christians must not separate Jesus from his faith to propagate their own.
(Listen to Levine as this week’s guest on the “Good Faith Weekly” podcast.)
When people cite Jesus as the “way, truth and life,” Levine encourages people to embrace that idea. Even though she does not profess Jesus as Lord and Savior, there is nothing wrong with allowing the ways of Jesus to guide you closer to God.
While the theological conversations stimulated the mind, Wild Goose’s music inspired the soul and filled the heart. Performances by Jennifer Knapp and Flamy Grant connected sacred music with real-life lyrics. For two artists who have felt the sting of fundamentalism, it was inspiring to hear God’s love and graciousness shine through their music.
Every night after the concerts, a fantastic moment of “Beer and Hymns” filled the campground with sounds from church history. “Beer and Hymns” is a beautiful and sacred experience that brings people together through the collective singing of the holy music of hymns.
The most sacred moments were those organic encounters with other sojourners. From long talks with fellow Jesus-followers to an impromptu ordination service, feeling the Holy Spirit move among the campground was divine.
The experience culminated for me when I was asked to officiate at the final service. Greeting the crowd in Muscogee filled my eyes with tears as I broke the bread and poured the wine for a moment of remembrance.
I told the crowd how Muscogee culture encourages families to include a final meal of sofkee and fried bread inside the casket for a loved one’s journey to the great beyond. When Jesus offered us bread and wine, he also followed his cultural traditions. The sacred supper is a meal for our journey ahead.
As we drove away after the festival, I knew I would return. In a world where it’s hard to find true inspiration and community, the Wild Goose Festival brought me to a place where I found both.
It is not perfect—nothing is—but it’s a place where imperfect people seek to be and do a little better in this world. And for me, I need those moments and I need those fellow sojourners.
