Bible Reading and Writing Poetry

In Curtis Sergeant's book, The Only One, he suggests the discipline of writing poetry as part of our Bible reading.  

"Poetry is by nature a limiting form of expression. I find that it forces me to think deeply as I search for just the right word to convey the nuance I am contemplating."

As I have immersed myself in the first few chapters of John these past few weeks I decided to give it a try and tease out the nuances of what I've been contemplating. It was a rich experience and forced me to wrestle with what I feel the Lord has been highlighting for me. Writing poems from my Bible reading won't become a daily discipline, but I'll certainly come back to it when I come across a passage of scripture that I really want to dig into.

I'd encourage you to give it a try sometime.

Here is my poem, "Come and See" that I wrote as I dug deep into John 1:29-51.  It may not be great poetry but it certainly helped me meditate and learn from this passage of scripture.

The power in
   an ember
Is it’s power 
   to ignite;

Flame springs forth
   from nothing,
Giving warmth,
   giving light.

Our lives are but
   an ember,
Go and tell them -
   come and see!

Jesus is 
   the answer,
The one to set
   them free.

Your life a glowing
   ember
With the power 
   to invite

The lost to come
   to Jesus
Who will lead them
   from the night.

One simple invitation: 
   Come and see, come and see.
And Jesus will invite them: 
   Follow me, follow me.
​

I wrote about the idea of inviting people to come and see for themselves in last week's post, Come and See.  You can read it HERE.

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