Notes from the Catacombs Sessions, the Water to Wine Gathering 2019

Something new is occurring, a new beginning.  To name it is to reduce it, to flatten it, to deny some aspect of reality that we all experienced there.  A Holy Spirit filled event of friends, which goes beyond names or definitions, gathered in St. Joseph, Missouri, over a 3-day period (June 13–15, 2019) to worship, to pray, to hear testimonies and amazing talks, and to fellowship. 

This event occurred at World of Life Church by the invite of Pastors Brian and Peri Zahnd to call together their friends, and through them to their friends and family members, to the Water to Wine Gathering. This is the second year of the meeting of friends at the Water to Wine Gathering (W2W19). This year Brian and Peri Zahnd led the gathering with Joe Beach, Jonathan Martin, Cheryl Bridges Johns, Sarah Bessey, and Rich Villodas.     

Brian began the gathering by speaking about “Lovers in a Dangerous Time”.  Our challenge is to be lovers and not haters.  Fidelity to Christ calls us to be lovers.  The American Church is having a crisis of fidelity, especially in regards for many of their acceptance of religious nationalism in lieu of its rejection. To trade in your WWJD bracelet for a MAGA hat simply won’t do. 

The credibility of the Christian witness comes not from dogma either, but from love.  It’s not how orthodox your dogma is that truly matters.  “Love alone is credible” as the great Hans Urs von Balthasar spoke and wrote so eloquently about.  “Love alone is credible” points to the Way for us.  We must love like Jesus.  As authentic Christians, we must seek to bare that kind of love in the world.