Mini-Retreat: Unwrapping Christmas with W. H. Auden

Register to attend:  https://onrealm.org/TrinityEpiscopalpdx/PublicRegistrations/Event?linkString=MmJlMjRmOTItYjAwOC00MGIwLTk5YTctYjBjODAxNWU4MmRj

What do we celebrate at Christmas? Is it an historical event in Bethlehem? Are we idealizing the romantic innocence of jingling bells and a reindeer with a red-nose? Are we joyful accomplices in the retail juggernaut that loads gifts under sparkling trees? What in the world has become incarnate? 

Explore the meaning of Christmas with Greg Harris in a participatory reading of W. H. Auden’s epic poem, For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio. Using select passages from this lyrical, amusing and thoughtful poem, we will see what insights Auden has to offer us through reading aloud, discussion and reflection. Perhaps we will arrive at a deeper understanding of how this season of darkness and light remains profound. 

About the poem:  W.H. Auden is Pulitzer prize-winning English-American poet, who exerted a major influence on 20th century poetry. The poem’s themes explore the nature of human existence,…