Brief Thoughts from Bren

…my going deep is playwriting. It is the way I pray. It is my deepest form of prayer. I need to go deep in order to go more powerfully out. I am no more capable now than before of giving time to getting the plays produced. That isn’t the point. The point is to tap into that reservoir of prayer. Mystic (playwriting). Activist (social justice).

Leisure is an end in itself, a time to dwell on the beauty of creation, to read a challenging book, to be carried away listening to a soaring symphony, to catch one’s breath at a stunning work of art, a time to step back to admire the work that one has done. It is a time to worship and pray, the highest forms of leisure. It is a time to contemplate goodness and allow that goodness and all these meaningful activities to re-create us.

Good art, good literature, helps us imagine what a new normal and a new world can be. It is vital in times like these to seek out that which helps us imagine a better world and encourages us to work together, perhaps in small ways like Sarah Smith, to build this new world now.

The father went on directing his remarks to Naomi, “You aren’t one of us. Why would my children play with you?” Naomi looked at the grown man. She could see kindness in his eyes even though his tone and words did not match it. She said to him, “Aren’t we are all God’s children, sir? That makes us one family … doesn’t it, sir?”

Time has been different since March 2020. Up on a white board in my office, I have started keeping a list of names of people that through the years I’ve often thought, “I should get in touch with her or him or them.” All of the names are listed under John Lewis’ name. You see, two years ago I wrote his name on this white board to remind me to write to him.