Commentary
Is This Really The End?
July 10, 2012 06:00 PM
As I started today, I found that there was this question for which I urgently need a definitive answer.
I need an answer not only for myself, but for my friends, my family and my community of faith. I need an answer so that I can make some decisions about what life is going to look like in the future. The answer will either give me new direction or set me free...maybe both. Either way the answer will not be easy to absorb because a “yes” will be painful and a “no” will mean some hard long-term work for a lot of people. Still, there is an answer that must be had.
The question which currently consumes me is whether or not the Cornerstone Festival is really dead.
On the one hand, there is a strong case for the festival being dead. I have shirts and posters with dates in tombstone fashion: 1984-2012. There was a Viking-style funeral procession and boat burning. I've heard countless lead singers telling crowds that this was their “last chance” to jam at the festival. I've seen and heard the sadness in the faces and voices of long-time festival goers and JPUSA folks alike. I've witnessed the dwindling crowds and changes in community attitude. I've seen the website and email announcements and read the articles which discuss them. Truly, there are strong reports of the festival's ultimate demise.
On the other hand, there is so much evidence that Cornerstone is still alive. I was at the Underground stage for the return of Squad Five-O and for Flatfoot 56's pool party. Those events were the epitome of being alive. I saw people living in community for a week, loving each other with a love that only comes from Christ. I saw the art and heard the discussion of issues that are important to the Christian community and the world as a whole. I saw dirty, broken people praying for their brothers and sisters on the side of the road and outside performance tents and by the lake. I heard the sounds of praise as small groups gathered at the old Main Stage site and at the lake to sing praises to our Creator and Redeemer. I saw lives in transformation, which is being alive at its most essential. Surely these are strong indicators that the reports of Cornerstone's demise have been greatly exaggerated.
We all should have asked the right question last year, after the call for support. That would have been an appropriate time to ask if the festival was at a critical stage of survival. Now, I think that the concrete reality that we all may have attended our last Cornerstone Festival is hitting us like the heat that blanketed the festival grounds this year. It is an oppressive, unrelenting fact and it is making some of us quite miserable.
Still, there are glimmers of hope to be had in the search for an answer. Even now, there are those who are planning to return to the farm in Bushnell even if there is no festival to greet them. There are bands who had amazing shows and could only bring themselves to say “if this is really the last Cornerstone” when talking about it from the stage. Some bands talked of the success the festival had given them and of their hope for the festival's future. For many, including some from JPUSA, there is talk of “maybe we'll do this again” in the future.
We are, after all, a people that serve the risen Christ...hope is supposed to be what we are all about and resurrection is the great working of our Lord. Our stock and trade is a gospel that snatches the perishing from jaws of death. We all love a great comeback story. We love to see victory when defeat seems certain. Our songs, books, shows and movies are full of tales similar to that glorious moment. We love it when the hero wins...it is in our better nature and it is what gives us hope.
This all leads me to the very thing for which I am searching...the answer to my question. I don't believe that the Cornerstone Festival is truly dead, but only “mostly dead” as in The Princess Bride. I believe that with a community the size of the one I witnessed this week and with the Lord's help that we can all work towards a situation where the festival can live well into the future. We've all got our own motivations for why we want to see Cornerstone survive. Personally, I love the music but I can't bear the thought of this year being my 3 year-old daughter's last Cornerstone when she is just really beginning to get into it and when I've got another kid on the way who will never get to experience the beauty and wonder of the Cornerstone Festival community if we don't get off our butts and figure out how to get this done.
Clearly some changes need to be made and some work needs to be done, but we've been letting the same folks carry that load for the last 29 years. It is time for those of us that value this life-giving event to pitch-in. The love of Christ, hard work, and commitment are the only things that can save this festival.
So the question remains for us all. Is the Cornerstone Festival really dead? We must each reach our own answer for ourselves and then reach for either a shovel to bury it or a defibrillator to get it up off the stretcher. As for me, I've buried enough of the things I love in this life. I think we should all find a way to make this work.
I’m not sure how to get started, but this seems to be the place the we should start the conversation.
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyCornerstone
I need an answer not only for myself, but for my friends, my family and my community of faith. I need an answer so that I can make some decisions about what life is going to look like in the future. The answer will either give me new direction or set me free...maybe both. Either way the answer will not be easy to absorb because a “yes” will be painful and a “no” will mean some hard long-term work for a lot of people. Still, there is an answer that must be had.
The question which currently consumes me is whether or not the Cornerstone Festival is really dead.
On the one hand, there is a strong case for the festival being dead. I have shirts and posters with dates in tombstone fashion: 1984-2012. There was a Viking-style funeral procession and boat burning. I've heard countless lead singers telling crowds that this was their “last chance” to jam at the festival. I've seen and heard the sadness in the faces and voices of long-time festival goers and JPUSA folks alike. I've witnessed the dwindling crowds and changes in community attitude. I've seen the website and email announcements and read the articles which discuss them. Truly, there are strong reports of the festival's ultimate demise.
On the other hand, there is so much evidence that Cornerstone is still alive. I was at the Underground stage for the return of Squad Five-O and for Flatfoot 56's pool party. Those events were the epitome of being alive. I saw people living in community for a week, loving each other with a love that only comes from Christ. I saw the art and heard the discussion of issues that are important to the Christian community and the world as a whole. I saw dirty, broken people praying for their brothers and sisters on the side of the road and outside performance tents and by the lake. I heard the sounds of praise as small groups gathered at the old Main Stage site and at the lake to sing praises to our Creator and Redeemer. I saw lives in transformation, which is being alive at its most essential. Surely these are strong indicators that the reports of Cornerstone's demise have been greatly exaggerated.
We all should have asked the right question last year, after the call for support. That would have been an appropriate time to ask if the festival was at a critical stage of survival. Now, I think that the concrete reality that we all may have attended our last Cornerstone Festival is hitting us like the heat that blanketed the festival grounds this year. It is an oppressive, unrelenting fact and it is making some of us quite miserable.
Still, there are glimmers of hope to be had in the search for an answer. Even now, there are those who are planning to return to the farm in Bushnell even if there is no festival to greet them. There are bands who had amazing shows and could only bring themselves to say “if this is really the last Cornerstone” when talking about it from the stage. Some bands talked of the success the festival had given them and of their hope for the festival's future. For many, including some from JPUSA, there is talk of “maybe we'll do this again” in the future.
We are, after all, a people that serve the risen Christ...hope is supposed to be what we are all about and resurrection is the great working of our Lord. Our stock and trade is a gospel that snatches the perishing from jaws of death. We all love a great comeback story. We love to see victory when defeat seems certain. Our songs, books, shows and movies are full of tales similar to that glorious moment. We love it when the hero wins...it is in our better nature and it is what gives us hope.
This all leads me to the very thing for which I am searching...the answer to my question. I don't believe that the Cornerstone Festival is truly dead, but only “mostly dead” as in The Princess Bride. I believe that with a community the size of the one I witnessed this week and with the Lord's help that we can all work towards a situation where the festival can live well into the future. We've all got our own motivations for why we want to see Cornerstone survive. Personally, I love the music but I can't bear the thought of this year being my 3 year-old daughter's last Cornerstone when she is just really beginning to get into it and when I've got another kid on the way who will never get to experience the beauty and wonder of the Cornerstone Festival community if we don't get off our butts and figure out how to get this done.
Clearly some changes need to be made and some work needs to be done, but we've been letting the same folks carry that load for the last 29 years. It is time for those of us that value this life-giving event to pitch-in. The love of Christ, hard work, and commitment are the only things that can save this festival.
So the question remains for us all. Is the Cornerstone Festival really dead? We must each reach our own answer for ourselves and then reach for either a shovel to bury it or a defibrillator to get it up off the stretcher. As for me, I've buried enough of the things I love in this life. I think we should all find a way to make this work.
I’m not sure how to get started, but this seems to be the place the we should start the conversation.
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyCornerstone
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The Emperor Has No Clothes
December 23, 2011 09:40 AM
When I was a kid, I read a lot. In fact, I should clarify that by “a lot”...I mean that I used to spend time leafing through encyclopedias when I didn't have other stuff to read. My mother liked to support my reading from an early age, so she enrolled my in a Disney book club that existed at the time and I ended up reading a Disney adaptation of the classic story of the Emperor's New Clothes. I must have read that book a bunch because I can still see some of the illustrations in my head and I just hit 40. (If you are someone that has never read some version of this story, I suggest that you pause and at least do a Google search to read the story before I drop the big spoilers in the next sentence.) I think that I was always fascinated with the story because I found it absurd that it would take a small child to point out that the Emperor was wearing no clothes. I mean really...who is stupid enough to pretend that that someone or something is not actually as it is presented to be? Apparently, most of us are that stupid.
Now, please understand, we are all going to be deceived at some point. I can look back over the course of my life and point out some real humdingers where I was totally snowed by the hype surrounding a prominent figure. Anyone remember Mike Warnke? Like a lot of people, I bought that dude's load of bullcrap until Cornerstone magazine did a definitive investigation that exposed his con. Unfortunately, that wasn't the first nor the last time that I was fooled by someone like that. Heck, I even recently believed that a politician could introduce change and transparency in Washington.
Before I digress further, I would like to get to my point. There are many, many, many people and/or causes out there that are not what they appear to be. From preachers and leaders to non-profits and politicians; there are a lot of people that either believe their own hype or worse, have orchestrated it to fool others and thereby profit from their naïveté, either through financial gain or the acquisition of power. I could start listing folks that have done this, but that always devolves into a he said/she said argument because honestly...some people never learn to recognize a person's bullcrap...especially when it is clothed in god or country or cause. This has played itself out through history with often tragic results. People say that a movement or a church with an explosion of growth and success is definitive evidence of God's blessing or political mandate or God's will or even some sort of moral altruism. For those people, I would urge that you investigate the Nuremberg Rallies, Revered Jim Jones, the Communist Revolution, and any number of fallen televangelists. Additionally, for anyone who feels that such critical statements come from a lack of faith or perhaps general negativity, I would suggest that you read Jesus' interactions with money changers and religious leaders in Matthew 21 and 23, respectively.
It has been said that you learn everything that you need for life in kindergarten. That may be true because that was about the time that I was introduced to the ever-present truth that quite often the Emperor has no clothes! Isn't it about time that you woke up and starting asking some questions?
Now, please understand, we are all going to be deceived at some point. I can look back over the course of my life and point out some real humdingers where I was totally snowed by the hype surrounding a prominent figure. Anyone remember Mike Warnke? Like a lot of people, I bought that dude's load of bullcrap until Cornerstone magazine did a definitive investigation that exposed his con. Unfortunately, that wasn't the first nor the last time that I was fooled by someone like that. Heck, I even recently believed that a politician could introduce change and transparency in Washington.
Before I digress further, I would like to get to my point. There are many, many, many people and/or causes out there that are not what they appear to be. From preachers and leaders to non-profits and politicians; there are a lot of people that either believe their own hype or worse, have orchestrated it to fool others and thereby profit from their naïveté, either through financial gain or the acquisition of power. I could start listing folks that have done this, but that always devolves into a he said/she said argument because honestly...some people never learn to recognize a person's bullcrap...especially when it is clothed in god or country or cause. This has played itself out through history with often tragic results. People say that a movement or a church with an explosion of growth and success is definitive evidence of God's blessing or political mandate or God's will or even some sort of moral altruism. For those people, I would urge that you investigate the Nuremberg Rallies, Revered Jim Jones, the Communist Revolution, and any number of fallen televangelists. Additionally, for anyone who feels that such critical statements come from a lack of faith or perhaps general negativity, I would suggest that you read Jesus' interactions with money changers and religious leaders in Matthew 21 and 23, respectively.
It has been said that you learn everything that you need for life in kindergarten. That may be true because that was about the time that I was introduced to the ever-present truth that quite often the Emperor has no clothes! Isn't it about time that you woke up and starting asking some questions?