We had a lively, fast-paced weekend in Chicago and Milwaukee, leaving home on Friday morning and arriving at the headquarters of University Bible Fellowship mid-afternoon, where we had a wonderful meal with UBF leaders. After dinner I lectured in an auditorium filled with mostly university students. My topic: "Leadership Reconsidered: Acknowledging Jesus as a Failed Leader." It is a controversial topic and I had their attention. My thesis is that Jesus turned all ordinary concepts of leadership upside-down, and that by any standard of leadership, Jesus failed----though he surely never set out to be such a leader. I hope they are still talking and mulling over the ideas.
On Saturday we drove to Milwaukee where we met my sister Kathy and her friend Jen. Before that we stopped by the Milwaukee Public Museum for their much publicized exhibit "Body Worlds" (described many places online). It was as fascinating as it was intense, and we have no regrets spending the $22/person entry fee, which included as much time as we wanted in one of the finest public museums in the country.
We had hoped to spend some time on Sunday at the Art Institute and at an afternoon showing of the musical "Wicked," but Chicago streets were blocked for miles around for some sort of big marathon and accompanying festival. After being trapped in traffic for more than twenty minutes we decided to head for home.
Our earlier Sunday morning worship was truly serendipitous. As we were heading for Lake Shore Drive to go downtown, we went by Loyola University campus and turned in and discovered Madonna Della Strada Chapel--an absolutely spectacular church right on Lake Michigan. We walked the Stations of the Cross in silence, alone but for one other couple. This Madonna had inspired Ignatius Loyola himself, and now she watches over this wonderful large church--hardly a chapel.
