Greenbelt Rocks

I have just gone four days without having a wash, not many things would tempt me to do this but Greenbelt was definitely worth the sacrifice. Ten of us from Open Heaven joined another 15,000 at Cheltenham Race Course for the 31st Greenbelt, an annual Christian Arts Festival with a strong flavour of social Justice.

You can get an idea of what Greenbelt is like by the titles of some of the seminars; The Theology of Comedy, Christian Troublemakers, and Bridget Jones Gets God were some of those on offer. The subject matter alone sometimes challenges the ideas of God we have and what we let him be involved in. Always tackling difficult issues, refreshingly relevant to the society we live in and consistently creative, the talks this weekend really stirred me and inspired me. I was reminded that the God we worship is a wildly imaginative and passionate God and that Jesus was a rebel leader who turned the world upside down!

What I love about Greenbelt is that it is a celebration of the world we live in and it is firmly rooted in reality. A pop idol celebrity interviews the head of campaigns at Christian Aid and Jamelia plays on the same stage as Delirious. You wouldn’t feel like an outsider if you came to the festival and you weren’t a Christian but I am convinced you would be shown a different side to God than that which the world usually sees. You’d see a fun loving God, a God who is passionate about the poor and oppressed and is creative and welcoming, a God who gives life and colour and beauty to everything and everyone.

One of the highlights of my weekend was hearing Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, speak. She is an amazing woman and although she doesn’t know Jesus yet, she is clearly made in the image of god. Her relentless enthusiasm in campaigning for issues such as fairer trade rules and third world debt cancellation and her example of a life lived radically and against the grain blew me away. God really spoke through her, that there is so much injustice in the world and that as Christians we should be the activists and campaigners who make a noise and see things change.

The festival and the people that make it what it is just reflect how many different aspects of God there are, you can find him in every part of the world we live in. His representatives are in the BBC, writing songs and recording albums, sleeping in parks with the homeless and getting arrested, they are writing poetry and out on the streets campaigning for justice. They are in Iraq and Israel compelled by God to serve the most needy and break barriers by just being there.

We’re hoping to get a load more of us to go next year. It really is good fun and is a gives you such a different perspective on what it means to be a Christian. God is totally in it and I can guarantee you’ll be changed and challenged by the experience.