THE CREATIVE SPIRIT
A NEWSLETTER OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE HOLY SPIRIT – SAN ANTONIO, TX
Restoring all people to unity with God and each other in Christ
October 2016
Editor: Katie Sutcliffe Becker
Special Creativity Issue - 2016
Creativity and Spirituality
By: Kelly Conkling
In this issue…
Holy Spirit has a
“So God
with all the world.” As
quarterly(ish) newsletter
created
Christians we are called to
called The Voice of the Spirit
humankind in
live into that heritage, that
that features stories of
God’s image,
inheritance, that truth about
transformation by and about
in the image of
ourselves.
members of our
God [they were created]; male
and female God created them…
and God saw everything that
God had made, and indeed, it was
very good.” (Genesis 1:27, 31a)
Creativity is the work of the
heart; it is the work of the
imagination; of the brain and
the spirit. It is our call from
congregation and our life
together as a Christ-centered
community.
This special issue grew
out of a class that The Rev.
It is through our imaginations, and our heart
center, that we begin to understand God.
Kelly Conkling offered in
the spring that focused on
the book by Tomas Ryan,
CSP, entitled Soul Fire:
We are created in the image
God, the chance at
Accessing Your Creativity.
and likeness of God, and our
participating in one of life’s
This issue features creative
God is one who creates. It
most powerful experiences:
exercises that participants in
follows, then, that creativity is
to make something whole
the class created during and
literally part of our spiritual
from the pieces of our lives.
after the class.
DNA. Biologically we
procreate. Spiritually we
reflect God’s creativity.
Hildegard of Bingen wrote,
“…humankind full of creative
possibilities, is God’s work.
Humankind alone, is called to
assist God. Humankind is called
to co-create. God gave to
humankind the talent to create
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It is clear that our senses
Are you working on or
alone, and our intelligence
have you recently
alone, cannot, by themselves,
completed a creative project
observe and come to know
that you would like to share
God. It is through our
with the congregation?
imaginations, and our heart
Please e-mail it to
center, that we begin to
[email protected]
understand God.
rg and if we get enough
submissions we can
continue to publish special
creativity issues!
What cannot be seen, heard,
This faith becomes concrete –
act of engaging in a creative
felt, touched, smelled, tasted,
incarnate - it becomes
activity as a spiritual practice -
or logically understood, can
something that can be seen,
whether it be cooking,
still be imagined. So the
heard, felt, touched, smelled,
cleaning, writing, or singing -
imagination, the creative
perhaps tasted or experienced
is an act of trying to make
force, is an instrument of
in other ways, through the act
known the object of our faith –
faith.
of making. The intentional
God.
Photography: to see clearly
The following photographs are by Pat Jankowski (left) and Lyn Komada (right).
Found Poetry: to reflect
Using the process of "found poetry," which someone described as a "word collage,"
is surprisingly easy and always thought-provoking. It essentially uses and rearranges
someone else's words (giving them credit) to create new meaning and sometimes
even poetry. While the technique was new to me, it helped me understand that
inspiration for poetry can come from almost anywhere!
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- Nancy Roberts
This excerpt from Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd, was used to create the Found Poetry
on pages 4 -6.
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By: Kiki Foster
By: Diana Thorp
4
By: Nancy Roberts
By: Nancy Socher
"Creativity is primarily about process, about the journey itself, rather than the end goal. The
spiritual life is much the same, which is one of the places creativity and spirituality intersect: in
tending to and celebrating the process of becoming. We don't ever arrive, at least not in this
lifetime. We continue to unfold and flower and emerge." Christine Valters Painter, PhD
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The picture to the left creates the following Found Poem:
This morning I made coffee
My life shining ordinary too beautiful to bear
Nothing seemed holier than being naturally myself
If this were my last day on earth
I would go into our garden
And experience the common acts of life.
-Picture and Found Poem by Joyce St. John
Julian of Norwich wrote, “We can never know God
until we first know clearly our own soul.”
Mandala: to discern
The following mandalas were created by Cheryl North (left), and Joyce St. John (right).
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Mandala: (continued)
Jeanne Loggie created the Mandala to the left and
described her experience of doing so as follows:
While drawing my mandala, it felt like an
automatic response to the quiet meditation we had
before we began. I was so surprised how I was
drawn to the deep red - I just knew that I wanted a
burgundy or maroon color, but didn’t know
why. I’m still not sure why the heart is hollow and
I didn’t feel the need to fill it in. The spiral circling
was also automatic and blue is just the color I was
drawn to. I felt a little sad when I was finished; it
was strange that “insulated” was the word that
came to mind - almost like my heart was wrapped up in bubble wrap! Imagine my surprise when I
discovered the follow: Blue can be a sign of Healing and protection; Deep Red can be a sign of sacrifice
and bravery; Spirals can be a sign of constructive or destructive forces. It’s amazing to see how it all came
together and how it fits with where I am in my life right now!
Creative Expression
By: Kelly Conkling
“The characteristic common to God
teaching, counseling, nursing and doctoring, or
and man is apparently… the desire
running a business.
and ability to make things.”
Dorothy Sayers
We are all creators, artists – even
Creative exercises – especially artistic ones –
open us up to God, open our hearts to the
stirrings of the spirit, free our creative
if you have never thought of yourself in this way.
imaginations and allow us to see deeply into our
We all have the gift to imagine. Each of us, as our
own hearts and the heart of God. This creative
own unique person, has our own creative
spirit, fostered and cared for within us, flows
journey and we must each find our own way
outward into our own lives, our relationships,
whether it be through the visual arts, poetry,
and the world around us.
music, gardening, housekeeping, cooking,
Frank Schaeffer writes in Addicted to Mediocrity: 20th Century Christians
and the Arts, “Remember that as a creative person, the important thing is to
create. Who sees what you make, where it goes and what it does is a secondary
consideration; the first is to exercise the talent God has given you.”
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Photography: to see clearly
Photograph above by Jeanne Loggie.
Photograph on left by Penny Herrero, photograph on the right by Sherry Lott.
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Photography: (continued)
The photo on the left was taken by Sally Lindsey.
When ask what she found most striking about
the class, she responded as follows: It's the
encouragement, inspiration and sharing I get
from the other participants. We had one day
during the summer when Tonya came with the
two Emilys and we all just jumped in with the
Shibori dyeing. Emily and Emily showed us the
tie dye technique they learned at
CampCapers. We can take risks trying
something different like Penny dyeing two
different sets of curtains just to see what would
happen, or just being together and laughing a lot.
Food for the soul.
Paint to Music: to express
Paintings by Joyce St. John (left) and Pat Jankowski (right).
Matthew Fox says that “[creativity] is where the divine and human meet.”
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Creativity, Spirituality, and a Prayerful Life
By: Kelly Conkling
“When we engage in a creative
Living a creative life, practicing the presence of
activity, we are seeking to connect
God in and through all of our daily activities, is
to God, the great creator, artist to
living from the heart, and living “creatively is a
artist.” Douglas Eby
choice. Creativity is not a particular gift given to
Creativity, as a spiritual
practice, is an act of living. Ellen Dissanayake, an
anthropologist, suggests that the act of creating is
actually a biological need that is basic to human
certain people only. It is a personal choice and a
cultural choice…. We choose whether to let creativity
flow or not ….. In theological terms, it is a matter of
letting the Spirit in, the Christ in.” (Matthew Fox)
nature. She describes creating as “making
A favorite quote of mine says “the most visible
special.” Creativity encompasses the whole of
creators I know of are those artists whose medium is
our lives. Every act in which we “make special”
life itself. The ones who express the impossible –
can be a creative one: our play and our
without brush, hammer, clay or guitar. They neither
improvisations, how we relate to others, handle
paint nor sculpt – their medium is being. Whatever
difficulties, find solutions to problems, how we
their presence touches has increased life. They see and
approach our work and the hobbies we pursue.
don’t have to draw. They are the artists of being
Matthew Fox, in his book Creation, explains that
alive.” Our life is a work of art. It is the greatest
“When I’m operating at my best, my work is my
artistic collaboration we have with God.
prayer. It comes out of the same place that prayer
comes out of – the center, the heart.”
________________________________
Prayer: Gracious God, we give you thanks for the many blessings
and creative gifts that you have already bestowed upon us through
your Holy Spirit. Open our hearts, we pray, that we may yield
ourselves to you, to your empowering presence; that we will be all
that you have created us to be, and that we will do all you have
created us to do. This we ask in Christ’s name. Amen.
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Collages: for self-awareness
Collage above by: Nancy Socher
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Collage above by: Mary Sipich
Thomas Aquinas wrote that “Natural objects, created by God, reflect
and give witness to their creator. And the strongest and most direct ‘image
of God’ is the human being, created in God’s image.”
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Photography: to see deeply
Photo above top by Nancy Roberts, above bottom by Marsha Thorp, below by Katie Sutcliffe Becker.
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CREATIVITY?
By: Julie Whatley
When I heard Kelly was offering a class on
creativity, I thought: I can’t sing, dance, paint, or
do crafty things, I’m just not creative. I
mentioned this to Kelly, and her response was,
“God created you, and God is in you, so you are
creative – everyone is.” So I decided to get the
book, “Soul Fire, Accessing Your Creativity,” by
Thomas Ryan and go to the first class.
The exercises in the book and the projects Kelly
gave us started us on the way to awakening our
creativity, (for those of us who didn’t feel we
were creative.) Painting to music was one of my
favorite classes, though I won’t be framing any of
my “masterpieces.” But I did find a creative
spark in writing poetry as a way to express some
soul felt experiences.
I am so glad I took a chance to be creative. And I
look forward to continuing the journey, and the
poem below is part of that continued journey:
The book was an inspiration and a great guide. Ryan
starts by saying the book is aimed primarily at
those of us in “the second half of life,” because
we have more time to explore, discover and
nurture our creativity. Ryan also said we all are
creative, but for various reasons our creativity
may have been stifled , buried or suppressed
while we attended school, pursued a career,
raised children.
_________________________________
Poetry: as a way of life
I felt such turmoil
It filled the room with more and more urgency
This poem was created by Mary Sipich during
It covered the air in agony
the Sunday worship service on June 26, 2016.
Then I heard it; a light sound
She shared it with members of the class in the
following e-mail note:
Something fling above
The urgency became resolve
I am strong; WE are strong
Good Evening everyone. If you were in church
The sounds have become more even
this morning, you heard the beautiful music we
Sweeping me away with Him
had. During the orchestral intro of the first song,
We were meant to live for so much more
I closed my eyes and just listened. In my mind’s
eye, I was ‘painting’ a picture of how I was
feeling. As choir began singing, I wrote the
following:
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I must say, I was quite surprised at how easily
this came. Just one more example of what
happens when you open your mind to the
possibility of creativity!
The Class
By: Cheryl North
The creativity and spirituality/prayer class was
wonderful! As a person who does not feel the
"creative" skill as one of the major gifts that God
has given me, I have learned that "creativity" is a
"gift from God" to each of us. It doesn't have to
be a recognizable piece of art or sculpture, or the
piece of work that causes people to say "wow". It
could be the "piece" that allows you to
communicate with God and yourself. Kelly
teaches us all that aspect of creativity so well! I
try to keep that idea in my mind as I attempt to
broaden my prayer time to include new ways of
Above: Class participants creating Mandalas.
expression. Thank you, Kelly!
_________________________________________
The Creative Journey Continues
In their desire to continue exploring the creative process, a number of participants began meeting on a
regular basis over the summer to explore a variety of creative expressions like Japanese tie-dying,
marbling paper, and making sun prints.
Mrs.
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Kindle the Flame: Creative Play
Please watch for the sign up for the next Kindle the Flame creativity make-andtake class. No date has been set yet, but will be announced in the weekly email and with a sign-up sheet in the back of the church. Several participated
on October 1, 2016 and it was a great success.
__________________________________________________________
Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit
RESTORING ALL PEOPLE TO UNITY WITH GOD AND EACH OTHER IN CHRIST
www.SentByTheSpirit.org
____________________________________________________________________________
Worship and Mailing Address:
Church Phone Number: 210-314-6729
11093 Bandera Road, San Antonio, TX 78250
Church email – [email protected]
Church Staff:
The Rev. Jason T. Roberts – Rector
Mr. Eddy Martinez – Youth Minister
[email protected] ext. 101
Jeanne Loggie – Church Administrator
The Rev. Kelly S. Conkling – Asst. Rector
[email protected] ext. 103
[email protected] ext. 102
Mrs. Tonya Kramer – Secretary and Lead
The Rev. John Padgett – Priest Associate for
Nursery Teacher, ext. 100
Adult Formation, [email protected]
[email protected]
Mr. Chris Bendrell – Music Minister
Ms. Cheryl West – Children’s Music Teacher
[email protected]
Worship and Mailing Address:
Ms. Jen Gil – Children and Youth Minister
11093 Bandera Road, San Antonio, TX 78250
[email protected]
Church Staff:
The Rev. Jason T. Roberts – Rector
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[email protected] ext. 101
[email protected]
Church Phone Number: 210-314-6729
Ms. Abby Amick – Accompanist
Church email – [email protected]
Ms. Deborah Ewald – Sexton
The Rev. Kelly S. Conkling – Asst. Rector
[email protected] ext. 102