Last chance to submit!

Dear all,

Just a quick post to say that there is 1 week before submission deadline of 1 October so if you want to submit to the anthology you need to get your skates on.

If you are only just encountering what this is then you can find out more on the posts below and by visiting the website at http://www.worshippoetryanthology.tk/

I am away for a week without the internet so look forward to coming back and reading the final submissions!

See you on the other side!

September update

Hey all.

So it is now fast approaching the deadline for submissions - I  have two weeks of work and one week of holiday away in York before then so I just thought I would post another update before 1 October as I may not get another chance.

Firstly I feel so humbled that so many people have wanted to be a part of the project and that it is something that many of you are behind. When I started out thinking about this project I worried that I was kind of out on a limb with putting the anthology together, that is wasn't something that people would especially be into but I am glad that I have been proved wrong and I believe that together we are creating something that is going to be something unique.

I also want to encourage those of you who have submitted or who are yet to contribute. The standard of the poetry that I have seen has been great but has largely been from other amateur poets who have said that they have been looking for an outlet for their work. I hope that for those people you be encouraged to do stuff with your poems, we need more diversity in Christian Art and I feel that poetry is often overlooked or under represented and so we need you.

And I hope that this project will be an example that anyone can put out their own work. I am by no means an expert and have only ever independently published my own work, just because I don't know what else to do with it, but I am by no means a professional in this area. I work in the health records department in my local hospital and write my poetry in my lunch break of bits of folded up scrap paper. But I have done it enough now that hopefully I can do a good job of putting a book together. So if you want to publish your own book then I would encourage you to do it!

I am still aiming for a release date of January. From October I will begin editing the anthology and finish pulling together some of the classic poems but I will still try to keep a few blogs going in the mean time and will keep updating on the facebook group (link at the tip of the page if you want to keep in touch with anthology news).

I have a few other things that I am working on as well which I hope to spend some time doing in the next few  months provided I can make the time including recording some of my poetry/music and potentially a creative charity fundraiser - I try to update my own facebook page as much as I can remember but if you are interested then please like me at https://www.facebook.com/danielpaulgilbert/

I thank you all again for continued support, prayer and encouragement! In the final weeks please can I encourage you to share the news of this anthology with anyone who may be interested or if you haven't sent anything but may be interested to visit www.stonesbeforetheocean.tk.

Until next time.

Dan

An Update

Hello all,

I just wanted to write something of an update of what is happening with the anthology and to thank everyone who have got in contact and submitted poems.

I feel truly humbled that people have gotten behind it and understood what I am trying to do with it and it is starting to feel like it will be something really great and unique and different - which has got be a good when we think about fresh ways of meeting with God and expressing how we feel and understand and appreciate who God is. The poems that I have received have been wonderful and varied and amazing and people have been so glad to get involved which is exactly what I hoped for.

I met with a friend last week who is a great artist who is going to help design a cover and it all feels like it is starting to come together.

It feels kind of odd to be putting the anthology together sometimes and strange that it has now becoming a thing rather than just a concept I had in my mind. I have always liked to have a project but this feels like the biggest that I have taken on and the most important as it is not just my writing that I am responsible for and so whilst it is exciting it is now becoming daunting.

I would like to ask for prayer for a few things if I may. I don't want to loose sight of the heart behind this and so I feel that it is important that I put my prayer requests out there. I feel like this anthology brings the writers and readers together as a kind of unique community and so in that spirit I share the following in the hope that you will also pray with me for these things.

1. It is just over 2 months to the deadline and I am still just under half way with the amount of poems that I want to include. I would like to include as many great writers as possible and so pray that the poems will keep coming and that I will be able to include as many great poems as possible.

2. I am leaving my current job and starting a new job next week. I work at the local hospital and have been looking for a new job for a while and a few weeks back I was offered what seems to be a great job. I thank God for it and that the new job involves the minimum amount of disruption as it is still in the building where I work and I have been lucky enough to meet some of my new colleagues. But I pray that I will be able to settle into this new job and give my best to it but also give my best to the anthology and that I will have the time to do both of these.

3. And finally I pray that the focus of the anthology will continue to be  of worship and pointing towards God and that God will bless the work I am doing and those who are contributing.

Thanks all.

Until next time.

Dan

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.

Facing the fear

This post follows on from Steve's post below - so if you want a but of context then check that out first.

 

I forget how lucky I am. 

 

In a lot of ways.

 

But particularly when it comes to creativity withing the Church.

 

I think that most of the churches I have been part of have embraced creativity to some extent and I think that a lot of churches are generally open to creative expression. But some aren't and I know that perhaps for some the idea of using poetry in Worship may be a little out there, and consequently this whole project would seem pointless perhaps.

 

I say that I am lucky because the church I am part of focuses a great deal on creativity. People are encouraged to bring songs, spoken word, pictures, we use drama and dance and poetry and art in church services, and we encourage each other in our creativity. A group of us meet every month to share what we are doing creatively, to workshop ideas, to bounce ideas around, to learn more about our craft.

 

And that is what I have never had before in a church. And I feel immensely blessed to have this. But I know that for some it is a struggle.

 

The church I was in growing up in was quite conservative. Worship was hymns sung from books with yellowing pages and archaic print and the music was just piano. As a child I always felt it was quite dreary, especially as it was quite a youthful church, a lot of families. Then when I was about 13 I discovered indie rock music, Oasis, Pulp, Manic Street Preachers and I learned how to play guitar and one of the girls in our youth group played drums and we wanted to put on a youth service, where we played some of the modern worship songs and had a 'band'. And we had to fight for it. And then the next week it was business as usual with piano and hymns. I suppose it isn't too uncommon a story but remembering that makes me feel lucky that I can now experience different types of worship. Because i think that different types of worship help us to bring our praise to God in different ways. God is a creator and God didn't just create one thing or one form of art. In the Old Testament people worship God in all manner of creative ways - singing, poems, art, embroidery, carving, metal work, all sorts.

 

I while back I was going through the bible in a year which meant going though all the tortuously boring bits about building tabernacles and temples and all the details of dimensions and everything and then realising how much creativity is going on within these passages, all of it going towards the glory of God and the people documenting it in the best way that they can - and it made me think about it differently and wonder more about creativity in worship.

 

I don't really where I am heading to in terms of a point... I guess it's just to say that God endorses our creativity and invites God's people to be creative in our worship of God and that we should be open to expression and even if we don't necessarily "get it", it is worthwhile if we accept these expressions as acts to glorify our God. Even if we don't understand them or they make us feel strange or they are too loud or long or abstract. 

We can still learn something of God from them and who knows - art can touch us in the most unexpected ways.

Smartphone Worship

I'd like to thank my good friend Steve Quantick for the following blog. Steve is a worship leader, a musician, a writer and just about one of the most creative and talented people I know and really appreciate him writing for this blog and contributing some excellent poems to the anthology!

Thanks Steve!

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So Dan and I were housemates a while back, and I've been a follower of his poetry and writing for a while. And there are aspects of what he's said about introversion that really resonate with me now in a way perhaps they didn't when I first knew Dan.

Because I'm a bit of an odd one. I always thought I was a full on extrovert, but in the years since living with Dan I've discovered I'm an extrovert with introverted tendencies. I love being around people, but I need my time away from them.

I'm also an odd one in that I love the craft of the creative act and I love the spontaneity.

Which leads me to one of my only worship-poetry experiences.

We had a worship night at church a couple of years back, and the congregation were being encouraged to share what they felt God was saying.

Now I'm a musician and a singer so I could have shared a song.

I'm a confident public speaker so I could have said a prayer.

But I sat in my seat, opened a note on my smartphone and wrote a poem, which I then stood up in front of the church and shared.

I'd never done anything like that before, which leads me to two thoughts about worship poetry;

1. It's the responsibility of the church leadership to be open to and encourage that kind of creativity.

In a big church it's not an open mic. If everyone got a chance to stand on their soapbox we'd never leave.

So when I nudged the person leading the meeting and said "I have a poem", instead of a blank stare they said "Okay", sidled up to the worship leader and quietly let him know that in the next available break in the song I'd be sharing a poem.

It was that simple. The trust and value I felt in that moment was so empowering and gave me the confidence to really go for it with performing the poem.

2. Why doesn't it happen more often?

We have spontaneous songs, spontaneous prayers, why shouldn't people feel empowered to scribble down a poem and share it? Or even a spontaneous spoken word piece?

For me, I've written a lot of poems, almost entirely for my wife, so the overflow of my heart when it comes to translating how I feel into poetry is pretty quick.

So is it, perhaps, the responsibility of the worship-poet to cultivate that speed of overflow?

Because I believe the same God who inspires the creativity we're accustomed to on a Sunday morning is not only interested in different forms.

I believe he champions it.

I believe he celebrates it.

I believe he gives a standing ovation to any child of his that steps out in spontaneous creativity.

No matter what form that takes.

By Steven Quantick

Worship Poetry Anthology ideas

Putting down some of my own ideas for the Worship Poetry Anthology.

If you write and are interested in getting involved find out more at http://worshippoetry.weebly.com/

The introverted worshipper

OK, I'm going to write some more towards the why of this project and talk about being an introvert - I am just thinking out loud so don't be a hater - but this is something I have wondered a lot about over the past few years and one of the reasons I have found my way to this project and why I think there is value in this project, but this is the first time I have tried to put words to it.

So if you have been to any kind or work training or counselling or been on Facebook in the last 15 years than you have probably done one of these personality tests which tells you whether you are in introvert or an extrovert and what that means in terms of your personality.

I am your classic introvert. And I am acutely aware of my introversion as a Christian and even more so as a Christian who has been part of different charismatic churches for the past 10 or so years. And although I have slowly come to terms with this I am still concious of  it and would argue that a lot of church activity (evangelism, outreach, prayer, corporate worship, etc) is geared towards extroverts. And I have tried to get over my introvertedness. I have tried for the sake of belonging and being involved and stepping out but there is a point where I can only be myself, I can only be the person God has created me to be. As if introverts should have to apologise anyway?!...

If I am honest though, prayer is something I find hard to do in a group and wish I was better at. I'm not the kind of person who can find the words easily in the moment. And times when I am praying I am aware that I may be more concerned about saying the right thing than I am focussed on what I am praying for or towards. I feel lost, nothing comes into my head, my mind goes blank. I try and think of something to pray that someone hasn't already prayed but inevitably someone one a prayer roll covers every conceivable angle. And I feel blocked out. Wishing that I just had the word in front of me or that the prayer time would be over. I find it frustrating because I feel like I should contribute and there are times that I really do want to contribute but the introversion and anxiety get the better of me.

I think that there has to be space for all to feel they can bring their worship whatever that may be and for the introvert that may be be sitting silently and reading or creating. When I lead worship I always tried to create space for people to meet with God where they are at, because I have been in services where the worship leader has ordered the congregation to lift their hands up or sing out uninhibited praise. I agree that we should be unashamed and without inhibition when we bring our worship to God but on the other hand it has to be from who you are as a personality, we can't all be like King David, stripping naked and dancing in the aisles.... (try explaining that to newcomers). Sometimes people need to just sit and be still and that is OK. And actually a lot of people don't feel comfortable singing.

So whilst I hope that this anthology whilst being a helpful resource for use in general worship, I hope that it will also something that people can just sit and read and quietly dwell upon and engage with during worship times, or that it may be something that people can read out from in worship or prayer times instead of having to worry about bringing a prayer or a tongue, or even that it can be used for quiet meditative worship with copies handed out. But just that it will be a way in for quieter types who want to contribute in group worship, however that looks.

That's enough for now, until next time.

Dan

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