There is a certain kind of voice that comes from this poetry that is able to stir up the people of God. Again, Walter Brueggemann in "Out of Babylon."
It is in the character of YHWH to give voice to poetic cadence. Poetic form is indispensable for speech that matches YHWH's own restless freedom. Sometimes, to be sure, the tradition exhibits YHWH slowed to memo and rule and syllogism - but not mostly. Mostly YHWH, in poetic utterance, authorizes candor and grief and issues hope that opens to new possibility. In the prophetic poetry YHWH seeks to penetrate the fearful anxiety of Israel, to energize by defying the given and disturbing the presumed world in which the listeners lived. YHWH knows, always knows, that the empire is penultimate; its time will pass. YHWH's words anticipate a future for Israel beyond the empire. As a consequence, Jewish life in Babylon, local tradition in empire, is voiced in revelatory, defiant, anticipatory terms that the empire can neither silence nor contain.
It is not easy to speak with candor. In fact, it is often easier to keep silent. And yet, the God who is the one in whose image we are created attempts to pull such candor out of us so that the vision of God's Reign will not be silent. Of course, there are many times that the voices we hear and the words we speak are far from the vision - even if we do think we are speaking candidly. That is quite fine. That is why we are people who live in community. It is in the community that the God's candor is revealed. Most often, the source of those words are not known. It may be from someone who rarely speaks. It may be from someone who speaks all the time and rarely has anything to offer. It may be from a person consider wise or a person considered a fool. That is why it is so vital to the life of the community for everyone to risk entering into the poetic exercise of unveiling the life that may be at the heart of how we live in contrast to the empire. The only way we walk together into the future of promise and the Reign that is handed to us is to keep painting a living mural with our words and prayers so that we are all given the opportunity to catch a glimpse of it all.
Connection:Foolishness is often necessary to help us look beyond where we are and where we want to be. The promises of our God are often the most foolish images we will hear and speak. And yet, like fools we continue to talk as though we are the beloved of the Creator of all things - and no power can lay another story on us.
When the poetry of your Reign falls upon us, O God, we become fools - and that is the beginning of liberation. Thank you for your saving words and life. Amen
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