"Isn't it odd that pastors,who are responsible for interpreting the Scriptures,
so much of which come in the form of poetry,
have so little interest in poetry?"
(Eugene Peterson in Living the Message)
English major though I be, I'm trying to become more interested. So I appreciate Peterson's "run" through poetry in his daily devotional pictured here. By the way, it's perhaps the best $4.00 or so that you'll ever spend. See
The following proves Peterson's point:
No pain is ugly in past tense.
Under The Mercy every hurt is a fossil
link in the great chain of becoming.
Pick and shovel prayers often
turn them up in valleys of death.
And his translation of Matthew 5:4--also by the way, Peterson's The Message is also a must:
[Jesus said,] "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what seems most dear to you.
Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you."
This whole poetry thing reminds me of the following:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:10)
The Greek word for "workmanship" is "poema." Hmmm: we are poems of, and for, Jesus? I can just feel my "little interest" in poetry is growing!
Under The Mercy every hurt is a fossil
link in the great chain of becoming.
Pick and shovel prayers often
turn them up in valleys of death.
And his translation of Matthew 5:4--also by the way, Peterson's The Message is also a must:
[Jesus said,] "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what seems most dear to you.
Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you."
This whole poetry thing reminds me of the following:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:10)
The Greek word for "workmanship" is "poema." Hmmm: we are poems of, and for, Jesus? I can just feel my "little interest" in poetry is growing!
