On the Ground with the One Project – Report 5
By Maylan Schurch, February 15, 2016: Here are some of the things I find refreshing and impressive about the One Project . . .
There seems to be a suppression of names and personalities, in a good way. Not that anybody is trying to keep these names secret, it’s just that nobody seems to be seeking recognition or prominence. For example, I don’t know the names of any of the worship team people. Nobody introduced them. And they don’t seem to be divas, any of them. They’re from the Boulder, Colorado church, as far as I know.
The One Project decided not to pay the Westin Hotel’s fee for providing wifi for the group. (I have a separate Verizon account for my iPad, which is why I’ve been able to post these reports.) The master of ceremonies, whose name I think is Paddy McCoy, said to us yesterday, with a perfect touch of irony, “Some of you have been asking wifi code.” Then he glanced at a piece of paper in his hand and said, “Here it is: ‘too stinkin’ expensive.” So this means that almost nobody among the 1200 or so people here is hunched (like I am) over a keyboard. And nobody seems to have a problem with that.
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Zane Yi, assistant professor in the School of Religion at Loma Linda University, is speaking right now about the search for truth. Pilate was a truth-seeker. Early in the morning he was roused from his chambers to try to figure out the truth about Jesus. Truth-seeking requires asking questions, and Pilate makes personal inquiry of Jesus. He seems to want to know. Had Pontius Pilate been reading Plato’s account of Socrates, who was accused of corrupting the minds of the youth by simply asking questions?
Zane suggests that we need more people like Pilate, who ask questions and who really want the truth. Pilate learned a lot that day, that religion gone wrong can cause people to kill each other. He was able to discern what the religious leaders were trying to do. The truth is rarely simple—and we’re drawn to people who promise to fix what’s wrong with a “silver bullet.” We need more people who are willing to discern the complexity of truth.
However, despite this desire for the truth, Pilate finally wavers. Once truth is discovered, one must take action, and this Pilate couldn’t bring himself to do. Instead, he engages in a cringeworthy, awkward, evasive dance. He passes the decision on to Herod, and when Jesus is sent back, he tries to negotiate with the crowd, and placate them. The truth about Pilate is that he cared about the truth—but not enough.
