Last year I had the extraordinary pleasure of being a part of a first - unco10 - which was held at a conference center outside of Washington DC. It was life-giving. This year, even though the date of unco11 runs through research and study days and f.i.n.a.l.s. at LPTS, I decided to press on and finish things early or reschedule things in order to be able to be part of unco11. I'll be traveling Sunday afternoon through Monday afternoon. Unco11 is from Monday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon. Traveling home Wednesday afternoon to Thursday evening. Last final: Friday. I cannot wait to see old friends and to meet in physical space some I've only met via Twitter, Facebook or other venues.
So what is this unco thing? It's an unconference. Here's the unco website. It's #unco11 (or whatever year) on Twitter. It's UNCO on Facebook.
The basic 'schedule' is something like gather, eat together, worship together, hang out around a campfire, sing some, talk a lot, sleep a little, run or walk, eat together, pray together, share gifts and conversations, eat together, more sharing of ourselves and our gifts, open space to do or nap or be, cookout together, sing some more, hang out around a campfire some more, talk a lot more, sleep a little more or less, walk or run, eat together, pray together, break out from the larger group to smaller groups, worship together, eat one more time together or to go, scatter.
It's life in community with some rhythms determined by eating and sleeping and others determined by those gathered. It's life in community with common threads of faith (whether deeply in, confused by, questioning, searching, expanding) and connection (mostly Twitter but also Facebook and through friends.) It's also life in community with respect for boundaries and space. Just because it's on the schedule doesn't mean it has to happen or that a particular person has to show up or participate. Some will observe, some will be tentative, some will be all in, some will be or do all of those things. Some will arrive with spouses, some will bring children. Some are single some are not. Some will have the pleasure of personal time with little responsibility other than to the community. Oh, and we'll have the opportunity to raise some funds and ideas for mercypercolator - how cool is that?
Unco belongs to the community - and may be a glimpse of the fullness of God in this created, creative space.
So what is this unco thing? It's an unconference. Here's the unco website. It's #unco11 (or whatever year) on Twitter. It's UNCO on Facebook.
The basic 'schedule' is something like gather, eat together, worship together, hang out around a campfire, sing some, talk a lot, sleep a little, run or walk, eat together, pray together, share gifts and conversations, eat together, more sharing of ourselves and our gifts, open space to do or nap or be, cookout together, sing some more, hang out around a campfire some more, talk a lot more, sleep a little more or less, walk or run, eat together, pray together, break out from the larger group to smaller groups, worship together, eat one more time together or to go, scatter.
It's life in community with some rhythms determined by eating and sleeping and others determined by those gathered. It's life in community with common threads of faith (whether deeply in, confused by, questioning, searching, expanding) and connection (mostly Twitter but also Facebook and through friends.) It's also life in community with respect for boundaries and space. Just because it's on the schedule doesn't mean it has to happen or that a particular person has to show up or participate. Some will observe, some will be tentative, some will be all in, some will be or do all of those things. Some will arrive with spouses, some will bring children. Some are single some are not. Some will have the pleasure of personal time with little responsibility other than to the community. Oh, and we'll have the opportunity to raise some funds and ideas for mercypercolator - how cool is that?
Unco belongs to the community - and may be a glimpse of the fullness of God in this created, creative space.
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