Poetry is important
to any society and the poet has an
important responsibility. The
poet must speak truth to the society around them,
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 succumbing
to the worst parts of itself. 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 worldly 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
that God himself is the master Poet. The word
rendered workmanship in Ephesians 2:10
in many translations is in the original Greek poiema.
Poiema is where we get our English word
poem. We our God’s crafted expression.
We are God’s poem.
Join us as we explore what it means to be a Christian poet.
Adapted From The Introduction To The Book: Christian Poems and Other Radical Explorations"