How to Read Seamus Heaney (Part 2)

In this short series of posts, I am hoping to encourage the reading of poetry for all it’s worth—to foster confidence in those who love to read poems, but perhaps feel a little intimidated by tackling the work of some modern poets. My case study is Seamus Heaney, the most significant poet to emerge from Ireland since W. B. Yeats.

Collaboration & Community in All the Wrecked Light

A language scholar told me this summer that, in the Hebrew culture, the imagined direction of man in time was reversed. While we in the modern western world see ourselves as moving forward in time, facing the future with the past behind us, the ancient Hebrew mind saw the opposite.

It’s Not a Poem Until You Discover Something: An Interview with Scott Cairns

When I think of the most impactful conversations I have had, the one hour I spent talking about art and poetry with poet and professor Scott Cairns several years ago stands at the top of the list.

I can see now that some of my most cherished ideas about art and poetry—the importance of tradition, the necessity of discovery, the power of perseverance in the work, the fact that the writing life is just another way to live a normal life—were planted in me like seeds during this conversation. I want to share it now in hopes that Scott’s ideas will benefit you as much as they have me.

How to Read Seamus Heaney (Part 1)

When it comes to talking about poetry, there is often an invisible line that can prove difficult to navigate. On the one hand, in any mixed group of people, there will be those who are familiar with, and proficient in, how to approach a poem or a poet. Such people have found their own point of entry with poetic work, and need very little encouragement or instruction on “how to read.” On the other hand (and this may be the more sizable group), there are the uninitiated and slightly intimidated. They love words, they love poetic work, they have treasured a small bouquet of favourite pieces, but they live with a sense of alienation and inferiority about their approach. Aside from familiar lines, the idea of “studying” a poet sounds like a fearful enterprise, something which should only occupy those in the world of undergraduates or postgraduates.

Hutchmoot Podcast & Video: Poetry, Imagination’s Wake-Up Call

The Hutchmoot Podcast features some of our favorite sessions recorded at our annual conference which celebrates art, music, story, and faith in all their many intersections. Today, it is our pleasure to share a session led by Malcolm Guite and Mark Meynell called “Poetry: Imagination’s Wake-Up Call” from 2020’s Hutchmoot: Homebound, in both video and audio form.

A Liturgy for the Planting of Flowers

In celebration of summertime, here’s a liturgy from Every Moment Holy, Vol. 1 about planting flowers and glimpsing the beauty of creation in both its birth and its completion. To download the liturgy as a PDF, visit EveryMomentHoly.com/liturgies.

A Liturgy in Praise of Christ Who Conquered Death

As we enter into Holy Week, we offer you this liturgy from Every Moment Holy, Volume II to be read and relished on Easter Sunday. The text is provided here in this blog post, as well as a link to download a PDF if you’d like to print it out or save it offline. We strongly encourage reading it together with a small group of friends and/or family.

The Chasm & the Passage: Poems by Andy Patton & Anna A. Friedrich

Three Things Newsletter has curated a collection of poems composed by various poets in the L’Abri community. It is our pleasure to share two of these poems with you today: an interpretation of “Psalm 22” by Andy Patton and “Reservoir” by Anna A. Friedrich.

Lent, Week 6: An Image & A Liturgy

The final post in a weekly Lenten series exploring themes of human frailty and suffering through music, story, and art. This week’s post features art by Brooke West and Trillia Newbell’s reading of “A Liturgy Before Mourning with Those Who Mourn,” from Doug McKelvey’s Every Moment Holy, Vol. II.

Forgiveness Cuts Slant: Poems by Sarah Crowley Chestnut & Liz Snell

Three Things Newsletter has curated a collection of poems entitled “Conversations,” composed by various poets in the L’Abri community. It is our pleasure to share two of these poems with you today: “First Last Words” by Sarah Crowley Chestnut and “Words for Morning” by Liz Snell.

Lent, Week 5: The Thick Darkness Where God Was

Like any production, we start with Act I.

I’ve thought about Moses a lot in the last year—bent and grey, hunched over some cut of stretched goat skin or the last bit of papyrus he’d been carrying around since the day he headed out from Egypt.

Lent, Week 3: An Image & A Liturgy

The third in a weekly, six-part Lenten series exploring themes of human frailty and suffering through music, story, and art. This week’s post features art by Brooke West and Mark Meynell’s reading of “A Liturgy for the Anniversary of a Loss,” from Doug McKelvey’s Every Moment Holy, Vol. II.