Returning, by popular demand:
Many remember – and have favorably commented upon – the Spirituality and the Arts series we did two years ago during Lent, and have requested a “return engagement.” I’m happy to say that a sub-committee of our Adult Education Planning Committee has met, and we have scheduled the following series of events for this Lent:
Sundays at 11:30:
March 13 - David Stoneman: The Bach Passion Pieces. Johann Sebastian Bach composed four (or five) settings of the passion story to be used during Holy Week. Two have survived, and each of these is a grand accomplishment of theater, sermon, concert and liturgy that deserves exploration.
March 20 - Jack Miles: Is the Bible Self-Conscious? Do you file the Bible under literature or religion? If under both, do you make a distinction between the two? Does the Bible, which has no word for either fiction or nonfiction, recognize a distinction between the two? Did Isaiah know he was a poet? Can music, painting, or literature be religious without reference to God? If so, how do we recognize it as religious? We will engage these questions with two simple examples from popular music and two from the Bible.
March 27 - Kitty Crary and Jack Miles: Messiah Reader’s Theater Presents G. K. Chesterton’s “The Surprise” Explore your inner actor as we organize to present an informal Readers’ Theater performance of G. K. Chesterton’s “The Surprise.” Readers’ Theater is a dramatic presen-tation of a play by actors reading from the script; the focus is on reading the text with expressive voices and gestures and there is no memorization. This charming short play is a lively consideration of free will and what can go wrong when we misuse it. “The Surprise” includes puppets that miraculously become real, romance, marriage and two sword fights.
“The Surprise” has roles for eight readers, including a princess, a poet, a brave king, several soldiers and God. We’re looking for volunteer readers, no acting experience needed. We’ll be doing this for our own pleasure.
Join us Sunday, March 27 at 11:30 a.m. to learn more about the play and about G. K.Chesterton, the English Anglican and Roman Catholic writer famous for his wit, his weight, and his paradoxical way with words. (A “Chestertonian Paradox” is a statement that at first seems obviously wrong but turns out, on second thought, to be surprisingly right.) On the 27th, we will cast the actors/readers who will present “The Surprise” at Messiah on Saturday, April 16 as part of Spirituality and the Arts. Join us at the casting call!
April 3 - Lorna Adkins and Carolyn Estrada: The Poetry of Transition: an exploration of poetry as a means of expressing life-changes, especially through the works of Charles Wright, Christian Wimen, Seamus Heaney and others.
April 10 - Jim Herbert: Renaissance Perspective and the Infinity of God. Painting in 15th-century Italy developed a system called “linear perspective,” a new technique useful for depicting the ordinary space of this world. And yet these images often depicted Gods that exceed such ordinary space. In this presentation, Jim Herbert will look at how Gods came to take a place in such pictures without losing their divine attributes.
April 16 - Saturday Workshop
9:00 – 9:15 - Registration and Coffee
9:15 – 9:30 - Plenary Session: The Relationship of Arts and Spirituality: How is engaging with art like a spiritual practice? What is it about the arts that puts us in a mindful or prayerful state?
9:15 – 11:00 - Hands-on Art Experiences:
- Rose Windows: Beca Hendrickson
- Quilting: Sylvia Middlebrooks
- Poetry: Lorna Adkins and Mark Hendrickson
- Musical Improvisation: Ken Kawamura
- Scrapbooking: Deanna Richeson
11:10 – 12:00-ish - Act I of The Surprise, by G. K. Chesterton.
12:00 – 12:45 - Lunch from the Messiah Soup Kitchen (Participants who find spiritual expression in cooking may also spend the morning helping to prepare the soup for our lunch!)
12:45 – 1:45 - Act II of The Surprise.
2:00 – 4:00 - Workshop on the Aramaic Lord’s Prayer: John Middlebrooks
4:10 - Taize service
If you have an interest in participating, either as participant or as facilitator of a group, please sign up at Coffee Hour or contact Carolyn.
No comments:
Post a Comment