{"id":909,"date":"2019-05-02T17:11:15","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T17:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/messenger\/?p=909"},"modified":"2019-08-05T17:13:47","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T17:13:47","slug":"the-poetry-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/from-the-publisher\/the-poetry-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"The poetry of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a recent presentation to the Bridgewater (Va.) College Forum for Brethren Studies<\/strong>, Scott Holland suggested that publishing might well be regarded as poetry. Church publishers often say that we are both business and ministry, but I like the idea that publishing is also poetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a people who believe that in the beginning was the Word, surely this is true. The Brethren are a practical people, but why not be practical poets?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can be poetic when we grow faith:<\/em> Could it be that following Jesus is more poetic than linear, more parable than final exam? Immersed in the imagination of Jesus\u2019 countercultural stories, we can grow faith that is durable enough to serve us in a world that will be different tomorrow than it is today. That is a worthy aim for our weekly worship services and Sunday schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can be poetic about food:<\/em> Brethren of different theological stripes have an easier time eating together than voting together. That means there\u2019s something profound about the Inglenook cookbook treasure in our Brethren attic. Meal time is part of our New Testament faith and practice; the potluck is both love feast and messianic feast. Let\u2019s claim that mystery and metaphor as part of our Brethren identity. Let\u2019s sit together at the table that sustains us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can be poetic when we face the future:<\/em> Holland asked us to ponder the idea of the \u201ccoming church.\u201d What does that mean? Who are the Brethren in this uncertain time? Without answering, he finished his remarks with a line from Ralph Waldo Emerson\u2014words that came from this fuller quote: \u201cWhilst we converse with what is above us, we do not grow old, but young. . . . Old age ought not creep on a human mind. In nature every moment is new; the past is always swallowed and forgotten; the coming only is sacred<\/em>. . . \u201d Emerson continues: \u201cPeople wish<\/em> to be settled; only as far as they are un<\/em>settled is there any hope for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no question that the church is unsettled, so that must mean there\u2019s hope for us. In this restlessness, we can be inspired by God\u2019s poetic Word: \u201cWhat has come into being was life, and the life was the light of all people\u201d (John 1:3-4).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Practical poet”: is this your new identity?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[49,38],"class_list":["post-909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-the-publisher","tag-from-the-publisher","tag-wendy-mcfadden"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":912,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions\/912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}