Leaving soon for Creative Women: Blooming, Birthing & Beauty.
Our structure will be “open space conferencing” in which the four key principles are:
- Whoever comes is the right people;
- Whatever happens is the only thing that could have;
- When it starts is the right time;
- When it’s over it's over.
Looking forward to seeing what everyone brings!
Public concert in the evening to share my music. If you’re in Calgary, come on over!
The group wanted to focus on the songwriting process. “Do you write the words or music first?” Our presenter said he tends to write music first, qualifying that this is partly because that’s his expertise, while his wife and their co-writer specialize in lyrics.
He also explained that while he highly values solid lyrical and theological content, he sees music as the key to a great song. If you have great words but terrible music people won’t sing it; if you have great words and great music people will definitely sing it; but if you have bad words and great music, people will still sing it. So first priority, in his opinion, is sing-able music.
Many people in the room thought he meant that melody MUST happen first. That’s not what he meant at all. This particular approach just works for him and his co-writers. Whether you write words or melody first, if the music isn’t “good” it doesn’t really matter what you do.
This led to discussing inspiration. One lady claimed, ”God gave me my song complete, words & music together.”
The presenter looked at her blankly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he declared. “God has never given me a song that’s complete. I believe that God has given me gifts and skills and I work with those.”
I could tell the woman felt dismissed. In fact, she left a little early and looked like she was crying. I wanted to follow, but was too far away to get out quickly. I prayed and prayed for her, sensing that the speaker’s response was like a slap.
What I wish he had said was this: “That’s never happened to me. I believe that God has given me gifts and skills and I work with those out of faithfulness and obedience. I suppose sometimes God might do that, but usually even the most inspired song needs work before it’s finished.”
That’s what I wish he had said. He didn’t have to shut her down. I understand his reaction. The lady talked about “my song” as if it’s the only one she’s ever written. And looking at her it was easy to assume that her song might be unsophisticated, contain clichés, with basic rhyming of the “roses are red” variety. However, none of us actually heard the song, so how could we really judge? I wish he had given benefit of doubt to the quality of her song and the integrity of her process.
There is an important relationship between inspiration and craft. Christians typically claim the Holy Spirit as muse. Unfortunately, upon that claim too many Christians do not delve into craft, so their work is trite and shallow, aesthetically weak. An undeveloped doctrine of inspiration leads to error on two side: (1) if it’s from God I shouldn’t have to revise it, or (2) it’s up to me to work hard.
I prefer a middle ground: not imagination vs. intellect, but both imagination and intellect. Both are part of a person’s mind, and both need to be transformed and renewed as per Romans 12. This applies in all areas of life. To say “that was just my imagination” is a conversation-killer with God, with others, and with our own selves. To elevate logic limits us.
The Lord clearly gives people “wisdom, intelligence, and skill,” as he did with the craftsmen for Israel’s original tabernacle in the desert. Sometimes this inspiration seems to come “out of nowhere,” but ultimately its source is the Spirit of God who invites us to participate in his creative, redemptive work.
So the people of Israel – every man and woman who wanted to help in the work the LORD had given them through Moses – brought their offerings to the LORD. And Moses told them, "The LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. The LORD has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, intelligence, and skill in all kinds of crafts. He is able to create beautiful objects from gold, silver, and bronze. He is skilled in cutting and setting gemstones and in carving wood. In fact, he has every necessary skill. And the LORD has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach their skills to others. The LORD has given them special skills as jewelers, designers, weavers, and embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn on fine linen cloth. They excel in all the crafts needed for the work. Bezalel, Oholiab, and the other craftsmen whom the LORD has gifted with wisdom, skill, and intelligence will construct and furnish the Tabernacle, just as the LORD has commanded." (Exodus 35:29 – 36:1)
So lovely to have sunny days, when the mountains are clear in the distance and we barely need to wear our coats.
So much fun to receive comments on blog posts. Also fun to receive awards you didn’t even know you could get! Thanks, Michelle!
RULES TO ACCEPT THE AWARD:
Below is a list of 12 blogs from my handy iGoogle page.
Family Camp 2010. Shauna Archer, moderator, set up this blog to prepare friends of Arlington Beach Camp and Conference Centre for 50th anniversary celebrations this July. I’m excited about that! I’ll be the official editor of The Fish Flyer daily news.
Shauna and her family recently returned from 2 (or was it 3?) years in Indonesia, which she blogged and I followed until she returned to Canada & stopped adding posts.
Marketing Tips for Authors. Tony Eldridge is one of the most faithful bloggers I know of. Absolutely every work day there is a post from Tony. When he goes on vacation, he plans ahead for a guest blogger, otherwise there’s always something from him. And it’s unfailingly useful information. He makes me want to be a better writer, publisher, promoter, sales-person, etc., etc.
Rebekah Joy Plett, artist. Oh, this delightful, quirky girl has been such a blessing to me! She illustrated BlueBeary by Kathleen McMillan and the second book, too. We are eager for the day when we can hire her to finish the rest of the series (9 more books). Anybody care to sponsor the project?
lisa cornish | photography. Lisa is married to my cousin Don and I adore their entire family. Lisa has done a couple of photo shoots for me and I’m thrilled to see how hard she works on sharpening her eye and her skills.
Lisa’s daughter is the dancing, giggling pixie beside me in the video below.
Emily Wierenga. Here’s another artist-writer-deep-thinking-creative-woman. And new mother. Her creative work has continued and deepened with the birth of her long-awaited son. She forms pictures with paint, poetry, and prose.
Rosie Perera. Another thoughtful, writerly, creative woman. Rosie was involved in writing the original MS Word program (creative work to be sure). From Seattle she moved to Vancouver, where she and I overlapped at Regent College. She understands her vocation to involve helping people live well with technology, which blends technology with spirituality. She is also deeply interested and active in faith and arts. If you search her name on the internet you’ll soon find articles on both topics.
Dr. Chelle Stearns. Another Regent colleague, Chelle and I cheered each other across the finish line for our Masters degrees. She and her husband went on to Scotland where they both got doctorates. Chelle teaches theology at Mars Hill Graduate School and I’m in awe of (and grateful for) her ability to synthesize and integrate big ideas, especially those related to faith and the arts.
The Accidental Poet aka Accidental Housewife. (Which is it anyhow?) Sue and I first met at Write! Saskatoon where I was enthralled by the two workshops she led. The next year found me at the same conference on the same roster of workshop presenters and at the same restaurant afterwards, driving her around the city. Enthralled, I tell you. Sue inspired me to write more poetic things. She also makes me laugh hysterically and has promised to wear green and accompany me on my court day (March 17th) to contest my traffic ticket. Oh, and we’re both teaching at Write! Saskatoon again, driving together even further this time, all the way from Calgary.
Carol. Of course there had to be at least one Briercrest blogger on here. Actually, there are two, but Carol gets listed first. Carol and I met at Briercrest when I was a new professor and she was a new residence director and seminary student. She’s yet another creative woman who is also one of the most organized people I have ever met. Too many creative people sabatoge their potential for lack of order, but Carol is efficient AND aesthetically astute. Her especial skill is flower arranging. She also likes acting and, after several comedic roles (including Wicked Witch of the West), is doing her first serious role this spring as Anne Frank’s mother.
Bryan Moyer Suderman. I don’t even remember how I found this guy, but I was internet surfing for info about music and the arts and business models and sustainability (or something like that) when I happened upon his concept of Community Supported Arts. Brilliant. I became a member of Small Tall Music, started corresponding with him from time to time, and eventually co-hosted a concert with my brother in Duval. I blogged a bit about it and so did Bryan. Oh, and Bryan makes a cameo appearance early in this little video, recorded the night of his concert. He’s the first guy you see, sitting on the red couch, when the camera starts to pan.
A Holy Experience. Luminous. Transporting. This blog makes me want to be a better person, add more beauty to the world, all the while throwing myself on the grace and mercy of God. It also makes me want to be a homeschooler and a farmer. (Ann Voskamp is the only blogger I know of who is possibly more prolific than Tony Eldridge.)
Prairie Road. Erin Ortlund and I crossed paths as I was leaving Caronport, SK and she was arriving. After finishing a PhD in Scotland, her husband was taking a position teaching in the Bible/Theology department at Briercrest College and Seminary, and as Americans neither of them had lived in Canada before so Erin had been doing her “homework,” learning about her new home. Somehow she had learned about my blog, so knew quite a lot about me before we met in person. Though we lived in the same place at the same time for less than a month, we have followed one another via our blogs and have enjoyed the occasional visit in person.
By the way, Erin’s husband Eric contributes to Prairie Road, has a blog of his own (Scatterings) and contributes to yet another blog (Hosting the Text).
