Thursday, November 27, 2014

Why I Don't Subscribe to N+1

N+1 is a silo by and for graduates of MFA and English Lit programs. It serves to
reinforce the clan's smug snobbery and assuages their unconscious insecurity that they may not be members of the intellectually elite.

I'll take my chances in the street.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

LukeLive

At my parish, I recently attended a Christian mission which was a three night, interactive theater performance called Lukelive. It was created and is performed by Fr James Diluzio, CSP, who has a background in singing, acting, and the theater. He has memorized the gospel of Luke.  In the Lukelive performance at my parish, he acted the first six chapters of the gospel of Luke (because of Advent I presume). He acts out each character in the story. The performance is intermingled with prayer, song, teaching, and even some breathing and movement exercises. In between each biblical story, he stops and teaches about the story and accepts questions. People gave personal witnesses without even being asked. It was very explicitly Holy Spirit oriented and filled. We in the audience were completely disarmed. His teaching/interpretation/spiritual coaching/insights are high quality and astonishing. 

In particular, he teaches about how to evangelize people who do not share our beliefs. That was particularly empowering for me. It was generalizable into how to deal with encounters with people in general, including ourselves, relating to empathy, listening, and interpersonal relationships. I have had everything backwards, but I sort of knew that already! But he framed the interpersonal skills issues in such a way that I was able to take them as an "action item" for myself--for personal growth.

He spoke of our own experiences. His characterization of Zechariah was particularly vivid to me. His explanation of the meaning of the Incarnation was acutely insightful. He even quoted "the Glory of God is man fully alive." This had my rapt attention throughout. It was an amazing evangelization towards myself. I would go anywhere in the metropolitan area to see it again.