I really enjoy reading poetry. I love the ways so few words can portray so much information with action, emotion, and description. A good poem encapsulates scenes and experiences that are otherwise difficult to put into words. I love the way a good poem makes you slow down, read it slowly, and read it again and again.
This month in the life of the church, we reflect on Creation, our role as creatures, and our Creator. Psalmists and poets give us words for how to praise God and recognize the gifts of creation that are all around us. Poetry has always been one of the ways I wrestle with and make sense of our role in Creation.
For this month in our blogs, Ethan and I will be sharing a few of the poems on creation that we love, along with a few questions for contemplation. This week, I offer "God's Grandeur" by Gerard Manly Hopkins. I remember reading this poem in high school English class with a deep feeling of realization: Christians could write poetry about their faith and it didn't have to be cheesy like a Hallmark card. Hopkins, a British priest, wrote in the 1800s in his own unique style. To me, this poem conveys that as much as we make a mess of this world, God's grandeur shines through. Take a minute and read through the poem below:
God's Grandeur, by Gerard Manly Hopkins
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and share's man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward springs—
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World brood with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
As you go throughout your day, take a minute to notice:
Where do you see around you places that we have not cared for this world?
And more importantly, where do you see God's goodness breaking through our mess?
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