I ran across this poem that I wrote a while back. And here it is…

Tonight across America

the glow of ten millions screens

illuminate 20 million faces.

They cheer, they laugh, they weep:

the room grows warmer from

human emotion.

Tonight across America

the sound of postmodern life

echoes on textured walls.

The buzz of the dryer,

the beep of the microwave,

and the hum of the refrigerator

sound their quiet industrial symphonies.

Tonight across America

five hundred thousand people

hunch their backs and peer

into their computer screens.

They stare at smiling faces

and other longing souls,

hoping that their clicks

their gently pressed keystrokes

mean a chance at happiness and love.

Tonight across America

I leave America behind.

I climb the trail through the woods

and see the lights of life

yellow and blue and cold

shining  below from a thousand empty streets.

Tonight across America

it is my voice, my breath alone

that penetrates an abandoned world.

Tonight I am nature’s child,

an Adam in a world

that all the other Adams

have left behind.

Tonight across America

one man stands illumined

by the diluted lights of the city.

Breathing in the night

Breathing in the night.

As previously noted, I am a high school teacher. As a high school teacher, I am part of a large bureaucratic structure called the “educational system.” Previous to being a teacher, I was a youth worker and thus a part of a large bureaucratic structure called the “church.” In both places, I’ve had the chance to be a part of gatherings, retreats, and conferences. And in both places, the environment of these conferences is largely the same: good food and luxurious accommodations; charismatic speakers; discussion on innovation and change; fog machines, lights, and loud music.

We are always promised something life-changing. We leave believing in that promise. But somewhere along the way, we lose our energy and our passion. The life-changing innovation is not working and the world is largely the same.  Eventually, we end up questioning whether it wasn’t all smoke and mirrors. We become, at worst, cynical and discouraged.

Contrast this with a few disciples and seekers on a hillside. There are no luxurious accommodations. There are no lights. There are no fog machines or big-screens.

The venue is free. Here, you will only find soft human voices and shared bread.

I’m always trying to figure out how to change the world (it’s on my to-do list). And what I’m realizing is that I’m not seeing a lot of “world-changing” happening in hotel ballrooms or in stuffy conference halls. I think things change when people sit together and talk softly. No agenda. No lanyards. No gimmicks.  Just open space, shared bread, and authentic words.

Show me a conference like this. I’ll be the first to sign up.