Today for Thankful Tuesday, I want to give you some words I heard over the weekend at the Festival of Faith and Writing, thoughts that have filled me up. I hope they speak something important to you too.
(Note: these are from my notes and they may not be exact…though I did my best–my very best!–at the note-taking.)
“Repetition…locates us, keeps us where we are, keeps us the way a mother keeps her baby.” –Jeanne Murray Walker
“It’s not an accident that Laments [in the Psalms] start individually and then turn into community. The circle widens with the Lament the more love and safety is there. We, the artists, are called to be the ones who bring [the community] into honesty.” –Gregg DeMey
“If I’m complaining to God it feels more healthy than if I’m complaining about God behind his back.” –Susan Isaacs
“Artists are called to be the most observing humans around, which involves a lot of listening.” -Gregg DeMey
“A testimonial is about answers. Good art is about polishing questions.” -Greg DeMey
Quoting her friend: “Every church has a prase band. When are we going to bring out the Lament band?” –Caryn Rivadeneira
“In all of our rushing, we’re like bulls in china shops. We’re breaking our lives.” –Ann Voskamp
“[Our work is to speak] the language of amazement into a culture that thinks they’ve been abandoned.” -Ann Voskamp
“How did God make every woman to be a maker? He made an empty space inside her… Something always comes to the empty space. And it can be God.” -Ann Voskamp
“You either have to bury your fear in faith or bury your talents in fear. Which is it going to be?” -Ann Voskamp
“Story is in the suffering.” -Ann Voskamp
“When love and theology conflict, love should always be our priority.” -Dr. Vincent Harding paraphrased in Kristin Vander Giessen-Reitsma’s reading of her essay “Choice Cuisine” from the collection, The Spirit of Food
“People are gracious toward religious expression that is gracious to them.” –Marilyn Robinson
“God has never told us we would leave this world alive.” -Marilyn Robinson