Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Visions of Vocation

Home
Careers, Workplace and Religion
A Glimpse into The Gathering

A Glimpse into The Gathering

Last updated on: November 4, 2015 at 9:42 am by Dr. Steven Garber

A Glimpse into The Gathering 2015-11-04T09:42:37-05:00 Dr. Steven Garber

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The most beautiful, and the most broken, all together— making sense of both is the question of my life, and of every life.

IMG_6823-300x225

A little while back I was in Dallas, Texas, taking part in the Gathering, an event that is hard to describe. It is difficult to even imagine that it happens. Once a year several hundred people with hearts longing to offer their resources to address the complex aches and pains of the world, come together to deepen their discernment about what might be done on the face of the earth— if the compassionate use of accumulated wealth could be brought to bear. It is as strange, and wonderful, as it sounds.

And this year, set within a beautiful hotel between Dallas and Fort Worth, day and night for several days these people came, thinking and pondering seeing and hearing, laughing and lingering, committing themselves to the complexity of the world.

The causes and concerns span the literal globe, from the systemic reasons for homelessness in American cities, to the perennial heartaches of Haiti, to modern-day slavery with the thousands upon thousands of faces that call for release, to the almost unimaginably intractable questions of justice and mercy in our globalizing political economy— and more and more and more.

Brought into being by Fred Smith, the hopes and dreams of the Gathering come from his heart. Through his life he has read widely, and cared deeply, resisting the easy black-and-white responses that most of us are all-too-willing to live with. Like every one of us, he has commitments and loves, but it would be very hard to capture them with a political name. His beliefs about right and wrong, good and evil, justice and injustice, do not find a home in the partisan politics we know so well. And over time, he has earned the trust of good people all over the country, each one a steward of more than most, aware of their responsibility to pay attention to what might be done to offer compassion and mercy, justice and truth, to the wounded world in the name of Christ.

I was asked into several settings over the days, from a book launch of Jena Lee Nardella’s One Thousand Wells, to a morning focused on “the never-ending influence of movies and media,” to an evening with the arts community of Dallas, to a morning and afternoon exploring “the economics of mutuality” with remarkably serious people whose vocations have taken them into places with great responsibility for the way money and markets work for the common good, and finally to an evening with the new film, “The Great Gilly Hopkins,” celebrating a story that tells the truth about the human condition in language the whole world can understand. And that was just my schedule! There were hundreds of other people taking in different questions, each one played out before the beautiful and broken world that is ours.

The words, “the compassionate use of accumulated wealth” kept running through my mind. I first heard the words years ago from Francis Schaeffer, who I am sure was working out a vision that was supportive of the best of the capitalist economy, while sympathetic to the high ground of Marxism which had asked questions about “why?” and “how?” that should not be easily dismissed; he was trying to carve out “a third way.” Hearing the conversations at the Gathering, meeting its participants, I wanted to add the words “visionary and entrepreneurial” to Schaeffer’s, being deeply impressed with the active and engaged character of the strange and wonderful community of kindred spirits that came together to consider their own responsibility, born of love, for the way the world turns out.

May their tribe increase.

(A beautiful place between Dallas and Forth Worth, somewhere near the heart of Texas.)

For more from Dr. Steven Garber, check out his Commons Blog from The Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation and Culture.

Previous Post

October 28, 2015

The Good Work of the Praxis Labs

Next Post

November 11, 2015 M&M's and Moral Capitalism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Excerpts Book Reviews Community Conferences Dear Steve Economics Meaning Movie Review Uncategorized Vocation

Select a Month March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What ailment did Jesus heal with mud made from saliva?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Paralysis Leprosy Blindness Deafness