CBE International Conference, Pittsburgh

I was greatly blessed by having the fortune of attending the CBE International Conference held in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, July 26-28, 2013. Given that it was only a 3 hour drive from my home and the fact that I had family living in the area and a weekend free of the usual busy-ness, it made perfect sense that I should attend.  The following is a very minimalist list of the top ten takeaways from this conference for me.  This list does not do full justice to the fullness of all that I learned and the inspiration that I now have to learn even more:

1. The story of creation is important. God’s creation was “good” as labeled by God himself. God’s creation of male and female in the image of God himself was labeled “very good” just as it was “not good” for man to be alone.
2. It was sin entering the world that messed up the original order of God’s creation. The result is death and disorder. Not the way God originally created things.
3. If the original sin, by temptation of the serpent, was to disobey God, in order to “be like God, knowing good and evil” are not hierarchicalists perpetuating this sin, being like God?
4. Jesus (God) came into the world as a servant to redeem creation from its disorder and to provide a way back to original creation and relationship with God Creator.
5. One’s view of the Trinity is important. God – father, son, & spirit equally God versus a hierarchical viewpoint that God is over Jesus and both are over Holy Spirit.
6. The interpretation of scripture is important. The original languages and the context of the culture and time that the scriptures were written can influence our interpretation. If our minds are already made up, it is difficult to be open to differing viewpoints.
7. It is important to take the ENTIRE bible into consideration. The ENTIRE story of the bible -creation…sin…redemption is the context of our reading and interpretation, not just single verses here and there.
8. Some people really know how to pray. Prior to the conference ending communion service, a woman from the Cambodian group in attendance was asked to lead us in prayer in her own language after hearing that her country was in turmoil following elections. I don’t remember when I have heard such passion in crying out to God. I believe all in attendance (including me) were weeping with her though we did not even understand the words.
9. No matter how much one might disagree with another point of view, we need to model the grace and love of Jesus and treat those with different viewpoints with the utmost respect while respectfully disagreeing with them. We must continually pray for the inspiration and leading of the Holy Spirit.
10. This was a very worthwhile and informative conference. If ever you have the opportunity to attend a CBE conference in the future, I would strongly recommend that you do so.

If you would like to purchase copies of CBE’s conference recordings, visit this link: http://www.equalitydepot.com/2013pittsburghconference.aspx