KindlingsFest 2009: "A place for warm hearts, active minds and hungry souls"

Pastor Dick Staub of the Orcas Island Community Church brought KindlingsFest to Orcas Island for the first time last summer. “KindlingsFest is a celebration of Art and Ideas as they intersect with the spiritual,” says Staub, whose career before coming to Orcas Island in 2007 has included hosting a radio program and the Kindlings Muse podcasts and writing the book, The Culturally Savvy Christian.

One of Staub’s inspirations for KindlingsFest was the group of writers, scholars and thinkers who met regularly at a pub in Oxford, England in the 1930s. They called themselves the Inklings, and included J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Dorothy Sayers and noted theologian and writer, C.S. Lewis, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia and Mere Christianity, among many others.

Staub arrived at the name “Kindlings” as a description for the beginning thoughts and conversations that would develop into a warm and lively interchange of ideas, rather than a triumph of one argument over another.

Staub promotes KindlingsFest as “A place for warm hearts, active minds and hungry souls!” The theme of KindlingsFest 2009 is “C.S. Lewis and Broken Beauty,” in which the idea of C.S. Lewis as Virgil, the Roman poet, is explored.d Following morning lectures by Dr. Jerry Root, conference attendees will have the afternoon to take in island amenities. Evening entertainment will be centered around the BagEnd Café, located around a fire circle on the Community Church grounds.

A secondary purpose of the conference is to promote travel to Orcas Island. “KindlingsFest is intentionally light on programming so you can relax and enjoy the beauty and slower pace of life on Orcas Island…This four-day getaway provides just the right mix of free time for you and your family to enjoy the refreshing wonders of Orcas Island while drinking in a stimulating morning lecture, conversations with artists in residence and BagEnd Café,” the event literature states.

Artists in residence include: painter Bruce Herman, C.S. Lewis scholar/author Michael Ward, filmmaker Rick Stevenson and singer songwriter Michael Kelly Blanchard.

On Saturday evening, Blanchard will perform at the Stage on the Village Green.All other events are held at Orcas Island Community Church, 176 Madrona Street in Eastsound.

Dr. Jerry Root will return from last year, and present morning lectures at 10 a.m. The themes of the talks are:

• Wednesday        Madness, the Arts, and the Restoration of Sanity
• Thursday           Beauty and the Awakening of Desire
• Friday                Art and the Awakening of Empathy
• Saturday           Creativity and Personhood: the Discovery of Self

Catered lunches are available for $10 so that participants can mingle and discuss the ideas presented in the lectures. Advance registration is required for planning purposes. Registration is filling fast, Staub says.

To register, go to https://www.thekindlings.com/kindlingsfest-009/