Name

I have been thinking for a while about what to call this anthology. I wanted a name with imagery and intrigue, something that wasn’t a cliché or cheesy or hackneyed, and something that summed up what the anthology was somehow. I have been batting around a few ideas and also discussing artwork with a friend of mine who is going to help with that and so have been putting together inspirational images for that. Thinking about that has also influenced what I have been thinking about the name. Also speaking to the poets who have already contributed has helped and given me a lot of ideas. One of the poets Tami who was one of the first people to submit sent a poem called Song of The Sea which I really liked as a title. I had been thinking about Song of …. Something as I really like the titles Songs of Innocence and Experience (William Blake), Songs of Ascent (from Psalms) and Songs of Faith and Devotion (Depeche Mode album)  but  in the end the idea of song in the title of a collection of poems seemed a little confusing.

But the idea of the sea stuck.

I really like the idea of the sea. The mystery of it. And a few years back I was leading a bible study and asked the question “When you think of God, what image do you think of?”. To which one of my friends answered “the ocean”. I love that image, it was so unexpected but it was perfect, The power, the mystery, the stillness, the might, the unquantifiableness of the ocean. I loved it!

I was talking with one of the other poets recently over email about some of the Orthodox Christian themes I had noticed in his work. Trevor writes poems and hymns that weave together ideas within faith and science which are such huge subjects. He was talking about some of his artwork, paintings of Nebula and about the mystery within the universe and we were talking about the sense of mystery that plays a part in Orthodox Christianity and how our own Anglican/charismatic traditions don’t really deal with mystery.

I really value mystery within faith and I personally find it helpful that I don’t have to all of theology sorted in my head, I now like that it isn’t all tidy and ordered. I prefer not to have God in a box that I can understand, I like that God is the ocean, that there are bits that make sense that you can see and be in awe at and appreciate the beauty of but there are also bits that are completely mysterious and unpredictable and that inspire a different kind of awe.

And so I guess that this idea fits with what this anthology is. This isn’t going to be the comprehensive Anglican, Methodist, Nazarene, Baptist, Adventist, Quaker, etc, anthology. But it is going to be a collection of poems by people who love poetry and love to worship and are offering the best we have in worship and praise.

The final piece to the name puzzle is that I wrote a poem that was kind of about this idea. It isn’t going to be in the anthology because it is too long and so it is going to go onto an album of recorded poetry but the poem talks about mystery and awe before God, as us being grains of sand before the ocean and I think I also like that image as a starting point when it comes to worship.

And so the name is…. drum roll…

Stones before the Ocean

I think the title sums up what this anthology is and I like the idea of that stance when it comes worship. That we stand before a powerful immense, uncontainable entirety  but that as we stand there we are present and we meet and engage with that force, and that the waves that wash over the stones are moved and smoothed, engulfed and washed by the rushing waters. And I also like that it presents a different image, Christian art I fear too often revolves around sunsets, mountain ranges, soft focus pastel colours, doves, which are all fine by the way. But as poets I think it is worth looking for new images, fresh metaphors, and I hope that the poems in this book will resonate with that.