A few weeks ago Holly and I were down in Manchester for the liveit! conference, organised by livesimply and CAFOD. The thing that grabbed both of our attentions was the fact that Archbishop John Sentamu was speaking. Here’s some notes I made from his keynote speech on the day…

* What would it look like to exchange places with the poor?
* God’s movement of change wasn’t just an ideology, it was an actual program of transformation.
* [We have] A conflict of responsibilities.
* We must never confuse simplicity with being simplistic.
* The life & teachings of Jesus were often encouched in paradox.
* In our world, the poor look for food, but the rich are looking for an appetite.
* We are not being called into activity, but into resignation, into surrender. Nothing matters aside from God, becoming nothing before him.
* The beginning of simplicity is letting go of concerns and releasing ourselves in abandon to God.
* “Heaven affords unlimited accommodation to the simple-minded.”
* Concern for justice/ecology/etc is not primary; it flows from seeking God first; however we are prisoners to his love and he has left us no choice.
* Freedom is a freedom to love.
* “Only the simple are free. All others are under the tyrannous ambition of self.” – Richard Foster

I just noticed that you can download and listen to Archbishop John Sentamus speech again from the livesimply website: click here and you will see a dialogue box at the top right side of the page.

Notes from the rest of the day coming soon.