5 QUESTIONS FOR RAY MCGINNIS
Imagination and the spirit
LUKAS JOHNSON LJOHNSON@CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.COM
From the Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, North Carolina, October 29, 2006
Canadian author Ray McGinnis will come to Sebastopol, California January 20 to teach people how to write their own psalms and poems. McGinnis created his own writing workshop business, Write to the Heart, in 1999. He began offering journal writing, prayer writing and poetry workshops in health-care, spiritual, educational, conference and retreat settings. Before that, he worked for the United Church of Canada and took poetry courses at the University of Toronto and the Banff (Alberta) Center for Fine Arts. He has taught more than 5,000 people how to write poetry, prayers, diaries and autobiographies. Cabarrus Neighbors interviewed McGinnis in advance of his first visit to North Carolina.
Q. What would you most like people to know about your workshop and what they'll take away from it? "I draw upon some step-by-step writing exercises. ... Participants are given time to write. There is a time to comment ... and many participants choose to share some of what they have written, appreciating the nonjudgmental and respectful tone I set from the outset of the workshop. "Participants emerge from the workshop with tools for understanding what makes a particular sacred poem or psalm poetic. Whether they are seasoned writers or new to writing, participants emerge from the workshop with several fresh new pieces of writing that they are often quite delighted with."
Q. How do you think writing fits into the spiritual journey? "The practice of writing involves many spiritual obstacles. Giving ourselves permission to actually try to write something down is a spiritual breakthrough. The spiritual task as a writer is to integrate both the radiance and the muck of what our lives consist of and to write about all that we are weaving together into the story that is our lives."
Q. What is a psalm, and why do you think psalms are important to people? "A psalm is a sacred poem. It ... honors the Holy and engages the Holy and brings thanksgiving, lament, confession, trust and vision to that source. Whatever the tone -- confidence or doubt -- the cumulating effect is to create a deeper intimacy with the Holy One.
"A key aspect of the psalms is their direct expression of feeling. ... They help us give voice to things where we have lost our fluency. ... They anchor us and help us return to a sense of balance and perspective."
Q. Do you have a favorite psalm? "Psalm 77. The writer lies awake at night, crying out to God. The struggle in the first 10 or so lines is very intense. The writer goes on to show a path to a restored confidence in God through naming some of the things God has done in the past.
"I found the psalm very validating. It let me know that my own struggle to seek God and make sense of God in the midst of troubled times was already acknowledged as part of the spiritual journey."
Q. Reviewers of your book, "Writing the Sacred," say you have a knack for drawing bursts of imagination out of people. How do you do that? "One aspect of drawing out bursts of imagination within people is creating a respectful, supportive environment to write. I emphasize a belief that everyone is original and has something important to express.
"... I strike a balance between introducing teaching points that ensure no one is left behind, while not over-explaining things.
"So a lot of this is about the tone I set. I run all my workshops in a circle. Maybe people can hear each other better, but something happens in a circle that seems to encourage people to feel respected and treated as equals from the start."
UPCOMING:
What: "Writing the Sacred," a psalm-writing and poetry workshop for writers of all skill levels, led by Canadian author Ray McGinnis.
When: January 20, 2007, 10 a.m.-4 at the Community Church of Sebastopol, 1000 Gravenstein Hwy North in Sebastopol, CA. 707-823-2484.
