Well, the third 'Victor Jara Liberation Library' is over, and what a treat it was! 25 delegates from across the UK gathered to share ideas and actions relating to a liberative theology.
A bit of social justice singing and worship from both the Iona and Taize communities was followed by a Bible study shared in a participative framework.
Then I presented a short piece on the issues facing Liberation Theology today (Inequalities of power and wealth, Climate Change, discrimination, war, attacks on the poor, poverty of education) before we spent a bit of time sharing our own contexts, and the groups of folk who had encouraged and enabled us.
We had an update from two members who had visited Kabul earlier in the year to meet with a Peace community in the thick of the harsh life in Afghanistan
One of the folk then shared about the work of SPEAK and the upcoming proposed direct action against the weapons fair down in London in September
at lunchtime, some of us went and lobbied the local Parliamentary candidates over the NHS as part of the 38' campaign.- there should always be a bit of 'action' a part of these conferences!
Sue Richardson then did a great bible study in a Liberation Theology format, emphasising our own experiences that we bring to the story from scripture.
We ended with Dr David Golding giving his take on why Liberationists need to take climate change seriously. Then we wound around a 'Labyrinth of Liberation' before preparing for the Ceilidh!
The Ceilidh against the Cuts was the most inspired bit of the conference. Many of the sanctuary seekers I work with were invited, so seeing Eritreans, Iraqis, Syrians, Iranians etc. getting to grips with the niceties of Scottish dancing was something to behold. It was a surprisingly moving event - and so much fun.
Strangely enough, 'Liberation Theology' needs to be 'liberating' - that means that as well as good theology, it should be fun and involve good dancing. I recall a great quote that says something like 'Its not my revolution if I can't dance to it!'
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