Poetry as powerful as urinary proteins asserting "I AM/WAS HERE!" If only I could preach with such soul!

Fantastic show. I've listened to the podcast 4 times already. I completely resonate with the sentiments expressed here by Christina Wiman and Krista. I grew up in a very conservative Christian culture and attended a Christian Bible College. I have found that the Christian culture I grew up with is not very realistic or helpful. I even tried being an atheist for 30 days and found that just as religious as the Christian culture I was trying to dismiss. I too am working on re-defining what being a Christian means for me today. On Being is a source of inspiration and hope.

It's been a long hard day, and a long hard week, and so it was a blessing to just sit with my dog, my cats, and my cup of tea and listen to your show with Christian Wiman. How lovely. So much beauty. And his reading of his poem "Every Riven Thing" at the end was truly glorious. thank you.

A: Krista and On Being Staff,

I loved the interview with poet, essayist and editor-- Christian Wiman. I had a similar spiritual childhood. I am Episcopalian now instead of Southern Baptist. I am a painter and a poet also. Let Christian know that I hung on every word of that he and Krista spoke. I am a subscriber to "Poetry" magazine and have read all of Christian's essays and I love his poetry as well. Krista, keep inspiring and shining! The world needs your inner light. Here is one of my poems and I have also attached one of my paintings. Peace be always with you! Sincerely yours, Gari Hatch

"Who Brushes Here"

The soul, it travels slanted ways,
where spates of light descend the days.

Between the space that opens clear,
it shutters on the tables veneer.

Stodgy, stilted, a seizure provoked,
then all at once, moving smooth and cloaked.

Sputtering spirit spilling surprise,
hallow, haloed, with a beams disguise.

Abrupt, erupt, a rabid fling,
then soothing as grace in heavens sling.

Entities spanning the particle rays,
who brushes here, who are these strays?

Gari Hatch
06-04-2009

Wiman creates a vivid imagery that describes the differences between the main stream notion of faith and religion and his understanding of a more subtle and less complex experience. I empathized with his comment about missing the intensity of religion that he used to experience before his revived faith later in his life. The shattering of his former ideas of faith create a personal experience of what breaking religious myth looks like after we challenge what we thought we knew.

I can’t help but wonder what Wiman believes happens at the time of death. He mentions that he does not share the common belief in heaven. Other On Being guests have asserted similar ideas. Could the heaven that people wait for, be the heaven that are participating in currently as suggested in the bible and other religious texts. Poetry may be one of the few ways to convey the abstract and ungraspable messages that are solidified in religion and faith. I enjoyed the interview and the ideas that Wiman shared.

Wiman creates a vivid imagery that describes the differences between the main stream notion of faith and religion and his understanding of a more subtle and less complex experience. I empathized with his comment about missing the intensity of religion that he used to experience before his revived faith later in his life. The shattering of his former ideas of faith create a personal experience of what breaking religious myth looks like after we challenge what we thought we knew.

I cant help but wonder what Wiman believes happens at the time of death. He mentions that he does not share the common belief in heaven. Other On Being guests have asserted similar ideas. Could the heaven that people wait for, be the heaven that are participating in currently as suggested in the bible and other religious texts. Poetry may be one of the few ways to convey the abstract and ungraspable messages that are solidified in religion and faith. I enjoyed the interview and the ideas that Wiman shared.

I found many this podcast of “Remembering God” with Christian Wiman quite interesting. It was interesting when Wiman was defining his meaning of faith and beliefs. “The way I've defined it to myself is I think of belief as having objects. Faith doesn't have objects. Faith is an orientation of your life or it's an energy of your life or however you want to define it. But I think it is objectless.” The way Wiman puts it, I would agree and understand why because like he mentioned, faith is by actions and I would say with trust. As for beliefs it is as having objects, such as having something to hope for. I really liked his take on it.
Another thing I liked that Christian Wiman said was, “I am convinced that the same God that might call me to sing of God at one time might call me at another to sing of godlessness. Sometimes when I think of all this energy that's going on, all of these different people trying to find some way of naming and sharing their belief — I think it may be the case that God calls some people to unbelief in order that faith can take new forms.” I felt that this does speak to me. What I’m getting from that quote is that God calls everyone differently and in different ways even if it’s unbelief. Whichever one it is, the way I see it is that either way, our faith will take new forms since faith is of having actions and trust. However, it’s not always going to be of actions since there is doubt. With that being said I think that, faith comes and go and when it does it takes a new form.

I truly enjoyed listening to the broadcast, "Remembering God" with the poet Christian Wiman concerning faith and its involvement in his own life. Many things were discussed that sparked my interest including the connectedness of faith and love, the difference between belief and faith, and the modern day idea of faith.

Wiman and Krista Tippett talked about how true love increases our awareness of transcendence and mystery. Not just romantic love, but love for our family and friends as well. The overwhelming feeling of love demands to be expressed beyond our means of expressing it, transforming into excess energy that is in fact the essence of God. With this increased awareness our spirituality can flourish, inviting faith into our lives. Religion is what we make of these intense times of spirituality. While belonging to a certain religion does not necessarily mean agreeing with everything that particular religion says, it rather means acknowledging incredible moments in your life of joy or suffering and demanding action to express it and share it with others. As in love, the intense feeling is not always present with faith, yet its constant presence is not necessary (or realistic) in spiritual growth.

The idea that faith and belief are words that mean completely different things was also discussed. Wiman has written "Faith is not a state of mind but an action in the world, a movement towards the world." He expresses the idea that belief is having objects while faith is an orientation of your life, an energy of your life that is object less. Many people need religious elements in their life such as church attendance to project their spiritual energy outward. In his opinion, the way we know our spiritual inclinations are valid is because they lead out of ourselves.

Wiman expressed multiple ideas in relation to faith in the present day and its impact on our lives. Many people today are given the opportunity to choose their own spiritual and religious path, inviting them to actively seek a way to find God with others. Traditional religious language is evolving to include many religions and practices creating new forms of expression. As a culture, we are looking to grasp a sense of religion and spirituality that encompasses clarity as well as openness to engage the parts of us that are beyond our understanding. The intriguing question was brought up, "How do we reach for God in the midst of this life when we are constantly being overwhelmed by life?" Wiman believes the inability to have a close connection with God is a result of us being too involved with ourselves as a person and not with our soul. In terms of doubt in relation to faith, Wiman believes it is not separate from but actually a part of faith. He asserts that God calls some people to unbelief so that faith can take on new forms.

Overall, this was a very powerful and thought-provoking broadcast that invites the listener to question how faith fits into their own life.

With the statement, “its God in us, trying to get back to its source” I was intrigued. If we and everything else in existence was created by God, could this all be constructed by God itself? Would it not make sense that the part of God in us wants to be directly connected to the rest of this being? When he says that statement, he is implying that we have a natural inclination to search for God, but he does not restrict how we can conduct this search. He has friends that find it through the Bible, and he says some find it through speaking with others, but none of it is wrong. This is a respectable way to look at it.
He also speaks about God being something we cannot come to understand on our own, but rather needs an outside source. If I understand his statements correctly, love can be this outside source, or connection. This is very interesting as love is a powerful and inexplicable emotion, and nearly anything can come from a reaction to it.
This was a very interesting show, and I enjoyed it very much. I really like how he does not limit what God could be, or how we could interact with it. Keeping an open mind while trying to understand something that is beyond understanding would seem to be a requirement.

I found it interesting how Christian Wiman describes that he believes that God turns people into unbelievers so the faith of God can come in a new form. I think it is important not to look at faith or religion forcefully; it should come naturally in time. Also, it seems to be a different world now with religion and Christianity where there are so many non-believers. The solitude and wholeness of Christianity seems to be fading. When people look back on their childhood, religion isn’t such a big part of one’s memory. The aspects of everyday lives were surrounded by having faith and staying strong. As Christian Wilman describes about how poetry faded for him because he had false expectations, this reminded me of religion and what people search for within a religion. Spirituality doesn’t have absolute clarity; a person must have faith simply in faith. Faith is more of a part of you and, as Christian Wilman describes, it is an energy that is with you. More people seem to be lost with religion and left with so many questions and now there is a new language and form being created. The aspects of how religions and religious aspects are categorized into such define concepts are being blurred into a bigger picture. Furthermore, I liked how Christian Wilman describes that Christ comes alive in communion between people and how just communication of religion and life can stabilize you in the unstable world. Moreover, I really enjoyed relating faith with the feeling of love and how it can be so fierce and absolute in the beginning and sometimes slowly fades until you realize there is no more faith or love anymore. One must cycle through the process to truly realize. Also, Christian Wiman describes that life is full of the past and ideas of the future and present isn’t really there. I do think that the past defines us. Moreover, the idea of heaven tends to planted in our minds that it is hard not to think of heaven in our afterlife. Although, it is so planted in everyone, I do think that the concept of heaven varies greatly with our imagination as Christian Wiman describes. Overall, Chrisitian Wiman dedicated his life to poetry and faith with God while finding love with the ones he cared dearly for. Amber Lyrek

Remembering God
I found it interesting how Christian Wiman describes that he believes that God turns people into unbelievers so the faith of God can come in a new form. I think it is important not to look at faith or religion forcefully; it should come naturally in time. Also, it seems to be a different world now with religion and Christianity where there are so many non-believers. The solitude and wholeness of Christianity seems to be fading. When people look back on their childhood, religion isn’t such a big part of one’s memory. The aspects of everyday lives were surrounded by having faith and staying strong. As Christian Wilman describes about how poetry faded for him because he had false expectations, this reminded me of religion and what people search for within a religion. Spirituality doesn’t have absolute clarity; a person must have faith simply in faith. Faith is more of a part of you and, as Christian Wilman describes, it is an energy that is with you. More people seem to be lost with religion and left with so many questions and now there is a new language and form being created. The aspects of how religions and religious aspects are categorized into such define concepts are being blurred into a bigger picture.
Furthermore, I liked how Christian Wilman describes that Christ comes alive in communion between people and how just communication of religion and life can stabilize you in the unstable world. Moreover, I really enjoyed relating faith with the feeling of love and how it can be so fierce and absolute in the beginning and sometimes slowly fades until you realize there is no more faith or love anymore. One must cycle through the process to truly realize. Also, Christian Wiman describes that life is full of the past and ideas of the future and present isn’t really there. I do think that the past defines us. Moreover, the idea of heaven tends to planted in our minds that it is hard not to think of heaven in our afterlife. Although, it is so planted in everyone, I do think that the concept of heaven varies greatly with our imagination as Christian Wiman describes. Overall, Chrisitian Wiman dedicated his life to poetry and faith with God while finding love with the ones he cared dearly for.

Amber Lyrek

I so appreciate your words in the Journal Star today. The oienpng up of yourself and your faith for all the world (well, all of Lincoln) to see. I think I find myself unwavering in some areas and wrestling in others. It used to bother me...the wrestling. And then I would remember that story about Jacob and how he would not back down against GOD (of all people) until he got what he wanted. And in the end, Jacob came away with a new name and (quite literally) a new way of walking. And so I just keep limping along on my journey of unwavering faith in a God who welcomes my wrestling and questioning mind.