A Christmas Response
By Geoffrey Peckham
When people visit Tusen Takk, whether they’re friends, guests or resident artists, they usually ask me, “Why did you build this place…and the residencies, they’re such a gift, why are you doing this?” I usually respond by saying that Patricia and I wanted to share this place with artists, writers and composers - people who give back to the world so much. That’s true. But it does not begin to hint at the underlying cause, the answer to the question, “Why Tusen Takk?” I apologize for my past hesitation to be completely honest.
Has it ever had happened to you that somebody gave you full credit for something that you only played a part in to make happen…and you gladly accepted their praise? That’s what I’m talking about here - that’s what I’ve done. My excuse for not being completely honest is wrapped up in fears about your not accepting me for who I am. But it’s time to make things right.
In short, the building of Tusen Takk’s was a response to an event that ushered in an outpouring of love which the world is still struggling to come to terms with. It’s a love that’s so radical and regenerative that it breathes the deepest meaning and purpose into life. What I’ve hesitated to pronounce, to give voice to, is that I am a Christian. To a large degree my hesitation here has to do with our society increasingly judging (rightly or wrongly) Christians as intolerant, shallow-minded people. For me, being a Christian means that I believe in Jesus Christ and that with my life, in all that I do, I try to share the love that Christ first shared with us, all of us. Christ gave us a role model that was radical; it substitutes love for greed, love for selfishness, love for hate, and asks us to love those who have wronged us, to love neighbors we’ve never met; in sum, Christ implores us to love God and to love one another. Over and over again we (all of us) fail to live up to this way of being in the world - but that does not diminish its worthiness.
We expect that many of our resident artists won’t be Christians and that’s the way it should be! Patricia and I conceived of Tusen Takk as a tangible way to simply share God’s love and the beauty He’s created here. Those who visit this place can listen to the quiet of the forest, feel the wind off the Lake, touch the smoothness of the stones washed up on the shore, hear the snow fall, feel the warmth of a wood fire, breathe fresh air, see an infinite number of blues reflected in the water and view more stars than one could ever imagine. For our resident artists, such sensations become embedded in their creations; art, music, and literature that’s born from the deepest parts of their souls.
Likewise, on Christmas morning Christ was born into this world as a profound expression of God’s love, love for all of us, a joyful, joy-filled gift. Tusen Takk was built as a response to this gift.
