Why poetry? Why worship poetry?

I have already written a bit about why this project in particular but I guess you might be wondering why. Why poetry? Why worship poetry?

On the face of it this seems an odd concept perhaps. The first time I encountered the term worship poetry was in Gerard Kelly's book spoken worship and the first time I saw it was on a DVD of a worship event/gig (Matt Redman or one of those lads). This was around the same time and was when I was studying creative writing at Uni. There seemed to be a bit of a buzz of newness around it and I was excited that poetry was kind of getting a platform.

But thinking about it, poetry in worship isn't really too far away a step from the liturgy that we perhaps use in church sometimes or from the psalms that might get spoken out through worship or times of prayer.

And beyond these kind of things I think that there is a real place for poetry in worship and prayer.

If you think about times that people typically use poems, weddings, funerals, to try and win over girls you fancy, etc, poems are all used to say something that your own words cannot in that moment, or to say something better than you could ever say it. And in doing so you hope that those words will connect with the people who hear them, that they will understand something of love or loss or the need for a certain person to know that you want your tongue inside their mouth (in the case of attracting the opposite sex that is - nothing to do with funerals that example...) And as well as these reasons poetry can make you think, it can challenge you, move you, let you know that you are not alone in particular thoughts and feelings or situations, awaken you to the plight of others, it can entertain, inspire wonder, mystery, confusion, etc. Just by using words.

So for me that is basically why poetry.

Why worship poetry then?

For all the same reasons.

I suppose you might say that sung worship can do the same as poetry - but I don't think that it does entirely.

A poem is something that you read or listen to. There is something about that combination of words. A poem used in worship is different than singing out the words of your favourite worship song. It requires you to stop and listen, it requires you to use different gears or muscles of thought as we engage in the act of worship, and maybe it is just me but when you hear or read a great poem there is just something about the words, the way they resonate in a way that nothing else can. It's hard to explain. Maybe I will get to it...

That doesn't mean that song lyrics can't be or aren't poetic but I think that music can sometimes be distracting from words.

For example, Think about that time when you have been in church singing a hymn and it just seemed to go on and on for ages and ages, the same melody repeating over and over again as  you try to sing along with the melody you don't know. When you think of those times do you remember what the words were and how amazing their message was were about or do you remember that your feet hurt because you had been standing to long or that the organist kept hitting bum notes and it sounded like a cat was walking across the keys. I have definitely been in that place through looking at this project I have seen that a lot of these hymns were poems before hand and when you read the poems as there are outside the context of them being hymns you realise how well written they are (a lot of them certainly more poetic and theologically richer than your average worship song)

It makes me feel like we should just read the hymn instead of trying to sing it! Really allow the words to soak in! That these poems would help us know something more of God and allow us to reflect that back to God.

Also, having led worship I also know and have seen that words and meaning can get lost in a song and a song can hold words back. Think about the songs that you sing week in week out in church, they become so familiar that the words just wash over you, you sing them without thinking.

This would probably happen if you read the same poems every week too, I'm not saying that poetry should replace sung worship but I think poetry can bring something fresh and reflects the diversity of God and how we worship God corporately and individually. In the same was that art and drama and dance and free form jazz and sculpture should have places in worship.

That's enough for now anyway. As usual check out the project pages at the side if you are interested in getting involved.

Until next time

Dan