I’m at the Festival of Faith and Writing

The Festival of Faith and Writing taking place in Grand Rapids, Michigan on the campus of Calvin University.

Which used to be Calvin College when I first started attending the festival in 1992. The conference began in 1990, inaugurated by the Calvin English department, The first few festivals leaned academic with the presentation of papers, but evolved into a mainstream celebration of all kinds of literature that resonates with Reformed Theology—from their mission statement: [rooted] in common grace and the goodness of creation, the Festival of Faith & Writing creates space for meaningful discussion and shared discovery among people with different religious beliefs and practices. The festival is now hosted by the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing.

Through the years I’ve changed pews, but I’ve always held onto the belief that reading will save the soul.

This year I will be presenting at a Festival Circle, basically a lunchtime discussion. My topic is Slow Looking: Freeing the Mind to Observe

This Circle introduces participants to Corita Kent, an Immaculate Heart sister known as the "Pop Art Nun," who captured the imagination of the 60s and early 70s with her free-spirited designs (her iconic LOVE stamp is still sold by the U.S. post office). Sister Corita helped her students to see the world a new way—in small bite-size pieces. Her “finder,” a small cardboard frame, reshaped the everyday and brought minutia into perspective.

I have little frames such as Sister Corita instructed her students to use to hand out at the Circle. I practiced my presentation with two students at the MSU Writing Center last week. They asked me: what will you have them do with this “frame”?

Of course I had no idea.

It was all a bit intuitive, meaning how do I explain the sublime? Like hearing a symphony or reading a poem—how do we communicate the awe, the epiphany, that moment when our soul goes BONG!

Sister Corita was known as the Pop-Art Nun. The whole idea around this kind of art was representation. Is it merely a Campbell’s tomato soup can or something else. Warhol betted on something else. For those who have eyes to see it is about understanding how the ordinary rubs up against the divine, sometimes penetrating our earthly membrane.

The unseen vs the seen
Prose vs poetry
The possible vs the impossible

What do we see when we allow ourselves to look? When we are open to serendipity, when we allow ourselves to let go.