Burning Man

For the first time our church is sending out a team of five people (pictured above) to join a larger group (45 others from different parts of the US) for an outreach at Burning Man. They will do the same things we do at the Fair and the Boat Races but on a much larger scale. Burning Man is probably the largest pagan festival in the US. Around 30 – 40,000 people gather in the Nevada desert for a week. The Burners (the attendees call themselves this) are very unique people from all walks of life. The event is described on their website as this:

People make the journey to the Black Rock Desert for one week out of the year to be part of an experimental community, which challenges its members to express themselves and rely on themselves to a degree that is not normally encountered in one's day-to-day life. There are no rules about how one must behave or express oneself at this event (save the rules that serve to protect the health, safety, and experience of the community at large); rather, it is up to each participant to decide how they will contribute and what they will give to this community. The event takes place on an ancient lakebed, known as the playa. By the time the event is completed and the volunteers leave, sometimes nearly a month after the event has ended, there will be no trace of the city that was, for a short time, the most populous town in the entire county.

Something common at Burning Man is mutant vehicles (pictured to the below). The arts are encouraged and promoted. They express their creativity by decorating bicycles (a common mode of transportation), mutant vehicles, and even your bodies (many people walk around naked with their bodies painted or decorated with props).
Our team is bringing their own mutant vehicle - a shopping cart. Pictured below are some pictures I took with Tom. That thing is huge.
The Burning Man Team is there to do dream interpretations, life readings and handout water bottles (20,000 to be exact). In the past the Burners have been truly blessed. Some have changed the direction of their lives. One year a gal asked if someone could lend her a shirt, suddenly she was not comfortable with her nakedness. She was not told by any members of the team that she should cover up, but after spending time in God’s presence she wanted to. I’m sure my husband, Shadraq, and Don C. (other members of the team who blog) will be posting stories from their time in the desert. I will let you all know when this happens.

You can read an article my husband wrote about Burning Man by clicking HERE. In his article there is a link to the Burning Man website where you can find out more about this event. I will miss him terribly while he is gone, but I do have company. Shadraq’s wife is staying with me along with their very adorable baby.

I hope that you all have a great weekend.

© Nadine Z. 2007