beauty

Kirsten wrote about the beauty of ordinary life. This is something I've been thinking a lot about lately. In any story, the resolve we seek is not the high emotions of the climax. It is the (sometimes assumed) ordinary days. In them lies the happily-ever-after.

In the liturgical calendar, we have two periods of ordinary days. The first follows Epiphany, and the second period occurs after Pentecost. After the high emotions of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, after the extreme sorrow and celebration of Lent, Passion Week, Easter, and, finally, Pentecost, we have ordinary days. In these days, we live most of our Christmas life. 

Paul tells us to rejoice in everything and to be content. This joy and contentment occurs in our beautiful ordinary, as Kirsten calls it.

Here's why I've been noodling on this lately: world-wide, nationally, and personally, uncertainties threaten our joy and contentment. My response--escape. I want to sail away (I'll give you a moment to finish the Styx chorus). I want to bury my toes in the sand of a white beach and my thoughts in a book.

But we can't live in the escape. We live in between the anticipation and hope of our Savior's return and the joys of our ordinary lives. To the rhythm of our rosary beads click-clacking between our fingers, we run errands and wash dishes and change sheets. We care for the widow and orphan. We dance to a favorite song. We sip our wine and chew our bread. We work, bringing good to the earth through our businesses. These are the sacraments of our ordinary days, bringing grace and beauty in ordinary elements.

I have to be honest: This is my favorite piece I've written on beauty. It might be one of my favorites I've written period.

At Tapestry today, I blogged about Beauty resurrected. A taste:

Those crazy peas. Look at them winding around each other, clinging like they can hold each other up. I shake my head with an amused smile and guide their limbs so they can grab onto the trellis.

The squirrels--not so amusing (although I'm sure after I've covered my beds with cayenne pepper, they'll provide plenty of entertainment). More holes! And my poor seedlings. Another two bite the dust.

In this podcast, I speak with Dr. Reg Grant, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, published novelist, actor, and apparently tap-dancer. In this part, Reg shares how two films affected his life (good timing with November's Artuality on movies!), and we begin our discussion of the artist's pursuit of truth.

Dr. Grant taught me about story structure and arc and character development.

This podcast runs four and a half minutes.

This is the fourth and final part of my interview with Dr. Glenn Kreider of Dallas Theological Seminary. In this conversation, we talk about the importance of the physical redemption of the earth to our theology of art.

This video runs under four minutes.

This is the third segment of my interview with Dr. Glenn Kreider, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, about art and Christianity. In this part, we talk about facing the evilness in this world and bringing in the hope of the day when God will set everything right.

And we talk for a moment about Sweeney Todd, my favorite musical!

The podcast runs under 6 minutes.

This is the second part of my interview with Dr. Glenn Kreider, a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. The interview is about beauty and sentimentality, and this segment looks specifically at the cross and resurrection.

The video runs about 5 minutes.

A month or so ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing three professors at Dallas Theological Seminary who'd influenced me.

Dr. Glenn Kreider was one of them.

I only had Dr. Kreider for one class, but in that class, he raised questions that made me think differently. Incidentally, Dr. Kreider introduced me to Chagall's White Crucifixion. Dr. Kreider used art in his teachings and allowed me to write songs instead of papers.

I find it amusing that today's word of the day (from the Merriam-Webster daily email) is "luftmensch" (pronounced LOOFT-mensh). It means "an impractical contemplative person having no definite business or income."

In other words, me.

I especially find it amusing considering my blog topic for today.