How Do Beautful Words Affect Your Life?
I am embarking on a summer discipline of reading some poetry every morning in hopes of whetting my appetite for something other than “churchy, missional” stuff. I have never been good at reading anything other than non-fiction. So, in light of that of that goal I asked my good friend and author Shann Ferch to recommend his Michael Jordan of the poetry world. He immediately suggested Mary Oliver. So far, he was spot on. Here is just one of many amazing poems from her book Thirst.
The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church: The Eucharist
The Grandeur of God
Here is a portion of a moving poem that was sent to me today by one of my best friends, Shann Ferch. The poem is entitled, The Grandeur of God and was written by Gerard Manly Hopkins:
But in all this, Nature is never spent,
“More” A Small Attempt to Magnify God
During one of the directed prayer times at CA’s North American Connect conference recently held in Minneapolis, MN, we were directed to reflect on the concept of magnifying God. What does it mean to magnify some thing? Here is the short prayer reflection that I wrote:
An ocean of grace and more
Help Us to Live Like We Sing
You are Peace (written in Frankfurt airport)
In the waves of motion, and chaos there is your peace,
In the aloneness, there is your breath, your wind upon me,
The Preaching Event – Finally Comes the Poet
I am reading a book right now entitled, Finally Comes the Poet, by
Walter Brueggemann. It’s not a new book. It was actually written in 1989, but
so far it has truly captured me. Brueggemann writes with such elegance and
fluidity that it seems like I can’t read enough of his stuff. The book is about the daring and
important work of preaching the word of God.
A couple of days ago while Robi and I were driving to
Seattle, I read a portion of the book to her out loud. It was a strong experience – I
literally was gushing as I read, being moved by the ideas. In the book he talks about the need for
the poetic in preaching. When he says poetic, however, he is actually referring
to the idea of being prophetic. He relates the poet to the idea of the prophet
in the Old Testament.
A Poem from Dublin
While in Dublin recently I stopped into a bookshop to look
for a few gifts. I asked the lady who was running the shop to give me a list of
famous Irish poets. The first name she gave me was Seamus Heaney. Here’s a
beautiful poem from the book I purchased. I felt it was particularly outstanding. I hope you like it as much as I did.
The Skylight
Death: A Confused Friend
Pure as Pure
After hearing a talk on Nehemiah 12
You are pure, holy, unblemished in everyway
We, but You (after reading Nehemiah 9)
You, full of mercy and longsuffering, hopeful and longing,
You created a nation and a people to live with, to love with,
to continue with.