The Imaginary Invalid

The Imaginary Invalid was quite a production. I have never been much a fan of theatre or musicals, but I do appreciate the talent and story behind them. Walking into the Bush Chapel I immediatley caught the feel of the play. I felt a bit creeped out, a little confused, and quite honestly I felt a little trippy. Needless to say these feelings remained throughout the play. The choreography was great, the makeup and costumes were stunning. I was amazed at the stage, actors and production of the play, but almost felt robbed by the plot and story. I really enjoyed the humor of the play, but did wonder which parts were appropriate to laugh at. I watched each scene with a hope of some clarity as to what exactly was going on. I found myself waiting for a climax or a breakthrough. When the play ended I was wondering what exactly I just watched and what the purpose of the story was. I was a bit distracted by all that was going on onstage and I missed some of the dialogue so I did a little more research on the story. I looked up a short summary of the play online and I realized I didn’t miss anything major, but I am still unaware of what exactly the author was trying to say. I caught a couple “deeper” lines about doing everything the doctors say will actually kill you, but is that really the point the writer was trying to make? Was there a bigger picture that I missed? It is possible that the author was trying to say something about marriage and how we choose our partners. But why the crazy costumes? Why the odd face painting? Was the entire play a dark comedy? It was an interesting and trippy couple of hours. I am still undecided whether I enjoyed it or not.

Blog...yea

Reading and writing. I’m going to blog about reading and writing. I mentioned it a bit in my last blog and in blogs previous but there is just something unique about the written word. Walt Whitman, C.S Lewis and many others have come to this same conclusion and used the power writing to touch millions of people. Thousands across the world have dedicated their lives to this thing called writing. It’s different than speech, it’s more profound than thought and deeper than intellect. I don’t know what it is about writing but it has power like nothing else. Writing has the power to last forever, or to be forgotten in seconds. The Lord chose power of the written word to reveal himself to us. He chose a book to retell the story of creation. He chose to write a book to tell humanity how to better know him. God knows the hidden, gentle, everlasting power of writing and so should I, so should we. John 1:1 tells us the “Word was God.” Whoa…this is huge. Have I missed something huge? Could it be that when I read the Word I am directly interacting with the Lord? There is so much more to the Word than we will ever know. I think that’s what’s great about writing. When C.S Lewis writes we may never know exactly how deep his words are. C.S Lewis himself may never know all that goes into his writing. That is what I love about writing. I think if humanity were to analyze any other book as much as they do the Bible there would be nothing left to learn from it. But because God is alive, His word is alive. We’ll never fully understand it, we’ll never stop learning. This well will never run dry.

I don’t consider myself a great writer, but I do appreciate good writing.

Bloggin Dirty

The blogging project is quite different. At the beginning it was a little bit exciting, and a little annoying, but mainly different. My feelings toward the blogging project remain the same. There are many different connections between the blogging project and class. It’s an intro to literature class, so we’re reading other people writing. We’re reading other authors stories, thoughts and ideas. This is exactly what our blogs are to us. I’ve never been much of a writer or a “journaler” so it’s nice to have some writing to call my own. I enjoy learning about what makes a good read and trying to apply that to my writing. I still don’t consider myself a writer, but I understand more the power of writing. Blogging does require me to dig deeper into the material. It requires that I reread the material. It forces me to find and explore the meanings and techniques of the writing. Blogging also gives me an avenue to relate the material back to the Lord and interact with all kinds of literature on a theological level, which I most likely would not do otherwise. This has worked O.K. for me. Honestly, I usually do the blogs rather last minute and admittingly I spend a lot more time on some than others. But it’s been a good experience. It’s great to have my thoughts written down so not only I but others can reflect on them as well. One of my favorite parts of the blogging project has been reading and interacting with my class mates and small groups writings. I am amazed every time I read their blogs. There is so much intellect and complexity to the people I spend time with everyday that I may never know. I think there is something about writing that pulls ourselves out of ourselves. It’s who we are…with words…kind of…

Walt Whitman

I enjoyed reading Walt Whitman’s poetry. I have never read any of his literature but I have heard a lot about him and know he is a very respected and well known poet. When reading When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d I really enjoyed what I understood, but there is still a lot I don’t understand about the poem even when I reread and analyzed it. My favorite lines in the poem were the lines where Whitman specifically talked about death. “In the day, in the night, to all, to each, Sooner or later delicate death” was one of my favorite lines. It reminds me of so many verses in Scripture. It is the main lesson in Ecclesiastes which is one of my favorite books. I think this statement is one of the most profound statements humanity can make. It’s the conclusion to all our stories here on earth. “They themselves were fully at rest, they suffer’d not, the living remained and suffer’d.” This quote is profound and simple. As the dead lay there they are finally at rest, but the leave all that remain uneasy. Knowing beforehand that the poem was about the death of Abraham Lincoln was very helpful when reading lines like “And what shall the pictures be that hang on the walls, to adorn the burial-house of him I love?” There were many lines and concepts that I didn’t understand as I read the poem though. I did not understand the “carol of the bird.” I also did not understand the mention of the hermit in the poem. Was that a reference to Abraham Lincoln? And why did he mention songs so much? Despite what I did not understand the poem was still able to touch and move me. I appreciate Walt Whitman for his well chosen words, passion and honesty in writing.

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Literature, Scripture

I really enjoyed yesterday’s discussion in class about reading Scripture as literature. Scripture is literature and should be read as so. Scripture was written as a story, some from oral traditions, some from first hand experiences and some were prophetic words straight from the Lord’s mouth. The authors wrote divinely, but with intentions to retell the story. Authors wanted to portray what happened or what will happen, just like in literature. The Word should be read as literature. We should be analyzing the stories, words and the writing styles while asking ourselves the moral of the story. I’m learning that learning how to read literature can be such a blessing to my spiritual life. If I learn how to read the stories and ask the right questions I may discover aspects of Scripture I would never notice otherwise. It is amazing how the Lord chose to tell his story through literature. The Lord chose to speak to all of creation through stories. When Jesus walked the earth he was constantly telling stories. He spoke mainly through parables. There is a power behind stories that unlike any other. I believe God wired humanity to be fascinated with stories and literature. When I think about it a lot of my daily activities involve some sort of literature. Worship songs and secular songs are poems that lend to emotional reactions and thought. Movies are stories retold with picture and sound. Literature is so important to the world and especially American culture whether we are willing to admit it or not.

As Christians, we are storytellers. We live to tell the story of the Cross.

"You yourselves are our letters of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by all men; and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." (2 Corinthians 3:2-3,RSV)

Joel

Joel

I sometimes struggle reading the Old Testament. How do these stories apply to me? Aren’t we under a New Covenant? What could God be speaking through lists of names and complicated prophetic symbolism? Why would God want me to read these weird stories when I could go so much more out of Paul’s letters or the Gospels? I still don’t understand a lot of the Old Testament. When I read it I usually struggle through most of it. It is easy for me to pick out verses and chapters I can really get a lot from but it’s often a lot harder for me to understand the entire story. Reading Joel was a little different; I understood the prophetic word God gave Joel for the land of Judah. From what I understand it was fairly simple. Repent. Joel told the priests, farmers, men and women to weep and fear the judgment that is soon to come. God wanted the people to turn from their ways and mourn, and fast for Him. God promised the people He would bless them once again if they repented: Joel 2:27 "After all of this I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your elderly will dream dreams; your young men will see prophetic visions. Even on male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days." The previous verse is a promise from God about the last days. There is an apocalyptic tone to Joel's message. Joel mentioned plagues such as an army of locusts and famines as punishment for not returning to the Lord. Joel tells the people to repent, he warns them of the judgment and tells of a future to come where it will all be restored. Reading Joel’s word in its entirety helped me to understand the bigger picture of the book. I am excited to talk about this in class to see my classmates and Professor’s comments on the book of Joel.

The Living Breathing Word of God is Good.

Real Good

The Things They Carried

This was such an interesting story by Tim O’Brien. I was captivated by the story and the writing style. I read a bit of his biography after I finished the story and knowing he served in the army and won a Purple Heart adds a lot to the story. At first I was unsure of what the point of the story was going to be. Now that I am finished I am still unsure of what the ‘moral’ of the story is. He tells of how Mitchell Sanders cut off the dead boy’s thumb and carried it around because it had a moral. He fails to tell us what that moral is and I am still unsure. I think that was an insight into the bigger picture. The entire short story has a moral, I just don’t know what it is. At first I thought it was Love and Death, but the author introduced so many more themes. The lieutenant was obviously madly in love, and the characters faced death every day. But Tim O’Brien then focus’ on the imagination and how every man carried with them their ‘ghosts’ and Lt. Cross was never fully present due to his imagination. I love how the author gave so much detail about the tangible things they carried. Not only did it help the reader visualize the characters, but it showed what was important to them. Giving so much detail about the tangible things gave O’Brien a license to give detail about the intangible things they carried as well, i.e ‘guilt, fear, ghosts’. O’Brien did an excellent job of connecting the reader to the characters in a unique way. This short story really intrigued me and I want to read more from this author. I enjoy his writing style as well as his odd way of getting his feelings across to the reader.