Quiet Garden Morning: Speak Your Truth
Saturday, November 12, 2022, 9:00 AM
Examing drama as a way of paying attention.
I’m wondering, “Is there something you would go to jail to defend?” I have never been arrested or put in jail for civil disobedience. But I know those who have.
Tom Lewis lived in a Catholic Worker House. He taught at the Worcester Art Museum School and would occasionally be absent from class because he had been jailed. This was a shock to me. A member of the Plowshares movement, Tom often protested at sites where nuclear weapons were produced. His moral stands prompted one judge to call him “the conscience of a nation.” But that moniker didn’t prevent Tom from spending time in federal prison. And being imprisoned didn’t prevent him from creating art. He once did a series of portraits of his cellmates using the dirt from the jail floor mixed with mayonnaise from his sandwich.
For our November Quiet Garden Morning, titled Speak Your Truth, the contemplative focus will be the Parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8). Based on this Gospel text, playwright William Gibson wrote “Handy Dandy,” which premiered in New York City in the mid-1980s. It’s about a Roman Catholic nun who is jailed by a Judge whose beliefs about justice and injustice conflict with hers. The play invites us to explore how two people of radically different backgrounds and perspectives can make contact and influence each other. A prayerful reading will lead us to rich discussion; all are welcome.
~The Rev. Dr. Linda Privitera
Tags: Events / Center for Prayer & Spirituality - Engaging the Contemplative Life