The Seattle School blog, featuring the writing of students, faculty, and alumni.
My head emerged from murky, dark green depths to strains of an undulating voice. A supportive Eastern Indian drone buzzed in minor just below the melody. I did not expect this sound on such a sultry evening. Normally, an errant duck squawks in the distance and the surrounding air is punctuated by the soft flapping of bats blindly gathering their dinner. But not tonight.
2nd year MACP student Dana Mitchell created an art instillation to mark the season of Lent for the MHGS commnity. Here she writes about inhabiting the space the Lent creates.
I went to the Ballard farmer’s market today to buy asparagus and honey. I’ve been reading about food lately and thought it to be the peak of growing season for this vegetable I counted on to announce Spring.
Spring.
It’s been a long Winter for me and as I entered Lent I felt I had been observing this season of grief and hope-drained nights for months already. I welcomed a season of the Church calendar that actually suited the shape of my soul. One night at our weekly Sacred Space meeting, I listened to Katie Jensen read words by Soren Kierkegaard: “How shall God in Heaven be able to dry up your tears when you have not wept?”
1st year MACP student Katie Jensen writes about joining MHGS Student Leadership this Spring as a member of Sacred Space.
As per the typical experience at Mars Hill Graduate School, my first semester was a challenging one. Yet I have discovered that out of the dark mystery of the unknown is birthed the creative rawness of glorious new beginnings.
Though I still feel often lost in the darkness, I’m learning to close my eyes, listen for the music, and am gaining to courage to sing along. I’ve been on a journey of voice: discovering my voice, using my voice, and loving my voice. This road stretchesout before me to the horizon, and I am, for now, set upon it. Joining Sacred Space at MHGS is for me a step of faith in this direction. For I believe that I have something of value to bring and am putting myself in a position to offer it.
Every other Wednesday I meet with my practicum facilitator (or the “I”m Feeling Guy” as my husband refers to him) on the fourth floor of the MHGS building at 11am. At noon I move to the big black leather slouch of a couch down the hall and journal about it. Then at 12:30pm I gather, with other students to celebrate communion in the Chapel.
A different 3rd year MDiv student facilitates our time every week.
Danny Donohue, a 2nd year MACP student, reflects on the advent season and how it shapes his spiritual direction
Lately I’ve been giving much thought to the wise men who followed the star to baby Jesus. I’m deeply moved by the fact that the wisdom of this world, embodied in the wise men, came and bowed to Wisdom personified–before he could deliberately minister to them. Before the wise men could get much out of Jesus.
For the second year in a row, the Food Course is being taught at MHGS. Co-taught by Counseling Psychology Professor Stephanie Neil and Biblical Studies Professor Jo-Ann Badley, the Food Course addresses the topic of food as a place of conversation about embodiment of Christian thought and practice. In this Selected Readings course, students examine the role of food for wholeness as human beings in society, from both a psychological and theological perspective. In the following post, 2nd year MDiv student Kira Elliot shares some of her experience of the Food Course in the midst of this season of harvest.
Dear Reader,
Reflecting on today’s Food Class, the intersection of psychology and theology, and our world’s eating habits, there is a line that repeats itself in my head: “God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good.” I want to hold this, sit with it, take it, meditate awhile, stick it in my pocket and share it as I go on my way.
The article about female eating disorders that we read for class this week talked about balance. I disagree, I think.
Continue Reading Autumn, Indeed: Thoughts on the Food Course
Artemis, Tina Guldhammer Frei
Sacred Space is the realm of Student Leadership that tends to the artistic and ordinary spaces of Mars Hill Graduate School in hopes of opening up space for our community to rest, wrestle, and play. A practical manifestation of this work is found in the art galleries on the second and third floors, which highlight the work of local artists as well as alumni and current students. Our second floor gallery currently features the work of Tina Frei in a collection entitled Re-Placing Nature: Visual Art And the Recovery of Sacred Space.
Tina is a native of eastern Washington. She grew up in the Walla Walla valley, a landscape that has greatly influenced her artistic vision. Frei recently completed a Masters in Theology and the Arts at Fuller Theological Seminary. This collection is a part of her Masters Thesis project, which examined the loss of sacred natural space in Western culture.
Sacred Space had a chance to ask Tina about her artistic process and her current show at MHGS:
Sacred Space: How do you begin and how do you know when it is done?
Continue Reading The Holy Northwest: Sacred Space Interviews Local Artist Tina Guldhammer Frei
We at Mars Hill Graduate School quickly develop a new language in our brief time at the school. Within months of enrollment we are all constantly spouting off new words from our new-found vocabulary, one of these words being ‘hermeneutics.’ Hermeneutics is simply a way of seeing. Traditionally this word has mainly been used to talk about our way of seeing the Bible, often with hard and fast rules about proper biblical interpretation. At MHGS, though, we are less interested in developing prescribed rules for seeing the Bible, and more interested in having our vision crafted in a way where we see everything differently, including the Bible, our community, and the world.
Blaine Hogan, an alumnus of the Master of Arts in Christian Studies, shares his experience of being a prophet/artist in a community of believers:
“How much time have we wasted trying to make ‘bigger and better’ or ‘slicker and sweeter’ messages instead of just being the messengers?” – Play Time: Finding the Freedom to Imagine and Explore by Betty Spackman, author and installation artist.
Awhile ago I was asked to submit a proposal to a publisher for a set of short films. As I sat down to write the proposal, I became acutely aware of the fact that what I was creating was very quickly going to be turned into a product. All of a sudden I was thinking about demographics, marketing, target audiences. Before I could even get started I was paralyzed, knowing that what I was writing would be subject not only to the scrutiny of my own creative process, but also to whether or not the publisher thought she could sell it. Sitting at my desk, I knew I had a choice. I could write what was inside of me. In other words, be the messenger. Or, I could write for the publisher, giving them something that might not be from my heart, but I knew they could sell.
I thought to myself, certainly there must be a place that lies somewhere between these two extremes.
Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz) recently interviewed Dan Allender, Professor of Counseling Psychology and Tremper Longman (Dan’s old friend and guest professor at MHGS) for a new DVD series called Convergence. Convergence is a Bible study resource for your small group. Miller explains that Convergence was started with the goal of creating a more relational, conversational study of our faith and the scripture. Dan and Tremper join Donald in a conversation “about the frustrations and disappointments of life and how the Gospel enables us to live well in a fallen world.”
Donald, Dan, and Tremper also team up for a conversation on marriage and relationship. You can watch more videos or learn more about the Convergence DVD Series.
