How We Started and What We Do

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Who and what is this?

A weekly gathering inspired by the Wild Goose Festival (google it), created by a former NBA mascot turned spiritual director and a bunch of hooligans in recovery welcoming anyone, whatever your journey of strong faith or non-faith, doubting or seeking, religious or non-religious, wealthy or not so much, who love the idea of love but do it awkwardly. We are straining to stop our striving and immerse ourselves in the pursuit of being more human, more present and more authentic; through spiritual connection, creative arts and expression, message and storytelling. We are rooted in the Jesus teaching narrative of Loving God and Loving Others without caveat and without exclusion.

What do we do when we meet? 

We pray and talk over coffee and donuts. Have communion and hear a message.  Expression through music occasionally happens, laughter is fairly recurrent, children make noises, spills occur, we run out of chairs and cause great commotion in getting more out. Henry tells stories and gives a message that sometimes reflect what he planned on saying. There is occasional holy heckling and you might even see a tear due to personal epiphany or even an amen that sounds a lot more like “holy s#*! We attempt to explain who we are and what we do to the hikers going through the but we're fairly unsuccessful in doing so because it doesn't sort of sounds like church but that just doesn’t describe the experience. 

You just have to be there, and I promise the Goose followers will gladly annoy you with an inadequate explanation, yet mysteriously we all come back again because the underlying message and vibe is “you belong regardless of what you believe!”

Why the Goose thing?

The Celtic Christians looked at nature and saw God revealed in all His glory and they understood God best when they took symbols from what they experienced. The Holy Spirit was symbolized by the wild goose. Doves were docile and delicate, but the wild goose was untamable, free, and unpredictable. Instead of a soft coo, the wild goose was noisy and raucous. And it seemed always to be on the move—on a pilgrimage ordained by the Lord Himself.

Jesus said that those Christians who were led by the Spirit were like the wind—you don’t know where it comes from and you don’t know where it’s going. A Spirit follower is one who follows the wild goose is wild and free themselves. They have lives that are less than predictable. They live life to the full (John 10:10). They are wild and free, untamable either by society that would bind them with lies or by religion that would chain them with duty and obligation. 

(adapted from Bill Tenney-Brittain whoever he is! We googled it)

A life following in the tailwind of the wild goose. That’s the kind of life that calls to our innermost being and awakens the lethargic longings within.

If you really want to live life to its fullest—to live a life that follows the Wild Goose, we invite you to consider yourself a member of the community whether you attend or not, whether you believe or not…you belong. So enough now shut up and grab a donut and coffee and bask in all the awkwardness.