Lenten Studies - "Finding God Among the Poets"

Everyone is welcome to join us for this year’s study series, the details of which are as follows:

"Finding God Among the Poets"

Course Outline
There will be five weekly sessions, with participants meeting in a group in each centre.

Participants will be given a small number of poems to ponder a week in advance of the session on those poems.

At the beginning of the course they will be given some notes suggesting ways in which they might ponder the poems. For each group of poems they will also be given some suggested questions to ponder.

Session 1
A miscellaneous group of poems drawn from Andrew Motion’s Here to Eternity: An Anthology of Poetry.

Session 2
Struggling Towards God.
Poems from Anne Sexton’s The Awful Rowing Toward God.

Session 3
Playing Hide and Seek with God.
Poems from R.S. Thomas’ Collected Poems.

Session 4
Talking Straight to God.
Poems from John Berryman’s Eleven Addresses to God.

Session 5
Finding God in God’s Own.
A miscellaneous group of Kiwi poems from Spirit in a Strange Land.

Sample Suggestions

• Read each of the poems through slowly. Jot down what the poems says to you about God, or the poet’s attitude towards God. How does the poet feel about God in the poems? What image of God are you left with?

• Note any strong negative or positive emotion you feel as you read the poem. Can you identify the cause of that emotion in the poem?

• Chose one of the poems that most speaks to you. Read it through several times, preferably aloud. Listen to it. Hear what it is saying to you. Does it connect in some way with your own experience? What comes to mind as you ponder it? Why does it appeal to you?

• Are there any particular insights, thoughts or feelings you would like to share with the group?

• Is there anything you would like to say to the poet? Or to God?

Depending on sufficient interest, we will have one group meeting in the Parish Lounge in Scotia Street, Port Chalmers, and another in Blueskin Bay Library, Harvey Street, Waitati.

The dates (still to be confirmed are):

Port Chalmers (Parish Lounge in Scotia Street):
Tuesday, 27^th February, Wednesday, 7^th March, Wednesday 14^th March, Tuesday 20^th March, and Wednesday 28^th March.

Waitati (Blueskin Bay Library, Harvey Street)
Thursdays, 1^st, 8^th, 15^th, 22^nd, and 29^th March.

• Each session will be from 7.30 - 9.00pm

• Please let Roger know (472.7402) as soon as possible if you are interested in taking part

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It Could Have Been in Cornwall

It could have been in Cornwall
where St Cadoc showed his wiles,
blessing the place with his shiny face
including the Scilly Isles.

It could have been in Cornwall
near the town where I was born,
he learned to pray in a fervent way
to welcome in the dawn.

It could have been in Cornwall
where he walked upon the moors,
and fought a plan by a greedy man
to eradicate the gorse.

It could have been in Cornwall
where he healed the sick and weak,
and learned to float on a patched up coat
and never sprung a leak.

It could have been in Cornwall
he saw angels in the sky,
and realised to his great surprise
he could levitate and fly.

It could have been in Cornwall
where he preached to an ancient chough,
prattling late to his feathered mate
until the bird was stuffed.

It could have been in Cornwall
that he dined with Joan the Wad,
downing whisky with the regal piskey
and winning her for God.

It could have been in Cornwall
in our glorious Celtic past,
or it could all be fraud by the Tourist Board –
it’s safer not to ask.