| There is, thankfully, that voice that will not stop. Whether raw human hope, or ideologically led, or divinely appointed - or all the above - the new poetry of welcome becomes the ground for a fresh future. Surely it would not have happened to a community that had quit on its own imaginative discourse for the sake of the flat, one-dimensional, coercive prose of the empire. That new poetry - however it is generated - reached some with open ears, precisely the ones who had groaned most candidly. Presumably the poetry could not have reached those who had given up on rootage and who freely and willingly adapted to a new imperial reality. The local tradition culminates in a readiness for a time of new poetry. And when it is uttered, it is heard as a forceful assurance that exile is the habitat of the holy, and that the empire has not been able - for all its efforts - to eliminate YHWH as the definitive player in the shape of the future. These voices are not simply 'catch phrases' thrown out among the people. These are words of substance. The kind of words that make people stop and listen. Think of a song that has lyrics that grab you and make you listen again and try to catch everything that is being sung. Think of a poem that weaves words together in such a way you have to untangle its vision and then you sit back and say "Yes." And yet, such work is not always that which engages everyone. If my agenda for life is full and the direction I am going is etched in a deep pattern that I am unwilling to change, these poetic visions of a world that is new - cannot be heard and when they are, they are ignored or suppressed. This is not to say that all poetry brings for a vision of something other than the empire. In fact, the empire is always able and willing to put some of its own collection of words and ways out in front of us. Unfortunately, we too often follow those words and leave the poetry of power and life behind. Connection: A simple song - a few words at the right time and in the right place - a beat that makes us move -- the vision of God's Reign is meant to give us a light for the living and dancing of these days. When the poetry of your Reign falls upon us, O God, help us to hear the vision. Amen. |
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