Flocking to the Wild Goose

What is the Wild Goose?

I feel a little guilty for staying in bed until 11:30 this morning, but only a little. It’s been a week and I still haven’t caught up on missed sleep from the festival that is Wild Goose.

The Wild Goose Festival was a four day event focusing on art, spirituality, music, and justice that took place during the last weekend of June in Shakori Hills, NC. Talks and performances were given by many well-known progressive Christian leaders, musicians, and even mainstream presenters who gathered together to pursue the Wild Goose—a Celtic symbol designed to encapsulate the free and uncapturable nature of the Holy Spirit.

The above photo is of me talking with author, preacher, and lecturer Brian McLaren about one of his recent books. Dialogue was a key theme of Wild Goose, where presenters were asked to reverse traditional speaking roles by asking the audience questions while remaining engagingly receptive to each person’s response.

Ben Wright is a minister, teacher, Christian television producer, professional DJ, and a member of the stage crew at the Wild Goose festival..

Photos by Bill Guerrant

How It All Started

The festival began with an opening ceremony in which participants were invited to apply various items to their skin in a three step ritual—water to wash away the sins of injustice, mud to unify all as the created possessors of the imago dei, and ash to honor God’s sacred presence within. Opening talks were given by Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? music producer T-Bone Burnett, who explained that due to outside interests, art was the only true form left for discussing the Divine, and Sojourners magazine founder Jim Wallis who stated that, “instead of pointing out what is wrong with other religions, we should be practicing our own.”

Photo: Jim Wallis discusses Christian responsibility for American's poor.

Open Dialogue

Judgment and sleep were not the only things missing from Wild Goose. During a “festival feedback” session with event coordinators, participants identified a lack of individuals with more fundamentalist views; a component recognized as needed in order for true dialogue to occur in the future. Despite talks from Richard Twist on indigenous myths and Anthony Smith on African-American spirituality, the event had a noticeable lack of people of color; both among ticket-buying participants and presenters. Contrary to other reports, ageism was not prevalent among participants. Mid-lifers were as equally represented as twenty-somethings, if not more so, in addition to large appearances by many young people and children who were presented with their own specialized Goose events.

Photo: Richard Twist explores the stories of the Lakota and other indigenous peoples.

Music at the Wild Goose

In addition to powerful speakers, the musical performances at Wild Goose proved to be life changing. Folk Rock-Punk Fushion Jam Band, Psalters provided the most widely attended opening performance as a barrel drum complimented banjos, an accordion, and rusty vocals in a symphony of jubilant praise. The unmistakable reality of Spirit-fueled bodily vibrations was undeniable to everyone present. Derek Webb paused between songs to talk about concerns near to his heart and Jennifer Knapp interrupted her own set with stories of experience as a formal CCM recording artist. Knapp also took time out of her performance to record an “It Gets Better” video at the festival.

Photo: Jennifer Knapp recording an "It Gets Better" video, photo by Brian Russell