{"id":54521,"date":"2021-01-30T10:14:42","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T16:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=54521"},"modified":"2021-01-30T10:14:42","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T16:14:42","slug":"words-are-turtles-some-thoughts-for-a-new-season-of-teaching-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/30\/words-are-turtles-some-thoughts-for-a-new-season-of-teaching-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Words Are Turtles&#8221;: Some thoughts for a new season of teaching worship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new semester has begun!<\/p>\n<p>As a teacher this semester, I am excited about reading the written work of my students. I know from past experience how many wonderful insights, questions, and big ideas surface from mysterious depths as students craft reflections and essays. I celebrate the gifts that await our shared discovery, springtime gifts just beneath the surface, soon to shoulder their way up through winter soil.<\/p>\n<p>Even as I anticipate the gifts of student writing, I know that the semester will bring some long, perhaps even painful, nights when inspiration eludes both teachers and students, when our muse is more enemy than friend. For those moments when we are word-and-world-weary, I share this image from writer and poet, Pat Schneider:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>Tonight, words are turtles<br \/>\nsleeping under mud.<br \/>\nEven when I poke them<br \/>\nthey will not wake up.<br \/>\nLeave us alone,<br \/>\ntheir silence says.<br \/>\nWhen we decide to surface,<br \/>\nwe will tell you what we dreamed.<\/p>\n<p><cite>PAT SCHNEIDER IN\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/0199933987\/ref=rdr_ext_tmb\">HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN: WRITING AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE<\/a><\/em><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Writing is an intentional and inner act, Schneider says. She also says that \u201cwriting and prayer are both a form of love, and love takes courage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As we students, professors, and liturgy writers all poke countless sleeping turtles this semester, I hope that we find courage to write with wisdom and honesty (to the best of our ability). I also hope that as we sometimes brood over the empty screen in front of us we meet Spirit-mystery and encounter unexpected truths.<\/p>\n<p>Words of wisdom from Alice Walker:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center\"><p>When we let Spirit<br \/>\nLead us<br \/>\nIt is impossible<br \/>\nTo know<br \/>\nWhere<br \/>\nWe are being led.<br \/>\nAll we know<br \/>\nAll we can believe<br \/>\nAll we can hope<br \/>\nIs that<br \/>\nWe are going<br \/>\nHome<br \/>\nThat wherever<br \/>\nSpirit<br \/>\nTakes us<br \/>\nIs where<br \/>\nWe<br \/>\nLive.<\/p>\n<p><cite>ALICE WALKER IN\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Absolute-Trust-Goodness-Earth-Poems\/dp\/0812971051\/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=absolute+trust+in+the+goodness+of+the+earth&amp;qid=1612022932&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-1\">ABSOLUTE TRUST IN THE GOODNESS OF THE EARTH<\/a><\/em><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new semester has begun! As a teacher this semester, I am excited about reading the written work of my students. I know from past experience how many wonderful insights, questions, and big ideas surface from mysterious depths as students craft reflections and essays. I celebrate the gifts that await our shared discovery, springtime gifts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":54522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[3119],"tags":[3483,3484,61,3307,3485,3482],"class_list":["post-54521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-plaza-new-ws","tag-alice-walker","tag-pat-schneider","tag-prayer","tag-teaching","tag-turtles","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&quot;Words Are Turtles&quot;: Some thoughts for a new season of teaching worship - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/30\/words-are-turtles-some-thoughts-for-a-new-season-of-teaching-worship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;Words Are Turtles&quot;: Some thoughts for a new season of teaching worship - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new semester has begun! 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