[sword-devel] SWORD Meet 2021

[Troy A. Griffitts]

Dear fellow CrossWire volunteers,

It's been a really, really long time since we've had a SWORD Meet.  They
have always blessed me greatly, getting to meet many of you and having
the chance to spend a couple days fellowshipping, brainstorming, coding,
and praying together.  We've had a few unofficial get-togethers, usually
centered around other events we were already attending together like
BibleTech, ETS, SBL, Fringe, etc...

https://crosswire.org/~scribe/pics/photo.jsp?l=/2008/2008-09-18-Scotland/&i=imgp2234_swords.jpg

But it has been over 15 years since we have had regular and
intentionally planned official SWORD Meets...

https://crosswire.org/~scribe/pics/photo.jsp?l=/2005/2005-02-Travel/2005-02-25/&i=imgp0163_groupshot.jpg


https://crosswire.org/~scribe/pics/photo.jsp?l=/2002/0409_rome/2002-04-19_austria_to_cambridge/&i=pict0018_sword_group1.jpg

... when I was much thinner.  I miss the personal community closeness we
had back then.

I would really like to again offer 2 annual occasions for us to get
together in person-- once during May/June in Europe and once in November
in the U.S. 

U.S. - November

Many of us already attend the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS)
annual meetings in November, which are conveniently aligned in location
and time with with the technology sessions of GERT at the Society of
Biblical Literature (SBL).  Those meetings rotate U.S. cities each year,
but are always just before Thanksgiving.  I have met informally with
some of you during these conferences, as well, but I would like to start
scheduling a U.S. SWORD Meet around this occasion.  I propose either a
couple days before ETS or the Friday / Saturday between ETS and SBL,
when ETS is winding down and SBL is still spinning up, and IBR has their
free annual lecture-- which would be fun for those coming who officially
are not attending either conference but coming just for the SWORD Meet.
ETS: https://www.etsjets.org/annual_meeting_overview SBL:
https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/annualmeeting.aspx IBR:
https://ibr-bbr.org/annual-meeting IBR:
https://ibr-bbr.org/annual-meeting/annual-lecture

Europe - Spring/Summer

Our previous meetings were generously held at Daniel Glassey's apartment
in Cambridge, UK.  I always enjoyed Cambridge, with the opportunity to
meet and be encourage by the kind staff and researcher fellows at
Tyndale House research library.  Daniel has been off serving with other
ministries for the past decade so we probably need to find a new
location for our European meetings (unless Daniel reads this and still
would like to graciously offer his flat).

It won't have the same opportunities to meet with world class Bible
scholars that Cambridge / Tyndale House gave us, but we have talked
about meeting during the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh during August, and
I have informally met with some of you during this occasion over the
past years.  That's still an option and provides some fun around our
meeting.  Hostels often have a common room were we can setup and meet in
the afternoons.

Another option is that I can invite you to my small apartment in Siena,
Italy.  An advantage to this is, like Daniel's apartment in Cambridge,
we can all sleep on couches and bunk beds and rollout mattresses on the
floor and not have any accommodation expenses.  I also have fiber
internet there and can be sure to have desk space and whiteboards handy
and can take us to amazing pizza and gelato.

______________________

What would be the interest for attending either event and what feedback
do you have to my suggestions for time and venue?

Troy