One of my classmates in Arts and Aesthetics gave us a creative writing exercise that involved making up a new word and then using it in a poem (along with two words we chose from two lists we were given). Here's mine:
This juicy fruit picked from my tree is far more than fantastic,
Plucked from the foliage in my yard, it's really quite majestic.
But, if you think, as I do too, that language should be generous,
It's not just great, or merely good, it's magfantabulanimous!
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Arts and Aesthetics, Day 5: Class Presentations
For my presentation, I told the story of "Elsie Piddock" who skipped rope in her sleep, and then had everyone create a picture of some place that is sacred to them, as well as something that might guard that place.
Again, I was impressed with everything that my classmates did--what a great bunch. And again, I was sad to part company with them. But we shall be together again soon.
All in all, my experience so far at Meadville has been marvelous. Glory be!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Arts and Aesthetics, Day 4: Visual Art
Today we watched a slide show that featured various depictions of Jesus through the ages and from multiple cultural perspectives. It was interesting to see how many variations there are, and how many of those depend on the artist's culture and circumstances.
Then we drew, sketched, painted, etc. and shared our creations with the rest of the class. Everyone did a good job, I think. I'll try to post my piece on the blog this weekend.
After our art projects, we took a field trip to the Art Institute and did a great exercise that John calls "double-parked at the Louvre." We scattered for one hour, each looking for one piece of art that really hooked us. Then we re-grouped and went from piece to piece, with each person explaining why the particular work they chose appealed to them.
It's hard to believe tomorrow's the last day of my stay in Chicago. We'll do final presentations in class all day, and then I'll be flying back to North Carolina. It'll be great to be home, but it will be hard to be away from all the wonderful people I've met and experiences that I've had over the past eight days.
Then we drew, sketched, painted, etc. and shared our creations with the rest of the class. Everyone did a good job, I think. I'll try to post my piece on the blog this weekend.
It's hard to believe tomorrow's the last day of my stay in Chicago. We'll do final presentations in class all day, and then I'll be flying back to North Carolina. It'll be great to be home, but it will be hard to be away from all the wonderful people I've met and experiences that I've had over the past eight days.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Religious Drama
When we talked about religious drama, we were not talking about board members storming out of a heated meeting and renouncing the church.
Rather, we were discussing theater and what makes a drama religious rather than secular. We discussed Alfred Edyvean's "This Dramatic World: Using Contemporary Drama in the Church." Edyvean offers an interesting and succinct history of the relationship between the church and theater, and then goes on to name a number of characteristics of religious drama and Christian drama. John summarized Edyvean's primary points as saying that religious drama explores: Human relationship to the divine, human relationship to the self, and human relationship to society/culture.
In the end, almost any drama can be thought of as a religious drama when viewed through the proper lens. But offering a dramatic presentation in a religious setting certainly does shift the focus and leads the audience to consider the material in a different (and one hopes deeper) way.
We read aloud from T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral," Neil Simon's "God's Favorite" and Michael Christofer's "The Shadow Box"--three very different plays, but each thought-provoking and beautiful in its own way. OK, so maybe the Neil Simon play wasn't so beautiful, but it was certainly a very funny re-telling of the Book of Job.
John also offered some helpful pointers about how to present drama in a church setting.
This afternoon we started working on our class presentations, which we'll be giving on Friday. I'm telling a story I learned from Margot Adler and still have a fair amount of work to do to get it into shape.
I'm very much looking forward to our class field trip to the Chicago Art Insitute tomorrow evening. Should be fun!
Rather, we were discussing theater and what makes a drama religious rather than secular. We discussed Alfred Edyvean's "This Dramatic World: Using Contemporary Drama in the Church." Edyvean offers an interesting and succinct history of the relationship between the church and theater, and then goes on to name a number of characteristics of religious drama and Christian drama. John summarized Edyvean's primary points as saying that religious drama explores: Human relationship to the divine, human relationship to the self, and human relationship to society/culture.
In the end, almost any drama can be thought of as a religious drama when viewed through the proper lens. But offering a dramatic presentation in a religious setting certainly does shift the focus and leads the audience to consider the material in a different (and one hopes deeper) way.
John also offered some helpful pointers about how to present drama in a church setting.
This afternoon we started working on our class presentations, which we'll be giving on Friday. I'm telling a story I learned from Margot Adler and still have a fair amount of work to do to get it into shape.
I'm very much looking forward to our class field trip to the Chicago Art Insitute tomorrow evening. Should be fun!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Arts and Aesthetics, Day 2: "Let's ratchet it up!"
We started the day with a lecture from John (the only formal lecture he has planned for this week) on the topic of Theology and the Arts. He suggested that religious art has three primary aims: to teach social morality, to engage us in the creative event, and to help us transcend isolation.
I haven't been in divinity school even a whole week yet, but I'm already detecting a pattern. The three things you're likely to hear about as being "the" three things in any given class can be broken down to the three P's:
1. The prophetic (cf. teaching morality above)
2. The priestly (cf. engaging in the creative event)
3. The pastoral (cf. transcend isolation)
Of course, these three are not just the domain of ordained ministers, but rather are the responsibility of all members of a church community.
I got a triple-shot of the priestly (and priestessly?) aspects over the weekend, but with strong tinges of the other two. This week, our class is pretty well balanced between the three.
After the lecture and an interesting discussion of Rollo May's "The Courage to Create," today was dramatic improvisation exercise day. We started with relatively simple exercises (a very nice mirroring excercise, for example) and by the end of the day we were improvising whole scenes with props and character/situation suggestions. It became a little joke among the students that after each exercise, John would say, "We're going to ratchet it up a little now."
Some of us were wondering how much more ratcheting we could stand, but, in the end, everything was fine. I was really impressed with the creativity and good nature of every one of my classmates. And John is a first-rate instructor who really knows his material and does a great job making the exercises relevant to things that we're likely to face in ministry.
Another very good day at Meadville.
I haven't been in divinity school even a whole week yet, but I'm already detecting a pattern. The three things you're likely to hear about as being "the" three things in any given class can be broken down to the three P's:
1. The prophetic (cf. teaching morality above)
2. The priestly (cf. engaging in the creative event)
3. The pastoral (cf. transcend isolation)
Of course, these three are not just the domain of ordained ministers, but rather are the responsibility of all members of a church community.
I got a triple-shot of the priestly (and priestessly?) aspects over the weekend, but with strong tinges of the other two. This week, our class is pretty well balanced between the three.
After the lecture and an interesting discussion of Rollo May's "The Courage to Create," today was dramatic improvisation exercise day. We started with relatively simple exercises (a very nice mirroring excercise, for example) and by the end of the day we were improvising whole scenes with props and character/situation suggestions. It became a little joke among the students that after each exercise, John would say, "We're going to ratchet it up a little now."
Some of us were wondering how much more ratcheting we could stand, but, in the end, everything was fine. I was really impressed with the creativity and good nature of every one of my classmates. And John is a first-rate instructor who really knows his material and does a great job making the exercises relevant to things that we're likely to face in ministry.
Another very good day at Meadville.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Prodigal Son
The final scene in the "Prodigal Son" ballet is the embrace between the father and son. It's rendered beautifully and very dramatically in Baryshnikov's production. The father stands stock still as the son crawls up his body. And then, at the very last moment the father's arms close around the son as he holds him as he would an infant.
As I was watching this scene, I was reminded of Mirolav Volf's "Exclusion and Embrace." One lengthy section of the book is devoted entirely to a very close reading of the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). Volf writes:
"The secret of the son's transformation is the same as the secret of his unconditional acceptance: the father would not let his son--the 'lost' and 'dead' son--out of his heart's embrace . . . Relationship is prior to moral rules; moral performance may do something to the relationship, but relationship is not grounded in moral performance. Hence the will to embrace is independent of the quality of behavior . . ."
"The secret of the son's transformation is the same as the secret of his unconditional acceptance: the father would not let his son--the 'lost' and 'dead' son--out of his heart's embrace . . . Relationship is prior to moral rules; moral performance may do something to the relationship, but relationship is not grounded in moral performance. Hence the will to embrace is independent of the quality of behavior . . ."
Class photo
Thanks to classmate Tisha Moore, here's a group shot of a number of us from the class with Margot Adler:
Poem Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy
(Nothing winds like a river)
A vision that stops and starts
And picks up again where it left off.
Testing limits
And failing
And trying again.
Connecting what's natural to what's
Natural within
Finding the visual pulse
That centers
Finding the shape that connects.
Winding and unwinding
Like a river
Like the mind
Like nothing you've ever seen before
Unless you've looked the right way
Unless you've gone to the right place
Unless you've done the work
And then left it alone
And then come back to it.
Is it a vision of impermanence
Or a statement about the permanent within the transient?
Motion and stillness together
In one place.
In many places.
In every place.
Arts and Aesthetics in Ministry: Day One
Excellent first day in John Tolley's Arts and Aesthetics class. He reminded us that people can be divided into those who primarily learn visually, kinesthetically and auditorily. In most of our churches, we give the the people a lot of talk, but not much else. So, the point of this course, is to learn ways to keep the attention of those who are more inclined to take in information through sight and motion.
We saw a great film, "Rivers and Tides" about the work of Andy Goldsworthy. He's an amazing and absolutely unique artist. A clip of the film can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5qrE_rBrJQ.
Also, John and two members of the class did a reading of a scene from Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Aria da Capo," and we watched a dance version of "Prodigal Son" performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov and his company.
The idea was to expose us to three different artistic modes and notice which ways we leaned in terms of our own learning style. It was an interesting and effective exercise. John Tolley himself leans toward the visual and is an avid and very involved theater person. I like his teaching style and the ideas he's trying to convey in the class.
I'll write more about Goldsworthy and the "Prodigal Son" later.
We saw a great film, "Rivers and Tides" about the work of Andy Goldsworthy. He's an amazing and absolutely unique artist. A clip of the film can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5qrE_rBrJQ.
Also, John and two members of the class did a reading of a scene from Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Aria da Capo," and we watched a dance version of "Prodigal Son" performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov and his company.
The idea was to expose us to three different artistic modes and notice which ways we leaned in terms of our own learning style. It was an interesting and effective exercise. John Tolley himself leans toward the visual and is an avid and very involved theater person. I like his teaching style and the ideas he's trying to convey in the class.
I'll write more about Goldsworthy and the "Prodigal Son" later.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Finding a Place Where You Belong
I am so thrilled finally to have found a place where I really and truly feel like I belong. Intellectually, I knew that I belonged here, but now I am really feeling it. I was worried that the Contemporary Paganism class might be a weird introduction to divinity school, but it was wonderful. I love and respect everyone that was in this class, and, as I have noted elsewhere, Margot Adler is fabulous. I always thought she would be an interesting person, based on her NPR reporting, but she's more than I expected in very many ways.
One of our most interesting discussions today centered on the differences between "historic truth" and "narrative truth." Several historians have noted (quite justifiably) that some of the contemporary Pagans play a bit fast and loose with the facts, especially about how the movement came into being and whether or not it can really trace its roots back to the dawn of time, as some claim. On the other hand, literal truth has less importance in the realm of myth and ritual. There's a tension between the two, but it is possible to have one foot in each world--or maybe to hop back and forth with both feet from one world to the other.
Anyway, I am happy and looking forward to my Arts and Aesthetics in Ministry class, which starts tomorrow. I'll close with one of the (many) chants we did in class. This one's dedicated to my classmates.
Listen, listen, listen to my heart's song.
Listen, listen, listen to my heart's song.
I will never forget you, I will never forsake you.
I will never forget you, I will never forsake you . .
One of our most interesting discussions today centered on the differences between "historic truth" and "narrative truth." Several historians have noted (quite justifiably) that some of the contemporary Pagans play a bit fast and loose with the facts, especially about how the movement came into being and whether or not it can really trace its roots back to the dawn of time, as some claim. On the other hand, literal truth has less importance in the realm of myth and ritual. There's a tension between the two, but it is possible to have one foot in each world--or maybe to hop back and forth with both feet from one world to the other.
Anyway, I am happy and looking forward to my Arts and Aesthetics in Ministry class, which starts tomorrow. I'll close with one of the (many) chants we did in class. This one's dedicated to my classmates.
Listen, listen, listen to my heart's song.
I will never forget you, I will never forsake you.
I will never forget you, I will never forsake you . .
My new room and suite
I've moved to McCormick House, which is a much newer, more modern dorm with air conditioning (!) and a number of other creature comforts. Pictures below:
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