Christian Poetry
Poetry is important to any society and the poet has an important responsibility. The poet must show us ourselves and the world around us without compromise, failing this he or she ceases to be a poet and becomes something less than true. The poet must encourage, accuse, reveal, and represent the society around
him or her without regard to how that society might receive the given views and observations. Any society that does not value objective observation about itself is a society in danger of becoming
the worst that it can be. Few others can stand within a society but speak to it as an outsider as the poet can and must.
The Christian poet’s responsibility is greater still for he or she must stay true to the spirit of God beyond their own passions and expectations. The Christian poet must speak a message to all people that at times is as difficult to speak as it is to hear. Therefore God’s poet must be an intercessor, representing God to people and even people to God to bring reconciliation and healing. One need only look at the psalms of David to understand the scope of the human plea spoken by such a poet. One can also look at the prophet Jeremiah to see how the poet can speak for God to a society in need of change.
By using these two examples I am not saying that all poets are prophets but it is not a stretch to presume that all prophets are poets. This shouldn’t be a surprise to us for we are told in Ephesians 2:10 that God himself is the master Poet. The word
rendered workmanship in King James Version of that scripture is in the original Greek poiema. Poiema is where we get our English word poem. This scripture reveals to us that we our God’s crafted expression. We are God’s poem.
In this blog we will strive to grow as Christian poets and take on an ever greater responsibility to express the word of God in culture. Thank You.
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