Poem ---

This poem below was par tof my sermon thsi past Sunday. I was processing the Sunday readings, thinking.. thinking...

The first reading had God listening to the people... calling a prophet from among them, one from within the people.
Then in the Gospel reading, Jesus comes and speaks as one with authority!

I'm thinking about all this... about what we think prophets are today - people who predict future events - mostly doom and gloom events. When in actuality that's NOT what they were in the day.
They were people who were good at, and called to... speak the obvious. Listen y'all... if you keep living off credit, sooner or later, you're gonna crash! That's not "predicting" events so much as having a clear(er) eye on what certain behaviors and choices will bring.

So I'm processing this stuff... and I read an article in one of my journals from a pastor who writes that another image of ministry is the image of the "poet".
The author mentions "Poets see the despair and heartahce as well as the beauty and miracle that lie just beneath the thin veneer of the ordinary, and they describe this in ways that are recognized not only in the mind, but more profoundly in the soul." (M. Craig Barnes, Christian Century, Feb 10. 2009)

He says pastors are called to do the same thing. he says all who are called to do this ministry have this "poetic vision".

WOW! This hit me like a ton of brinck... in fact I had to put the article down and stop reading for a day.

So... Poets!?!?! We're called to speak of the obvious, to the souls of the congregation! What about the prophet?

Well, most of our religious gatherings are centered more often than not around the left-brain. This led me to want to center this past Sunday morning around the Right -brain. So... I wrote a poem to "speak" for me...

And... here goes:


Does the Prophet still live?

In the ancient Hebrew world, the prohpet lived
As recorded, he spoke -
Thus says the Lord!

He was told to speak what he heard
unrefined, unaltered
a mouth piece, a direct messenger

"Tell my people - Thus says the Lord!"

The meaning revealed - through words
Thus says the Lord!

Ages ago, the prophet lived
Revealing the word
Bringing the word
Lifting the word
Making it clear - clearer
to the people


One from among them
a familiar voice
speaking a familiar word
a divine word reminded


In ages past...
Does the prophet still live?
Doe we miss you, Oh prophet?


Gentle or agitated, speak!
Do you reveal that word today?
Reveal the face of God?
Lift the pre-existent light from within?
Do we miss you, prohpet?


Prophet... today a mis-shapen title
twisted with anger
bent on distruction
Doom - The fires of hell so close to us
...Prophet indeed!

Speak today, Oh prophet of God!
Where are you today?
What are you today?

An artist revealing a painting...
reflecting from your heart
a painting already there


Look at the world, prophet of God...
What do you see there
that no-one else sees?
Reveal that sacred art, prophet
A familiar voice, no doubt...
Reminding me - have I seen this piece before?

--What is that?
--Oh that... that's just life
Boring
Mundane
Predictable

Life?
The blessedness of the routine
The sacredness of the ordinary

--Do you see it, people of God?
Listen... closer... can you hear the music of the spheres?
Repair those doors of perception
and you will know!

Take an hour to pray one word...
Take an eternal moment to listen for the response...


--Whose face did you see across from you when you last ate?
--Oh, them? That was just...

Just?

Oh blessed prophet, where are you?
Help me part that stubborn veil
remind me again of those forgotten things...
remove these cataracts of the heart...
the ordinary blindness of the comfortable

Where is that voice of God, Oh prophet?
Drop me into the thick of it - and pop my ears open!
Distil for me the voice of God from the noise...
...I hear something

Call me to sift the sights my eyes see...
guide me to the vision
speak those familiar words, Oh prophet,
those holy words

Speak - "Thus says the Lord!"

I know that...
I knew that...

Does the prophet still live?