I’m here in Durham, North Carolina anticipating a major winter storm tomorrow and attending my final grad school week long getaway. Prior to our four days of dusk ’till dawn class time that starts tomorrow we have been able to spend the weekend with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and the Rutba House community.

Saturday night we crashed an area wide meal and prayer gathering celebrating the season of epiphany.  As I sat back and listened to the conversations that were happening and observed the way each person treated the other I was amazed. I was sitting amongst a group of rock stars, heroes of nearly mythical proportion. I was sitting with people who fought for the dignity of all peoples, immigrants, convicts on death row, peacemakers who have been imprisoned, and the homeless (to name a few). The people I sat with on Saturday night go to jail for their beliefs, they fight (non-violently) for peace, they give of themselves for others. One woman was even responsible for sta

rting an amazing non-profit that many of you are familiar with called Witness for Peace. It was beautiful to hear them celebrate the season of Epiphany which is a time when we are reminded of the surprising and radical activity of God as is seen in the invitation of the Magi to visit baby Jesus. Outsiders, foreigners, and yet invited into the birth narrative of God himself. The group shared some of the striking appearances of hope they witnessed in the world during the last year, they then dreamed of what they might experience in 2011. It was beautiful. It was inspiring. And it challenged my imagination concerning what God might do in downtown Vancouver, WA over the next year.