Creativity

On the Road: Brown County, Indiana and Hoosier Artist T.C. Steele

Steve · August 19, 2018 · 4 Comments

I haven’t written a travel blogpost for a while, so as I lean into retirement and “next steps” in the coming year, I have a yearning for more travel and more opportunities to write about it. Although not always as specifically “spiritual or faith-filled” as many of my posts, I hope you will enjoy our occasional meanderings around America’s Midwest and elsewhere to discover beautiful, historical places and the interesting and creative people who live (or have lived) in them. For it is in this beauty and creativity that I so often find God…

Chair — The world's largest rocking chair, Casey, Illinois.

Last weekend, Sue and I took off for one of our long weekend trips in search of history, art, natural beauty and adventure. After a bit of wandering along I-70 in southern Illinois (including a pit stop to see the world’s largest rocking chair, mailbox, pitchfork, pencil and windchime in Casey, Illinois), and a quick sojourn to Indianapolis to see one of my photos on display in the Inspired By Spring exhibit at the historic Lilly House at Newfields, we made our way to Bloomington and eventually on Sunday to Brown County, Indiana, home to the early 20^th-century “Hoosier Artists” and, most notably, impressionist painter T.C. Steele, the godfather of the movement.

Did we know of Steele and the Hoosier artists as we planned our trip to Brown County? We did not. This is why we love to travel. We head in a given direction, we know where we’re going to stay and have picked out a few places we want to visit, but we allow ourselves to be surprised by what the road and journey gives us. This trip gave us T.C. Steele. [Read more…] about On the Road: Brown County, Indiana and Hoosier Artist T.C. Steele

Hakarat Hatov: Recognizing the Good

Steve · July 28, 2018 · 6 Comments

Jon and Jess Givens in Nicaragua. SJG photo.

“In a time of destruction, create something: a poem, a parade, a community, a school, a vow, a moral principle; one peaceful moment.” – Maxine Hong Kingston

“When in doubt, do something.” – Harry Chapin

About a month ago, I had the great pleasure of being present at an event sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council in St. Louis, at which my close university colleague Cheryl received an award for her years of service, wisdom and dedication, not only to the Jewish community but to the entire community. During the ceremony, one of the speakers spoke of “Hakarat Hatov,” a Hebrew term for gratitude. It literally means, I came to learn, “recognizing the good.” And I thought to myself, that’s a pretty good place to begin.

We live in unsettled, dangerous, destructive, confusing times, and it would be easy to allow our only response to be one of resignation, of saying to ourselves and to the rest of the world, “I give up. It’s just too big. It’s just too destructive. I have nothing to offer that will make a difference.”

But such a response is lazy and not a response of faith. A response of faith allows us (perhaps propels us) to roll up our sleeves and, as Maxine Hong Kingston writes above, do something creative. Or, as I learned from listening to my musical and social justice hero Harry Chapin many years ago, “When in doubt, do something.”

Pondering as Prayer and an Act of Faith

Steve · June 2, 2018 · 4 Comments

Givens - Inspired by Spring — Waiting to Burst Open to the World. Newfields Museum, Indianapolis. SJG photo.

“The most fortunate are those who have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder and even ecstasy.” – Abraham Maslow

A bright red male cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) just came to rest on a post outside the porch where I sit praying and writing this. It immediately grabs my attention, of course, because of its radiance and beautiful angular lines. I know its trilled, two-part call, for it’s a prayer of its own, a hymn of praise to the new day: cheer-cheer-cheer-purty-purty-purty. (Translation: Yay! It’s a beautiful new day!)

The Creative Spirit: The Human Necessity of ‘Being Moved’

Steve · August 27, 2017 · 8 Comments

Over the past week, I have been reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. I’ve seen the B movies and a very good theatrical version years ago at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre, but I’ve never read the book. It was assigned reading this year for all the first-year students at the university where I work, so I thought I would join the throng of readers.

We all read books, poems and sacred texts with different mindsets and personal histories, of course, so these words purposefully and creatively strung together by the authors affect each person differently. As regular readers of my blog no doubt know, I write often on the idea of paying attention to the world around us, of leaving ourselves open to being moved by the things in our lives and, ultimately, by the looming presence of God. So I was delighted to read this passage below, spoken by Dr. Frankenstein about his hike through the woods and mountains, during which he observed the desolation after an avalanche, dangerous and deep ravines, “somber” pines, the distant valley with mist rising off the river and the mountain summits shrouded in clouds. In short, he was paying attention and was deeply aware of the human necessity of being moved. He says:

The Creative Spirit: Conversation and Storytelling

Steve · August 21, 2017 · 3 Comments

IMG_1153 - Version 2 — Opening the door to conversation and storytelling. SJG photo.

If you read my blog regularly, you’ll certainly see a few repeating themes, among them the importance of living in awareness and gratitude of God and the critical nature of silent, contemplative prayer to do that. But there’s more, of course. As much as we need our times of silence, we need times of conversation and storytelling with friends new and old.

I received an email from L’Arche St. Louis this morning that helped drive this idea home for me, for the email contained this quote from Henri Nouwen, who lived in a L’Arche community for many years:

“Pay attention to the people God puts in your path if you want to discern what God is up to in your life.”