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Sally, since this is a writer's retreat, I may as well ask--who are your favorite writers? I read a variety of authors but some of my favorites who I read over and over are: Barbara Brown Taylor, John Philip Newell, Anne Lamott, John O'Donohue, Madeine L'Engle, and Sue Monk Kidd. Your title at Hennepin United Methodist Church is Minister of Worship and Spiritual Formation. What does that rather impressive-sounding title mean? I have over-sight in our four distinctly different worship services. This means I work with other clergy to choose scripture, themes, music, write litury, gather images or visuals, work with teams of people to bring about worship. I also am the staff person responsible for adult education and spiritual formation opporunities for Sunday mornings, weekday evenings and retreat. I also supervise the communications and children and youth ministries.
Now that you have explained all that your church position entails, I'm almost afraid to ask if you have any hobbies. My husband and I joke that we need to get some hobbies! The things I do that many would consider hobbies are also the things I do for what others would consider work: writing, reading, gardening, exercising, cooking. Recently I have discovered mosaic making but it has not found its way into being a hobby yet. I have simply bought lots of supplies and I am still ruminating over actually making something. Our president Kay Clark told me that our retreat theme--Write the Fire!--is of special interest to you. Could you elaborate? The United Methodist Church's symbol is the cross and flame. John Wesley, our founder, had an experience in his early ministry in which he encountered a group of Moravians whose faith seemed very alive to him. During a meeting with them as he witnessed this aliveness, he is said to have spoken the words: My heart was strangely warmed. As a child John was rescued from a burning house by his father. The Wesleys had something like twenty children. John is said to have told the story of being plucked from the fire and his father knowing that he was saved for a purpose. Your blog and your book Barefoot Zone are both about finding the holy in the ordinary. What advice do you have for people who want to experience God's presence in their everyday lives? We live very distracted lives and, in some ways, our culture is designed to perpetuate this state of being. Unfortunately I don't believe churches do much better at helping people be grounded enough to experience the Holy that is present at all times. My advice for seeing the holy in the ordinary is to make a practice of being present, to develop a connection with the God that moves through all Creation. (This is actually the gist of a book I am putting together right now.) Being present to our breath, to those we encounter in our day, to the rhythm of the seasons and recognizing the face of God in all that makes for holy, ordinary moments.
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The results? When you read words that have strong associations with scent--such as mothballs or cinnamon--there is activity in the olfactory part of your brain. When you read images like "leathery hands," the touch part of your brain is activated. When you read about a character in action, the motor cortex of your brain is activated, just as if you were doing the action yourself. And when you read well-worn images, such as "dry as toast," the sensory activity doesn't take place.
This research confirms what writers already know.
- Strong, sensory images engage more of the reader's brain.
- Cliches leave your brain circuits cold.
- Stories give us a valuable vicarious experience.
Even though we knew these things all along, it's still kind of fun to have neuroscience on our side. Want to read more? Here is a link to the article.
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Writing Academy Members, what's new with you? Let us know! Send us an e-mail with news of your latest writing-related news. Got a book you'd like to recommend--or a favorite quotation to share? Just be BRIEF! And send your news briefs to the Writing Academy by clicking on this text .
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Nancy Esther James (pictured), Shirley Stevens, Mary A. Koepke, and Patty Kyrlach all had poems published in the Winter 2011/12 issue of Time of Singing, edited by Lora Zill. NancyE's poem, "On the Telephone Helpline," was the winner of a contest with the theme "It's a Wonderful Life!" Shirley Stevens was the contest judge. |
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Sheryl VanWeelden writes articles for the Joshua Academy newsletters that are sent to donors, community leaders, and families of the students. She has also been compiling personal histories of the saints of Meredith Drive Reformed Church, her church home in Des Moines. |
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Kathleen Bolduc met Joni Eareckson Tada when they were both presenters at a conference at Cedarville University, in Cedarville, Ohio: the Through the Roof Summit: Embracing the Disability Community, in September of 2011. |
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Past Writing Academy speaker and tutor, Evelyn Minshull, was added to the Pennsylvania Center for the Book's Literary and Cultural Map of Pennsylvania. For more info, click here.. |
Each day is a gift, a blessing, a connection...
I Count My Blessings, by Eunice Norby Simonson --released in Feburary, 2011, by Kirk House.
Eunice Simonson
"Eunice met David Simonson at Concordia College and they married. They knew they were called to Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and the Maasai people. For nearly 50 years they preached the Gospel, healed the sick, and raised a family of five children. They founded Operation Bootstrap to raise money to build more than 3000 schools for Tanzanian children. Eunice Simonson met every challenge head-on, without fear, counting every day as a blessing. This is her story, her account of the blessings of her 80 years which took her from a parsonage in North Dakota to Tanzania.
Ordering information--for I Count My Blessings
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For everyone struggling with issues about disability....
Autism and Alleluias, by Kathleen Deyer Bolduc--released in April, 2010, by Judson Press.
Kathleen Bolduc
"Kathy Bolduc invites us into the concrete, messy, detailed, and often colorful experiences of life with Joel, her son with autism. She shares her stories, and then lets us see the ways her questions, faith, hopes, and, finally, love, left her open to finding and seeing God in the places, events, and relationships where she, and we the readers, might least expect." -- Bill Gaventa, MDiv, Editor, Journal of Religion, Disability and Health
Ordering information--for books by Kathleen Bolduc
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