Festival of Faiths: 2015

Every year in Louisville, about an hour and a half south and west from my home in Cincinnati, a remarkable gathering of religious voices comes together from across many traditions for a “festival” of conversation, music, dance, prayer and dialogue. Described by Richard Rohr as the “Sundance of the Sacred,” the event is truly both “festival” and “feast,” perhaps a foretaste of the heavenly banquet table.

I have never been able to attend the festival in years past, since it corresponds with the busiest time of year on university campuses. This year I’ve been invited to participate, and because I’m on sabbatical this semester, am very happily able to attend. I’ll participate in three different ecumenical and interfaith panels, and give a keynote on Merton and race.

Everywhere the program is saturated with music, art, storytelling, and poetry – no accident, I think. More than the theologians and philosophers, politicians and priests, it is the artists and poets who help us get back to ourselves, daring us to imagine a different future, tracing glimpses in lines, melodies, and colors of what is possible.

Take a look at the link below for the schedule. It seems to me a burst of hopefulness, a rare flash of encounter and conversation in a world that desperately needs it.

I ask for your prayers this week – and if you’re anywhere near Louisville please consider attending one or more of the sessions. The world is thirsty for light and hope. The smallest gestures of solidarity and communion can be the spark that sets the light ablaze.

Link here to the Festival of Faiths.

Link here for my interview with Louisville’s NPR station on Merton and race.

UPDATE: Link here for blog entries about the Festival (including a few appreciative and humorous posts about my sessions) from Roots & Wings, an inspiring group of young African American artists & poets from Louisville who attended.