At our April 12, 2025 Second Saturday Conversation we were privileged to have The Very Reverend Mark Oakley as our guest. Mark is Dean of Southwark Cathedral, London, public lecturer, author of numerous books. All Mark’s books are thoughtful and illuminating. Let me recommend The Splash of Words: Believing in Poetry.
I encourage you to spend time with this session. Mark invites us to reflect on language that seeks to express our deepest longings and apprehensions, our intuitions and imagining, what is palpable and yet unknown. In short, the language of our faith. Not language of beliefs per se, rather language of hope and possibility and wonder. Such “language of our soul” is arguably best expressed in poetry; language that can even become deed. Mark opens and quickens our hearts and addresses our puzzlements about poetry and ourselves. He does so with clarity, depth, humility. And kindness. This session opens for us a door some of us have passed by. Here is an invitation to enter. Come sit. And taste and see.
Our next Second Saturday Conversation is May 10. Our final Third Saturday small group Reflection, May 17. Our final session for this program year June 14.
Enjoy Mark Oakley! A gift to us.