A Blessed Ascension Day

Reprinted (with a few alterations) from the Archives....

Today is Ascension Day, forty days after Christ's Resurrection, when He gave His final earthly encouragement and directions to His disciples before Ascending to the right hand of the Father. Today's Epistle reading is from Acts 1:

1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.

4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (English Standard Version)

The Gospel reading relates the same event, also told by Luke at the close of his gospel account:

50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God. (ESV)

The Collect for Ascension Day from The Book of Common Prayer 2011 which Father Keith Acker of Alpine Anglican Church of the Blessed Trinity modernized and I helped to edit:   

ALMIGHTY God, as we believe your only eternal Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended into heaven; Grant that we may also ascend into heaven in heart and mind until, at the last, we may dwell with him forever; Who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and always. Amen.

Father Bosco Peters, an Anglican priest in New Zealand who runs the amazing Liturgy.co.nz site, posted a wonderful reflection on Ascension can be read here: Ascension Day.

On Twitter, Father Peters noted that Ascension Day is a holiday in several European countries, such as France, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, etc. Yet we in America hardly even know of this Biblical holy day, at least among American evangelicals. Part of Eastertide which lasts until Pentecost (just ten more days!), Ascension is obviously noted in Scripture as being forty days after Christ's Resurrection. 

This holy day has been celebrated since the early years of the Church, as the Catholic Encyclopedia notes:

The observance of this feast is of great antiquity. Although no documentary evidence of it exists prior to the beginning of the fifth century, St. Augustine says that it is of Apostolic origin, and he speaks of it in a way that shows it was the universal observance of the Church long before his time. Frequent mention of it is made in the writings of St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and in the Constitution of the Apostles. The Pilgrimage of Sylvia (Peregrinatio Etheriae) speaks of the vigil of this feast and of the feast itself, as they were kept in the church built over the grotto in Bethlehem in which Christ was born (Duchesne, Christian Worship, 491-515). It may be that prior to the fifth century the fact narrated in the Gospels was commemorated in conjunction with the feast of Easter or Pentecost.... Representations of the mystery are found in diptychs and frescoes dating as early as the fifth century.

You may read the full article from the Catholic Encyclopedia here: Feast of the Ascension.

I just don't really understand why American evangelical churches do not celebrate these Biblical festivals, or at least Pentecost if not Ascension. Pentecost lands on a Sunday every time, so there's really no excuse not to at least mention it...if not read the Scriptures recounting the gift of the Holy Spirit to the waiting disciples and perhaps even preach on the subject. Yes, every day of our earthly existence should be a celebration of what Christ has done for us, and every Sunday should indeed be a celebration of the Resurrection power and love of Jesus. But noting and celebrating these other Biblical holy days seems like a wonderful idea to me, one in which we can walk in the footsteps of our Risen Lord, glorifying Him who first loved us.

Enjoy a blessed Octave of the Ascension,

Prayers for Memorial Day

My grandfather, Captain Richard E. Farwell, was serving as First Officer on the USS Ward just outside Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941 when the Ward fired upon and sank a Japanese mini-sub shortly before the attack began. For more on his service, see this previous blog post: A Day to Remember.

I hope to have time to slip down to Greenwood Memorial Park to put a flag on his grave as I have in past years.

Mark D, Roberts, who writes the amazing Daily Reflections for The High Calling, today sent out a prayer for Memorial Day which I include here in its entirety:

PRAYER: Gracious, Sovereign God, Lord of all nations,

On this Memorial Day, we pause to reflect upon our blessings as a nation and the high cost of those blessings. We offer our prayers of thanks and intercession.

Thank you for the freedom we enjoy in this country, for opportunities to flourish, and for the security of our land.

Thank you for those who have served in the armed services of our country, risking their lives for our liberty.

Thank you for those who have given their lives in service to our country, sacrificing in such a costly way for the sake of others, including me. Thank you for those who have given their lives so that those who live in other countries might experience freedom from tyranny.

Thank you for a day set apart, not just for celebration, but also for solemn remembrance as we consider the sacrifices of so many in our military.

O Lord, may we be more aware of just how blessed we are as a nation. May we be more grateful for our blessings, more faithful in stewarding them well, more eager to share them with others.

We pray today for the families and friends of those who have given their lives in service to our nation. May they be comforted in their sadness. May they be reassured that the sacrifice of their loved ones contributes to a worthy cause. May they be proud of those they have lost, entrusting their ultimate fate into your gracious hands.

Even as we remember those who have given their lives in the past, we also think of those whose lives are on the line today. Protect them. Encourage them. Bring them home safely...and soon.

Give wisdom to the leaders of our armed services, that they might know how best to deploy the troops in the cause of freedom. May their efforts be successful, so that peace with justice might be established in our world.

Guide those who lead our nation in international affairs. Help them to pursue diplomatic paths that prevent needless conflict. May they have your wisdom about when and how to use the military might you have entrusted to us.

God of peace, stir in the hearts of the leaders of all nations and in all who would use violence to further their cause. Change their hearts and minds. Give them a passion for peace. Bring an end to the pain, suffering, injustice, and violence in our world.

We know, dear Lord, that ultimate peace will not come until your kingdom is here in all of its fullness. Nevertheless, we pray for a foretaste of the future. We ask for the growth of peace throughout our world today, so that fewer and fewer men and women will have to risk and even to sacrifice their lives. We long for the day when people will “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isa. 2:4).

May your kingdom come, Lord, and your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven!

All praise be to you, God of grace, God of mercy, God of justice, God of peace, King of kings, and Lord of lords! Amen.

*****

And adding to this prayer, I post the Collects For Those Serving in Our Armed Forces and For Memorial Days from The Book of Common Prayer 2011:

LORD God of hosts, stretch forth your almighty arm to strengthen and protect the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guards of our country; Support them in the day of battle, and in times of peace keep them safe from all evil; Endue them with courage and loyalty, and grant that in all things, they may serve without reproach; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (References: 2 Samuel 22.2-4; Deuteronomy 31.6; Hebrews 13.5-6)    

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give you thanks for all your servants who have laid down their lives in the serviceof our country; Grant to them your mercy and the light of your presence, so that the good work which you have begun in them may be perfected; Through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord. Amen. (References: John 15.12-17; Ephesians 2.5-6) 

*****

Wishing you all a blessed memorial of those who have served and died for the sake of freedom and a joyous celebration of those who continue to serve our country.

The Venerable Bede and Grading, Grading, Grading....

Grading Essays....

Today marks the Saint's Day of The Venerable Bede, one of my favorite English saints. The wonderful Saint-of-the-Day e-mails from AmericanCatholic.org, from which I learn so much about the men and women  on the Pilgrim Pathway before us, tells us a little about his life. I here include the daily e-mail in its entirety:

Sunday, May 25, 2014 St. Bede the Venerable (672?-735)

Bede is one of the few saints honored as such even during his lifetime. His writings were filled with such faith and learning that even while he was still alive, a Church council ordered them to be read publicly in the churches. At an early age Bede was entrusted to the care of the abbot of the Monastery of St. Paul, Jarrow. The happy combination of genius and the instruction of scholarly, saintly monks produced a saint and an extraordinary scholar, perhaps the most outstanding one of his day. He was deeply versed in all the sciences of his times: natural philosophy, the philosophical principles of Aristotle, astronomy, arithmetic, grammar, ecclesiastical history, the lives of the saints and, especially, Holy Scripture. From the time of his ordination to the priesthood at 30 (he had been ordained deacon at 19) till his death, he was ever occupied with learning, writing and teaching. Besides the many books that he copied, he composed 45 of his own, including 30 commentaries on books of the Bible. Although eagerly sought by kings and other notables, even Pope Sergius, Bede managed to remain in his own monastery till his death. Only once did he leave for a few months in order to teach in the school of the archbishop of York. Bede died in 735 praying his favorite prayer: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As in the beginning, so now, and forever.” His Ecclesiastical History of the English People is commonly regarded as of decisive importance in the art and science of writing history. A unique era was coming to an end at the time of Bede’s death: It had fulfilled its purpose of preparing Western Christianity to assimilate the non-Roman barbarian North. Bede recognized the opening to a new day in the life of the Church even as it was happening. Comment: Though his History is the greatest legacy Bede has left us, his work in all the sciences (especially in Scripture) should not be overlooked. During his last Lent, he worked on a translation of the Gospel of St. John into English, completing it the day he died. But of this work “to break the word to the poor and unlearned” nothing remains today. Quote: “We have not, it seems to me, amid all our discoveries, invented as yet anything better than the Christian life which Bede lived, and the Christian death which he died” (C. Plummer, editor of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History).

As we remember this amazing Saint, we can also access his Ecclesiastical History of the English People free through Christian Classics Ethereal Library here: Bede's Ecclesiatical History of the English People. Although I read this book back in my Christian Tradition course as an undergrad at Point Loma Nazarene University, I've been wanting to refresh my memory of this wonderful work. And as an informal Anglican (I've been attending Friday Morning Prayer and Holy Communion Healing Services with Alpine Anglican Church of the Blessed Trinity for the past eight years and helped to edit The Book of Common Prayer 2011 which uses the English Standard Version for all Scriptures), I want to re-read Bede's History in light of all I've learned about the English Church since my college days.

But such reading projects will have to wait. The moment I finish this post, I need to grade the final MLA research essays submitted by my Expository Essay I and II classes at Heritage Christian School's East County II Class Days; with our final class meeting this Thursday, I must grade and return these essays plus compute final course grades for my students. Fortunately, Engrade is a huge help in tracking grades; I've even started using it for my Literary Analysis courses at Brave Writer to keep track of all of the points for various discussion question responses, etc.

And speaking of Brave Writer, my Literary Analysis: Romeo & Juliet class is gearing up to discuss the play starting this week. In past courses, I've received 75-100 essay posts within 24 hours that I need to respond to, commenting on content and depth of analysis.

So with finishing up our last three weeks of the school year, with B finishing 8th grade and J completing 11th,  with Heritage Christian School, grading research papers and computing final grades for my Expository Essays courses at Heritage's Class Day, and keeping up with the students in my Romeo & Juliet class at Brave Writer, you may not see me again until after June 13, our last day of school and the final day of the Romeo & Juliet class.

So, needless to say, The Venerable Bede will be waiting until then as well.

But to keep me on track for the next couple of weeks, I've posted this quotation on the wall above my desk as a reminder:

"The divine moment is the present moment."
~Saint Catherine of Genoa

Those are good words to live by, I think, especially during these next three crazy-busy weeks.

See you after the grades are all in!

Bitten by the Writing Bug...and Quotes of the Week

When I was a child, I loved the idea of becoming a writer. I used to pound away on my mother's old manual typewriter from the early 1960's, but I was usually writing letters from one stuffed animal, my blue camel (remember the old "Camel with the Wrinkled Knees" from the Raggedy Ann books?) to my brother's equally blue stuffed French poodle named Pierre, and he would respond in kind on Pierre's behalf.

But writing stories? I think I sat down only once to write a story, and I think I wrote two pages. Writing fiction didn't seem to be my "thing."

In my high school Creative Writing class, I learned how to compose poems and did fairly well--well enough to be published in a couple of our school's yearbooks and in a couple of literary magazines during my junior and senior years.

Once I attended college at Point Loma Nazarene University, I wrote more poems for the literary magazine and enjoyed writing essays for my various literature classes, but writing fiction remained a difficult task. In my Creative Writing class with Dr. Dean Nelson, I struggled with believable characters and plot lines.

After that course, I decided that I just wasn't a writer of fiction...and never would be.

But then a bunch of e-friends jumped onto the National Novel Writing Month(NaNoWriMo) bandwagon, and in 2008 I joined them. I drafted 50,000 words of a novel, and in 2009, I completed the novel. Well, mostly completed it; I still have a LOT of editing to do.

In late 2010 I started writing on Wattpad under a pen name, and I haven't stopped writing fiction since. I've now completed one novel of 146,000 words, another of just over 200,000 words, and my third novel is at 70,000 words, not to mention several shorter works of about 10-15,000 words.

So it took me entering my 40's before fiction writing really grabbed my mind and heart and soul. But I write a lot now--nonfiction on my blog and for the various courses that I teach at Heritage and Brave Writer, plus writing fiction. It's become a compulsion, even an addiction. Perhaps someday I'll be able to publish my work; we shall see.

So here are two intriguing quotations from women writers of the 20th century into the 21st. Their thoughts on writing are provocative and thought-provoking...and so very true.

"You become a writer because you need to become a writer--nothing else."

~Grace Paley (1922-2007)

"Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself... It's a self-exploratory operation that is endless. An exorcism of not necessarily his demon, but of his divine discontent."

~Harper Lee (1926-)


So have a wonderful week, everyone--and keep on writing!!

Writing with you,
 

I Did It!!!!

Yep, I barely sneaked in under the wire at the last possible second, but I did it!!

I wrote 30,000 words during the month of April for Camp NaNoWriMo. :)

For those of you not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. Every November, hundreds of thousands of people around the world sign up to encourage each other as they tackle a unique goal: writing 50,000 words during the month of November. I've "won" (met the goal of writing 50,000 words in 31 days) in 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012.

So what happened in 2010 and 2013, you ask? Well, in 2010, I knew I had a crazy-busy November, so instead I chose a different writing goal: The Editor-in-Chief of The Poet's Market, Robert Lee Brewer, hosts a PAD (Poem A Day) Challenge: writing a poem a day following the prompts given on Robert's Writer's Digest blog, Poetic Asides, for the entire month of November (and he offers another PAD Challenge in April). I'm not sure if it was less time-comsuming to write a poem a day or write 1667 words of fiction a day, but I did accomplish the PAD Challenge in November 2010.

In 2013 I had another crazy-busy November ahead of me, so instead of wisely choosing another writing challenge, or more wisely yet, not taken up ANY writing challenge that crazy month, I tried NaNoWriMo...but only made it to just under 12,000 words.

So I promised myself that when I had a break in teaching, I would catch up on NaNoWriMo. And I did, with one of NaNoWriMo's two Camp NaNoWriMo events, held each April and July. We set our own writing goals for this "Writing Camp" and we aren't limited to novels only--any kind of writing qualifies.

So with 30 days in April (including a two-week Easter vacation from homeschooling and a co-op Expository Essay class working feverishly on their MLA Research Essays which means no grading of their essays for me !), I planned to write 30,000 words--1,000 per day. Not too difficult, right? Although April was half-free of the daily routine of home education and I didn't have loads of essays to grade for our co-op Class Days through Heritage Christian School, I was still juggling one of the Brave Writer family workshop classes, namely the Shakespeare FamilyWorkshop. But as this class is fully prepared because I have taught it before, it requires minimal time and effort, mostly just responding to questions and posts from the families.

So I hunkered down and began Camp NaNoWriMo, starting with new chapters for my current novel, Only by Moonlight, and on a story that started as a dream in the novel but took on a life of its own. So the dream turned into 10,000 words of a new novella called An Enchanted Evening. I moved the setting of the novella from the dream taking place in Chicago during World War I in Only by Moonlight to the Regency era in England--London, to be precise--the time period and general location for Jane Austen's books.

It didn't help much that on April 30, the final day of Camp NaNoWriMo and also the deadline for a writing contest on one of the sites where I post my writings, we had the strongest winds we've experienced since moving to this mountain village in 2001. With winds topping 101 mph in Julian, another mountain town, and our own town experiencing winds of 90+ mph, we lost electricity starting at 5:45 AM. And the power wasn't restored until 5:45 PM. Thus out of the final 24 hours of Camp NaNoWriMo, 12 hours were without power.

I used my laptop's battery power to do a final edit on the unposted three parts of An Enchanted Evening, having posted the first three parts of the novella on April 29. Utilizing my smart phone's FoxFi app which provides a WiFi hotspot for getting online (but drains my phone battery very quickly!), I managed to post the final three chapters just before both my phone and my laptop ran out of battery power. Once the power was back up, I continued writing for Camp NaNoWriMo once I had caught up on my neglected e-mail inboxes and responded to the various posts for my online Shakespeare Workshop, but I knew I was cutting it close on completing the 30,000 words I needed to meet my goal.

And I posted precisely 30,001 words at 11:59 on April 30! When I added 11 more words for a total of 30,012 words a few seconds later, I was denied a chance to update; midnight had arrived, and Camp NaNoWriMo for April was over and gone. That's how close I was to NOT completing my writing goal for the second time in four months.

Now that I completed my goal, Camp NaNoWriMo offers some lovely "prizes" for "winning"--and chief among them is a free printed copy of my work--which I'll think about doing if the printed copy of my adventure story/romance is REALLY free as I study the fine print of the offer.

So Camp NaNoWriMo has been a success, and I'm thrilled that I not only have two new chapter to add to Only by Moonlight, but that I also have An Enchanted Evening ready for some final edits and tweaking.

After enjoying such a productive month of writing, I couldn't resist adding two new writing quotations to the Quotation of the Week in my sidebar, and I'll include them here as well:

"I am a galley slave to pen and ink."

~Honore de Balzac (1799-1850)

"Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish."

~John Jakes (1932--)

So now I'm off to start editing my latest chapter of my novel and embark on yet another busy week of teaching writing, squeezing my own writing endeavors into the corners of my busy homeschooling days now that school is back in session and we begin the final week of the Shakespeare Family Workshop with an overview of the Bard's tragedy plays, focusing later on Hamlet in particular.

Have a lovely week!!

Writing with you, 

Poem in Your Pocket Day 2014

As part of National Poetry Month, the wonderfully creative poets and poetry lovers at the Academy of American Poets at poets.org annually hold a day called Poem in Your Pocket Day.

On this day, we are to slip a copy of a favorite poem into our pockets, pulling it out to share with friends, co-workers, etc. And while I do have a poem printed up to share with my Expository Essay class at today's ECII Class Day co-op meeting, I also want to pull this poem from my virtual pocket to share it with you all.

This poem was shared with me just yesterday--and wasn't at all the poem I had planned to share (I was leaning toward another offering by my favorite poet, e.e. cummings). A friend of mine who isn't the first person of whom I think when the term "poetry" comes to mind, heard this poem on NPR this week, found a copy, and e-mailed it to me. She's a gifted gardener, so I can see why this poem in particular would appeal to her; it is truly lovely...and thought-provoking as well, as all truly great poems are.

So here's the poem I will have in my pocket (or at least in my briefcase since my skirt has no pockets) throughout the day today:

Poem in Your Pocket Day 2014

I HAPPENED TO BE STANDING

~ Mary Oliver

I don’t know where prayers go,
or what they do.
Do cats pray, while they sleep
half-asleep in the sun?
Does the opossum pray as it
crosses the street?
The sunflowers? The old black oak
growing older every year?
I know I can walk through the world,
along the shore or under the trees,
with my mind filled with things
of little importance, in full
self-attendance.  A condition I can’t really
call being alive.
Is a prayer a gift, or a petition,
or does it matter?
The sunflowers blaze, maybe that’s their way.
Maybe the cats are sound asleep.  Maybe not.

While I was thinking this I happened to be standing
just outside my door, with my notebook open,
which is the way I begin every morning.
Then a wren in the privet began to sing.
He was positively drenched in enthusiasm,
I don’t know why.  And yet, why not.
I wouldn’t persuade you from whatever you believe
or whatever you don’t.  That’s your business.
But I thought, of the wren’s singing, what could this be
if it isn’t a prayer?
So I just listened, my pen in the air.

Wishing you all a wonderful day of sharing poetry...or perhaps having poetry shared with YOU!! 

Poetically yours,

Happy 450th Birthday, William Shakespeare!!

Okay, I will confess it right here in public:

Hi, my name is Susanne, and I am a Shakespeare Geek. 

I have the watch to prove it.

You see, it all started in my senior year at Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, California. My English teacher, Bobbi Jordan, was teaching a one-semester English elective on Shakespeare.

That class changed my life.

We read the plays mostly aloud in class, Mrs. Jordan assigning parts (and keeping the choicest ones for herself, as she unashamedly announced on the first day of class). As Mrs. Jordan had spent her summers in college traveling as part of a Shakespearean troupe, she really knew her stuff. Occasionally she would drag some characters out of their seats and quickly block a scene as they read their parts from our well-worn Folger Library editions of the plays.

So instead of the normal Shakespearean fare that every college-prep high school student was forced to endure: Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Hamlet (in grades 9, 10, 11, and 12, respectively), we read A Comedy of Errors, Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, King Lear, Two Gentlemen of Verona, etc. Mrs. Jordan also took us on a field trip to the Old Globe Theater in San Diego to see a dress rehearsal of The Merry Wives of Windsor. (It helps when one's teacher knows the director!)

And we had quite the celebration for Shakespeare's birthday. During the first week of April, we all had to draw the name of a fellow student out of a hat and hand-craft a gift for that person to give them on Shakespeare's birthday. I remember embroidering the initials "M.A." on handkerchiefs as my gift to a very popular girl, and I still have the beribboned floral wreath headpiece that a shy young man (I don't remember his name, but can still envision his face) gave me. The wreath, rather faded and a little bedraggled, hangs on my mirror in our bedroom.

But it was the sheer joy in Mrs. Jordan's approach to the Bard that made me want to read more of his work. One of her assignments was for us to read a play NOT on our lists---one we had never read before--and write a response to it. I chose Measure for Measure which has been and remains my favorite Shakespeare play, period. I was thrilled to finally see in on stage at the Old Globe several years ago. Isabella's steadfastness of faith in the face of true evil inspires me--as well as her willingness to forgive when she senses the repentant heart behind the apology.

And thus started my love of Shakespeare and his works. I took Shakespeare classes at Point Loma Nazarene University from Dr. DeSaegher and Dr. Bennett, and then I retook the latter professor's Histories and Comedies class when Dr. Maxine Walker (then Crain) joined the department. My two partners-in-crime, Johanna and Vera, and I would huddle in the office of our department chair, Dr. Seamans, while he was on sabbatical, reading the plays aloud in parts as we prepared for class together. And after I received my Master of Arts in English and was teaching at PLNU, I was asked by Dr. Seamans to cover his Shakespeare class's discussion of Henry V as he had to be at a conference.

At Brave Writer, I somehow slipped into teaching Shakespeare each May--which is officially "Shakespeare Month" at Brave Writer. I now teach The Shakespeare Family Workshop course for families each spring (which is now in its third of five weeks), followed by a Literary Analysis course on one of Shakespeare's plays. This year we'll be taking on Romeo & Juliet which I have rather been avoiding since seeing a 4+ hour production at San Diego State University that was agony to behold. (We should have followed Dr. Seamans' example of escaping at intermission, especially as I heard my brother chanting "Die, Juliet, die" under his breath as the play came to its close--finally!!)

And in the 2014-2015 school year, I plan to teach a class at the ECII Class Day with Heritage Christian School called Discussing Shakespeare. The plan is to mirror Mrs. Jordan's class and over the course of the year, read eight plays: three comedies (Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Merchant of Venice), two histories (Richard III, Henry V), and three tragedies (Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet). We'll focus on reading certain scenes in class, perhaps doing some scenes for the end-of-the-year opening, watching scenes from YouTube or DVD's, and just discussing the plays as a class--something that is rather lacking in most homeschools.

So, after all that, today is Shakespeare's 450th birthday!! As I posted to my Shakespeare Family Workshop, I have a few ideas for how we can celebrate:

So let’s celebrate Shakespeare's birthday this week in our homes. Here are some ideas:

• Have a Talk Like Shakespeare Day (or even just an hour, if that’s all you can handle): 

• Perhaps gather around the table with scones and jam and some Earl Grey tea and read some of Shakespeare’s sonnets aloud (you can find Shakespeare sonnet apps for your smart phone or check out this site: Shakespeare's sonnets),

• Read some of Shakespeare’s famous monologues aloud dramatically, perhaps even in costume. Check this listing from on Shakespeare Monologues, featuring some of the best single-person speeches, one list for men and one for women: Try performing them for family members and/or friends or at a co-op!

• Perform a Shakespeare scene as a puppet show or act out a scene in costume; either memorize parts or make copies of the scene for all the actors. Here are some scenes and scripts for kids from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C.:

• Watch your favorite Shakespeare play on film (mine is Kenneth Branagh'sMuch Ado About Nothing).  Check your local library or Netflix for some excellent titles, and the International Movie Database includes some helpful parents guides with advisory content for you along with ratings and information on most film versions.

• For older kids, check out Michael Woods’ in-depth documentary In Search of Shakespeare which first aired on PBS in 2004. Both the DVD and the companion book should be readily available through most public libraries.

• Better yet, see a live Shakespeare play as soon as possible. Check out college/university performances near you as they’re usually much less expensive than professional productions. 

So how are you going to celebrate the Bard's Birthday?? It isn't every day that the most famous writer in the English language turns 450, right? 

With warm regards from your friendly Shakespeare Geek,

April Is National Poetry Month!!

Yes, April is National Poetry Month!! 

Did you hear that?

We have an entire month dedicated to reading, writing, and basking in poetry!!

So where do we start?

2014 National Poetry Month Poster

The Academy of American Poets hosts all sorts of poetry fun at their site Poets.org. I worked ahead and ordered one of the free National Poetry Month posters (see image above) for our home school; I hung it up as soon as the clock struck midnight. Here's their page devoted to National Poetry Month. And they even have a National Poetry Month FAQ, so check it out!

It was through Poets.org that I first started reading the Poem-A-Day e-mails which first started as a National Poetry Month treat (yes, only available in April) but has now been expanded to a year-round event. A free service, recipients receive a contemporary poem (usually published within the current year) on weekdays while weekends are reserved for classic poems, a.k.a. "old friends." You may sign up for this amazing gift of starting your day with poetry here: Poem-A-Day. 

In addition, Poets.org started the annual celebration of Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day in which we are encouraged to tuck a favorite poem (written by us or by a favorite poet) into our pocket and share it with at least one other person during the course of our day. Which day? April 24 is the official Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day, so prepare!! More information can be obtained on the page Poem-in-Your-Pocket Day. 

In 2013 as part of National Poetry Month, Poets.org sponsored a Dear Poet Project in which students and teachers could write letters to some of the Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets. More about the project and some of the letters may be viewed here: 2013 Dear Poet Project. Although the project is not being extended to this year's celebration of National Poetry Month, a lesson plan has been designed for students in grades 7-10: Letters to Poets Lesson Plan.

Well, Robert Lee Brewer, editor of Poet's Market on the Writer's Digest website, is hosting the annual PAD (Poem A Day) Challenge in which he'll post a different prompt for each day in April, and everyone tosses their efforts into the ring. I took this challenge in 2010 and really enjoyed the process. This year there are a host of professional judges, plus a book of the best poems (as selected by said judges) will be published by Writer's Market, and a little journal-type books is also available with this year's prompts and "room to add your own" (see above image) is available already. It's a pretty cool opportunity, indeed. Here's the link: PAD Challenge Guidelines. And here's where participants will post their poems on the Writer's Digest site: Poetic Asides: PAD Challenge. 

I'm in an especially poetry-induced euphoria as I've spent the last week teaching poetry through Brave Writer's Playing with Poetry Family Workshop. In this four-week course, I taught the basics of poetry analysis and structure and how to read and truly enjoy poetry. Then we wrote the following types of poems: free verse including autobiographical and "I Am From..." free verse poems; visual poetry including shape poems, concrete poems, and acrostics; cinquains and diamante poems; the Japanese poetry forms of haiku and tanka; conventional poetry, including couplets, tercets (and terza rima), quatrains, and limericks; and finally alternative poetry which encompassed fragmented poems, "After..." poems, kennings, and then various types of "found" poems including black-out poems, highlighted poems, and book spine poems, among others.

While several of my own poems became part of the class, I wrote a new fragmented poem (a poem written entirely in sentence fragments--usually an editor's nightmare!) that I thought I'd share with you in honor of National Poetry Month. This is only a second draft, so I may go back through it later and revise certain lines:

Falling

when the world was newly-burnished,

as the sun ducked behind the rounded hills

suffusing the sky with rose and gold,

the hues ever darkening

before the night falls.

because creation is awash in peaceful activity

the lamb curling up beside the lion,

the rabbit teasing the fox,

nudging bushy tail with wiggling nose.

just before the evening coolness in which He strolls daily

admiring the beauty of His creativity,

no longer alone in the gloaming—

but enjoying the heartbeat of companionship at last.

when the pregnant hush comes,

suspending all in that fearful, frozen moment—

as the woman reaches up

into the forbidden, the deadly,

grasping the delectable fruit,

plucking it, admiring its golden rosiness in her palm--

ruining all as her teeth break the bitter skin.

~copyright 2014 by Susanne Barrett

All rights reserved. 

So I wish you all a wonderful celebration of National Poetry Month!! Please feel free to link to any special poems you've been writing or reading, and I'll share some of my favorite poems this month as well.

Poetically yours,

The Value of Visual Arts

This morning's Daily Reflection from The High Calling is entitled "How Art Helps Me to Be Still." I am reproducing the reflection in its entirety here, or you may click on the Daily Reflection title above to read it on the website.

How Art Helps Me to Be Still

by Christy Tennant Krispin

Psalm 46

Our God says, “Calm down, and learn that I am God! All nations on earth will honor me.” 

Psalm 46:10

Being still has never come easily to me, and I know I’m not alone. Whenever I ask friends how they are doing, the answer is inevitably some variation of, “I’m so busy!” Busy with work, busy with family, busy with looking for work, busy looking for the spouse with whom to have a family—we are all so very busy. Yet God says, “Calm down…” Or, in another well-known translation, “Be still and know that I am God.” How does this happen? How can we help one another to “calm down”?

At the end of 2013, I was, of course, busy. Despite the fact that I had taken the months of November and December off from work in order to observe a sabbatical, somehow my life was as hectic as ever. It is so ingrained in me to be doing things—writing, creating, and producing results—that to stop, to calm down, seemed impossible for me. The more I tried to be still, the antsier I became to be active and to achieve something.

There was one thing during those two months, however, that helped me come to a full stop: looking at art. During my two months off, I made it a practice to visit art galleries and museums regularly, not in order to attend openings or to research opportunities for the artists I represent, but rather to simply experience the gift that fine art is.

Over the Christmas holiday, my husband and I visited the National Gallery of Art. The museum was crowded with tourists, noisy with a cacophony of different languages being spoken, and docents trying to talk above the din. Yet, as I made my way through several galleries of impressionist paintings and stood before Monet’s “Waterloo Bridge” series of three paintings, it was as if the noise did not exist. I stopped and stood, transfixed by the beauty, inspired by the breath of God’s Spirit right there in Gallery 87. In those moments, things that had weighed me down for months seemed trivial and unimportant. Encountering the beauty, skill, and inspiration in these works lifted my eyes away from myself and toward the glory that was before me.

Art—good art—can give us busy people a huge gift. It can help us stop and be still. You simply cannot rush through the experience of looking at art. Viewing art—experiencing art—demands that we slow down and set aside the cares of the world for a few moments in order to see—really see—what is before us.

A life of worship is a life that includes times of being still. While many find stillness through meditation, or prayer, or sitting quietly in a room surrounded by stained glass, I find stillness in the sanctuary of the gallery. It is there, the awe I feel when I experience great art, inevitably that leads to a sense of awe for the One who created all things, and from whom all blessings flow.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: What comes to your mind when you consider the admonition to “be still and know that I am God”? Have you ever been transfixed by a painting or sculpture? Take a moment and reflect on what it was that so captured your heart and mind. Was it the color palette? The forms on the canvas? The textures? The scene itself? When, or in what circumstances, do you feel most able to “calm down” and consider God’s God-ness? 

PRAYER: Creator God, how difficult it is for so many of us to quiet our hearts, calm down, and be still as we consider your majesty and wonder. Help us to identify the places where we are able to be still, so that we may be among those who know that you are God and among those who honor you. Amen.

___________

As a busy homeschooling mom with two graduated young people and two still at home for school (grades 8 and 11 this year) and an instructor at Brave Writer and at Heritage Christian School's co-op Class Days (not to mention my own business of grading essays via e-mail and copy editing/proofreading), I struggle with busy-ness. Big time.

Especially during this Lent, a time a year in which I try to instill a new way of drawing closer to God, I am focusing on morning and evening prayer times. I use an app on my phone called Prayer Popper which "pops" four times a day with daily prayers for Keith and the kids, extended family, friends, myself, etc. I use my morning and evening devotional time for worship. 

In the mornings and evenings, I use the Book of Common Prayer 2011 (which I helped to edit; we just published our second printing which is gorgeous!!). I pray through Morning Prayer, including the Lectionary Readings for Morning Prayer (one Old Testament reading and one New Testament reading) and the appointed Psalms for the day. (The Psalter, which uses the ESV Bible, divided the 150 Psalms into morning and evening readings for 30 days, i.e., for each month.) Today I read the selection for Day 22: Morning Prayer which was Psalm 107. I pray through the various canticles which are mostly straight Scripture (again, all ESV), pray the Apostle's Creed and The Lord's Prayer, then the Collect for the week (a collective prayer for the entire Anglican Communion, the second largest global Christian denomination after Roman Catholicism) which changes each Sunday, then the various Morning Prayer and Family Morning Prayer Collects. This one is my favorite:

For God's Blessing This Day

O GOD, we ask your grace and protection for this new day; Keep us clear-minded in all things and focused on our calling; Grant us patience in our difficulties; Give us grace to be just and honest in all our dealings, to be calm, peace-filled, and full of compassion; Make us ready to love others, according to our ability and opportunity; Direct us in all our ways; Defend us from all danger and trouble; Keep us and those who are dear to us under your fatherly care and protection; As you know our needs before we ask,send us your help; Through the sacrifice of your Son, Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen. Psalm 145.8; 1 Peter 3.11; Psalm 119.105; John 10.29

(Book of Common Prayer 2011: Family Prayers: Morning Prayers 57)

The Scripture references at the end of the Collects show the Biblical basis for each particular Collect and is a new aid in this BCP. At night, I pray through both Evening Prayer and Compline, again adding the Collects from Family Prayers: Evening Prayer. 

In addition to using the BCP 2011 for my times of being still with God, I also pray through the Morning and Evening prayers in John Baillie's Diary of Private Prayer. I have been using this prayer book off and on (and more on than off) for over fifteen years and have yet to tire of it. The prayers are beautifully worded, focused on our relationship with God and our worship of Him, and are short and to-the-point.   

Also, in the mornings I am using The Magnificat Lenten Companion, a .99 cent e-book from either Magnificat or Amazon. This little devotional book reminds me a great deal of the evangelical booklets Our Daily Bread. Actually, I'm using the 2013 version which I purchased last year and didn't finish--so why purchase a new one? ;) In the evenings, I've dusted off The One Year Book Of Hymns: 365 Devotional Readings Based on Great Hymns of the Faith. (Amazon states that there are 70-some paperback copies of this book starting at only $.16--yes, that's sixteen cents!! (plus shipping, of course). Still, that's an amazing book for less than a latte at Starbucks!) The left page has a hymn, the right page the back story of the hymn followed by a verse or two of Scripture for meditation. 

I also take time to copy Scriptures and quotations from my prayers and readings that seem especially significant to me into my Quotation Journal/Commonplace Book. 

So while art is a wonderful way to "be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46.10), I find that my Lenten readings and prayers are doing the same thing--and beautifully. 

But I do still find myself turning to art to calm my mind, heart, and soul. A slow stroll through The San Diego Museum of Art and the neighboring Timken Gallery (the latter of which is free!!) does help me to still and center myself in the Artist of All Creation. Here are my favorite pieces from each museum:

I love both the subject matter and the rich colors in this painting, The Return of the Prodigal Son, (link includes information about the painting) by the Italian artist Guernico, painted in 1654-1655. The attention to detail and the amazing SIZE of this work are draw me in; I can hear the Scripture whispered in my ear as I peruse the facial expressions, the depth of color, and the overall emotion. 

Return of the Prodigal Son by Guernico (1654-1655)

It's difficult to choose only one work from the San Diego Museum of Art as I have many paintings there that I love. But Keith and I chose only one to purchase as a print; it hangs above our piano in the living room. The Young Shepherdess (link includes more info on the painting) was painted by the French artist, William-Adolphe Borguereau in 1885. The peaceful pastoral scene behind her, the stillness of the shepherdess, her calm expression with the exception of the restlessness in her eyes all quiet my very soul. It's a remarkable painting, drawing me in with the subtle use of color and the lovely details of Realism--along with the sheer size: this painting is over five feet in height and two feet in width, making her nearly life-sized. I can sit and watch her for hours, wondering what she's thinking and dreaming as she watches over the sheep in her charge.  

Young Shepherdess by William-Adolphe Bourguereau (1885)

I won't take the time to share a great deal about two of my favorite non-San Diego-based paintings as they aren't really works that encourage calm meditation, but I'll post links for you, anyway. Both were in London, are HUGE in size, and simply mesmerized me; I sat before each of them for over half an hour, absorbing them fully, especially the use of light and dark and the richness of color: 

The Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche (1833), National Gallery, London

Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais (1851-2), Tate Gallery, London

So let's find our own path to combat busyness of body, mind, heart, and soul through artwork and through our daily time with God. However you center yourself contemplatively, we need to take the time to focus on a creative outlet, a way to draw close to our Creator, the original Artist who created the heavens and the earth.   

Wishing you peace, this day and always,