I Got Goosed!

I attended my first Wild Goose Festival (also known as The Goose) in 2014, in Hot Springs, NC. The Goose delivers on six commitments: Co-Creation, Storytelling, Radical Hospitality, Real Relationships, Non-Violence, and Always Evolving. Goose participants include social justice advocates, misfits, mystics, prophets, sages, storytellers, and seekers—this is where you experience the disconnect of spirituality with certainty. The Goose is a safe space for connecting, learning, pondering, and transforming. The Goose is where I got introduced to Reverend William Barber II, Tripp Fuller, Brian McLaren, Sara Miles, Jim Wallis, and Lisa Anderson. There was music from David Lamotte, Lyric, and Jars of Clay, among others.

The primary outcome of attending the Goose was a call for action! I knew I needed to return in 2015. The highlight for me at the 2015 Goose was Bree Newsom Bass, who climbed the South Carolina State Capitol flagpole to remove the Confederate Flag! This festival was about peacemaking in a time of Black Lives Matter, following the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, in August of 2014.

I kept returning to the Goose until it moved from Hot Springs, NC, to VanHoy Farms & Campground in Union Grove, NC, in 2022.

I returned to the Goose this year. Once again, a great experience, but I missed sitting in the French Broad River, cooling off, and getting re-baptized in nature. I missed the giant old-growth trees that shaded the Goose participants in Hot Springs. Change makes you realize what you take for granted and expect.

There were tents set up for speakers, presenters, panel discussions, music, art, cinema, yoga, book sellers, and conversations. Even the United Methodist Church and Episcopalians had tents!

Some speakers shared their Holy Spirit moments of recognizing that LGBTQ+ people are not sinners and their love for a person of the same sex was not a sin. There were others like Aaron Davis, who spoke on From Guns to Trees, a former NRA fundraiser, who realized after listening to Reverend William Barber II at the 2015 Goose that he and the NRA were oppressors. They were not leaving the world a better place for tomorrow’s child.

Sarah McCammon and Ray Waters, Beyond Belief: Navigating Post-Evangelical Faith, shared their transformations away from conservative evangelical “truth.” Why would God give “truth” to a small group of people who practiced exclusivity? They pointed out the danger of the moral majority of fusing the evangelical church with politics. It’s mean-spirited.

John Pavlovitz, The Christian Left and the Christians Who Left, shared that he is having a hard time being a Christian today. He asked, “What can we learn from MAGA Christianity?” After all, caring for the least of these is not part of the American Dream. He calls for seeking to be partners, not owners, and to fight kingdom building like Jesus did. He challenged participants to know their community, go to the gap they see, and act upon it. Make all people feel visible as Jesus did.

Mike Maeshiro pointed out that Jesus made it clear that radical redemptive love doesn’t have room for an eye-for-an-eye. He suggested looking in the mirror and asking yourself if you are entitled to hurt others. Maeshiro reminded us to stay hopeful with Unitarian Minister Theodore Parker’s words, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

The panel discussion with Lisa Sharon Harper, Robb Ryerse, Rev Dr. Perzavia Praylow, and Robb Schenck on Christian Nationalism was informative and concerning. The number one concern among conservative evangelicals today is transgender people. Love is not what it says; love is what it does. Do not confuse white Christian Nationalism with holiness. Christian Nationalism is a new form of the Crusades. The words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer still hold, “The Church is the church only when it exists for others…not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.” They suggested that what needs to happen in the church begins by following the lead of women – white guys need to be quiet! Get transformed!

Gee Bree, Dividing Bone and Marrow – an exercise in differentiating between sexual and romantic attraction, and other lessons from Ace Theology, facilitated an enlightening conversation on asexuality and helped us understand sexual and romantic attraction, including what the church has taught. I have more to learn from her facilitation!

My last Goose experience was with Grace Ji-Sun Kim, a Presbyterian professor of theology at the Earlham School of Religion, who spoke about her book, “When God Became White.” She began by stating, “Everything is connected to race. Race influences how we act and behave daily.” Kim shared that she was an Asian immigrant girl who grew up with a white Jesus. Warner Sallman’s painting, The Head of Christ, hung on the family’s living room wall to continuously reinforce that Christ was white and so was God. The Church was and continues to be a significant source of racism and sexism in the world today. As a result, how we know God is how we behave. How we treat others determines our racism. Before there were Black/White labels, people were differentiated by Christian and non-Christian.

The truth is, Jesus was not white, but you can’t have a savior who does not look like you! The Church needs to stop becoming like white people. How are we going to move away from a white male God? Kim suggested we begin by seeing God as a verb – see God as active and as wisdom. Like the warning label on cigarette packages, the Bible needs a warning label. Getting rid of racism and sexism is at the heart of the Bible. We need EVERYONE at the table!

My 2025 Goose experience still lingers as I ponder, think, and reflect on who I saw and heard. I am moved to act upon what I learned and experienced.

Go forth into the world in peace.
Be of good courage.
Hold fast that which is good.
Render to no one evil for evil.
Strengthen the fainthearted.
Support the weak.
Help the afflicted.
Show love to everyone.
Love and serve the Lord,
rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit;
and the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, the + Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

Join me at the 2026 Wild Goose Festival, September 3-6. For more information, including ticket details, visit wildgoosefestival.org.