That is why the poets say: “Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt; let Sihon’s city be restored.

• Numbers 21:27

When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres.

• 1 Samuel 18:6

‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

• Acts 17:28

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

• Colossians 3:16

“Poetry moves on the higher levels of power and emotion, and it is the product of a maker of ideas. The truly creative artist of the written word is gifted with the ability to take the common facts and experiences of life and invest them with epic and enduring qualities.”

• Roy Z. Kemp, Measure for Living

Boilerplate

In this new mini-series, I found an old book of mine in my wife’s things.  I did not know that she had it, but she loved collecting inspirational poems.  She had a knack for skimming over the subject matter that the Sunday school class would discuss.  Then she would thumb through the poetry and devotional books on the shelf and seemingly pick one at random.  Then she would open the book to a seemingly random page and read a prayer or two.  Then she would nod her head and place a bookmark at what she had found.  Then after the Sunday school class had wandered around the subject, going down various rabbit holes along the way, she would end the class with the poem and a short prayer.  And the poem seemed to summarize what we had talked about, even the side trails down rabbit holes.  It fit so perfectly every time.

I do not think she ever quoted this book, but it was a keepsake.  I had never read it.  The inscription in the front of the book states, “It has been a joy to have had you this year.  It has been a friendship I will cherish.”  It was signed by the woman who lived next door to my mother’s mother.  She taught piano and organ.  I took organ lessons.

Do not ask me to play anything on the piano.  I learned by gently gliding over the keys, not by striking them.  And after 55+ years of not practicing, I would be lost after a few bars of Swingin’ Shepherd Blues.

Here is Moe Kaufmann playing Swingin’ Shepherd Blues.  I learned “grace notes,’ jazz improvisation, the feel of the blues, and much more, just in one song.  Several others in the recital.  My teacher taught me something in this song that I had never learned in all my years of singing in the choir – how to loosen up and let the song guide me.

Discussion

The Scriptures are the only two verses that mention poets in the Bible, although there is poetry in most of the books of the Bible.  The other two verses contain “singing of songs,” but not in that order.

I have a feeling that I will spend only one week on each chapter: Faith, Hope, Charity …  I might take the introduction as the quote and then, like my wife, choose one of the poems as the prayer.  But I never know about such things until I start reading the chapter carefully and writing.

My mother was into poetry.  My wife was eclectic in her reading (fantasy, fairy tales, adventure, tales of horror, and mysteries), but when she thought of closing a Sunday school lesson, it was almost always a poem.  Even the divergent selections of prose seemed to have a rhythm to them.

I wrote sappy poetry.  She made a hand-made card for me on special days.  I felt I had to reply in kind.  I thought the poetry was groan-worthy.

But in cleaning up after she passed, nearly three years ago, I found an envelope containing every poem I had ever written to her.

I guess that gets filed under beauty being in the eyes of the beholder.

But poetry has its own innate power.  A well-crafted story can grab you, but even reasonably okay poetry can pluck your heart strings.

Closing Prayer

“Father, guide me.  Help me feel the poetry.  Let me flow with the emotions that the poet intended.  Help me to loosen up and go where the poem guides me. And let us learn about the Christian life along the way.  In Thy Name I pray.
“Amen”

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.