The Gatehouse: Word Shop Newsletter December 2007
It's only a gatehouse, this little church, the manse is up ahead. The gatekeeper lumbers out, creaks open the iron bars, and with a half salute says, "I'll call ahead and let them know you're on your way."+
I ordered Philip Zaleski's Best American Spiritual Writing 2007. Instead of devouring it over the weekend, I decided to leave the book at the store, read it when I'm not eating chocolate and see how many copies got sold before I finished. The first poem, around Julian of Norwich's And All Shall Be Well brought forth tears. Despite my firm resolution I almost capitulated and took the book home. The next day I read the Introduction by Harvey Cox and started the second piece about a sculptor. By the next time I was at the store the book was gone. Steven had bought it. The next copy came home with me for Christmas--all resolutions dropped without a backward glance. Here's a beginning chunk of that first poem:
And you shall be lost in Tinker Toys and spices.Christmas turned into an ongoing house party for eight or nine. We gathered around the little Peruvian nativity scene on the kitchen table. Joseph looks decidedly worse for wear than the picture posted in last year's Christmas Rant. The Angel, Mary, Jesus, Ox and Ass all survived last January's house smoking with minimal impact. Michael says that of course Joseph is grubby, he's been working.
And alongside the garden walls of old computers,
women will walk in long pale dresses, scattering roses,
men shall lie down beside their work,
arms thrown across it.
And all shall be well. And the sins of our fathers
shall be as boulders and fruit flies on an Idaho morning...
--by Dick Allan (first published in The Hudson Review)
"The days you work are the best days." - Georgia O'KeefeIn an attempt to sort through my various feelings around the Diocese of San Joaquin's realignment, I wrote a short piece, Episcopanglican, which I emailed to friends, church leaders and those involved with events in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. People on all sides of various theological and political divides responded from all over the country. I received some lovely, thoughtful letters from our upcoming generation of leaders and only a couple of personal attacks. My favorite bits included a plaintive line by Shannon: "It's unbelievably sad to me that we are now at a state where we are arguing about who gets to keep the couch and the dishes," and a fine metaphor from Alissa on "rocking the boat just hard enough not to tip over and drown everyone." Alan wrote about reading Miroslav Volf's book on memory, which spoke of the importance of remembering the goodness of those with whom we disagree and the importance of truthful memory. If you didn't get Episcopanglican and want to join the fray, let me know and I'll email you a copy.
"A leader is the one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation and yells, 'wrong jungle!'" Stephen CoveyI finished John Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership and may resolve to focus on one law a week for the new year. By June I could be an astonishing leader. Several years ago I focused on a concept a week from Ten Days to A Great New Life by William Edwards. Although some of Maxwell's laws are more intuitive strengths than things you can actually practice, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is full of nuggets of wisdom and concrete suggestions for improvement. Let's see, the first law is The Law of the Lid. The premise is that leadership ability determines a person's level of effectiveness. I'm not sure that's true. Unless the person is a leader. Then it's true--not only of the person's level of effectiveness, but also to some extent, the organization's level of effectiveness. Sigh. OK, check back with me in June.
The first few days of Christmas passed in a blur of baby & boxes; of kings bearing gifts and little lambs cranking up toward the next nap. Meals and dishes flowed by on a river of chocolate. Shepherds passed the baby from bosom to bosom. In the midst of the melee I occasionally unearthed Best American Spiritual Writing 2007 from beneath the crumpled paper and rainbow popcorn. I read a couple more poems, a story about Christmas in New York and an essay on how intellectuals' friendships are broken by political beliefs. By the time everyone left, the book looked significantly less new. Just as well. I read Kate Farrell's essay Faithful to the Mystery this morning and I'm keeping it. The essay follows her journey through agnosticism and explores the imagination as a bridge between matter and spirit. She builds a striking case for the importance of imaginative reading and writing; a different kind of thinking. Faithful to the Mystery is one of those essays I want to copy for everyone.
You're more likely to get a copy if you come to The First Tuesday Writer's Group, which will be on the second Tuesday this month because the first Tuesday is the first. 7:15. The John Journey will remain on the second Tuesday at 12:30. The Novel Writer's Workshop will begin on the second Monday, which is actually right before the third Tuesday. 1:00 -3:00. The Novel Writer's Workshop will cost $25 + $5 for any sessions you miss. It will run every other week until June. (At which time I will be such an astonishing leader that all things will be accomplished.)
If you are at all interested in writing, or walking through the Gospel of John with us, and can't make any sense of the above paragraph, please email me.
"Artists take a dim view of explanations and often have to defend themselves from the stupidities of their commentators." --Dore AshtonI mostly gave up defending myself when I discovered it never worked.
Happy Trails,
Alliee +
PS I'm now deep into the third box of a hundred copies of Using the Word. Many thanks to all of you who bought this little book. Special thanks to those who bought multiple copies. Which suggestion are you using it to start off the New Year?
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