Words are a gift from God. In fact, God's greatest expression of Himself to us is THE Word--Christ. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." John 1:1, 14
And while I know this to be true, knowing also THE Word, still I marvel at our attempt to be "little Christs," using words to express the glory of God. It is simply impossible. But He gave us words with which to try, and that is a gift not to be squandered.
I wrote this back in February, but a recent discussion brought it again to mind. I decided to clean it up a bit and share it here, though I feel it still needs revising in parts... I welcome questions and/or feedback.
WORDS
They are our window to the gods, or to God;
We print them on a page but never capture them,
Ideas released into the faulty cage of man’s device.
We teach our hands the turns, the curves, the lines;
We scribble, and we call it art.
We deceive ourselves.
Our “art” is inadequate, expressionless
Of the one thing worth expressing,
Which escapes us more the more we try.
It exists in the wordless,
The silence just before the thought,
Before the scratch of lead.
Yet still we reach beyond these bars
With blackened hands; we barely brush
Its extremity. But for these moments,
At the still point of the turning world,
For these encounters, for this end it is
That we determine to be poets.
For a mere glimpse of Lucidity himself,
We are continually willing to fail.
In the beginning was the Word.
It must have been a Word spoken—
Not one that we could tame with simple hands.
In the beginning was the Word:
Before space, before time, the Word existed,
Spoke life into existence,
Not the power of plurality, but of one
Word,
The Word by which we are created, designed
To think and keep thinking,
To write and keep writing,
To make these futile attempts,
To delight in them,
Despite our weak and slippery grasp,
Despite ourselves,
Despite our inadequate tools.
We are desperate creatures.
We smear the smudges from our windows
With a dirty sleeve and peer through;
Timidly, we wave to the Word from afar.
© H.D. Feb 2007
original post date 11/17/07, 12:01 AM
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Will the Stones Cry Out?
Today in church the pastor taught on the picture of Christ in Revelation 1. He said that, though in this season we celebrate Christ's first coming to us as a humble babe, we are to see his second coming as it says there in Revelation:
13 ...someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. [That is, Jesus is our great high priest...]
14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, [He is the sacrificial lamb...]
and his eyes were like blazing fire. [His gaze penetrates our souls...]
15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, [He comes with judgement...]
and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. [He cannot be drowned out...]
16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. [He brings a sword of battle...]
His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. [His glory is more than we can stand to look at!]
What stuck with me as the pastor expounded on these verses is the idea of Jesus' blazing eyes: that He looks into the very depth of my soul--a place even I dread to enter at those times when I know sin is brimming over...But Christ cannot HELP but see into that place, as that is simply who He is; He must see ALL of me because he created all of me. And He brings light--HIS light--to each dark corner, doing so by staring me in the face--eye to blazing eye. Wow. What a terrifying picture of the Saviour who sleeps "away in a manger" on a "silent night."
Continuing in Revelation, John says, "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead." How will I myself react if John--the disciple whom Jesus loved--felt this way upon seeing His Lord and friend? John: a liquified apostle. Christ is not merely to be sung about in carols as a rosy-cheeked, halo-wearing baby, or seen teaching on a hillside or even bleeding on the cross as a merciful and compassionate lord. NO, He is to be seen as the son of God reigning in majesty and power, glory and honor. THAT is the Christ. That is Jesus.
And He is coming soon...
With this new picture of Him in my heart, there is a newfound sense of awe and reverence in worshipping Him. We ended the service with one of my favorite worship songs: "I stand and lift up my hands...for the joy of the Lord is my strength...I bow down and worship Him now...how great, how awesome is He...and together we sing, everyone sing...Holy is the Lord, God Almighty...The earth is filled with His glory...Holy is the Lord, God Almighty...The earth is filled with His glory..."
The earth is filled with His glory...
Sitting in the back corner of the room, I looked around at the congregation as we sang. Several people that I could see were completely into the song, worshipping with raised hands, clearly talking to the Lord with their words. Many, many people were much more subdued, however. I felt a bit discouraged: after that eye-opening sermon, didn't people understand the God we were worshipping? Didn't it want to make them melt right then and there, out of sheer unworthiness in His awesome presence?
The earth is filled with His glory...but this room doesn't seem to be, I thought.
I glanced out of the little window on the emergency-exit door beside me. There was a little maple tree, its leaves a beautiful gold and brown, flapping wildly in the wind. And I thought of the verse in Isaiah 55 where God says, "The mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." (The leaves really did look like clapping hands!) The branches were shaking like they were desperate to rid themselves of those leaves--indeed, The earth is filled with His glory...!
I thought, too, of the verse in Luke 19, the Triumphal Entry, where Jesus replies to the Pharisees rebuke of the people's worship, "I tell you...if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Jesus, our God and King, demands worship! The trees and the rocks and all of nature sing songs of praise to the Most High; if we choose not to join them, it is our loss--and what a loss. Christ is coming, and He knows us inside and out, to the very soul of our souls! And in spite of our sinful natures, we are allowed to offer the tiny bit of praise we can while trapped in these mortal bodies. What a privilege to do as the Lord commands--what a privilege to do it, and be called friend.*
My absolute favorite passage about love is Song of Solomon 8:6-7, and I am always surprised it is not quoted more often. Verse 6 says that love "burns like a blazing fire." Now, I'm no Bible scholar, but knowing this and recalling Christ's eyes of "blazing fire," I think this seems to indicate that there is indeed love behind those eyes. In spite of the holy fear I feel of Him after understanding Christ's description in Revelation, I am drawn to Him, knowing that love is His ultimate motive for having chosen me. In light of that, the stones should never have to cry out. Holy is the Lord!
*John 15:14
13 ...someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. [That is, Jesus is our great high priest...]
14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, [He is the sacrificial lamb...]
and his eyes were like blazing fire. [His gaze penetrates our souls...]
15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, [He comes with judgement...]
and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. [He cannot be drowned out...]
16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. [He brings a sword of battle...]
His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. [His glory is more than we can stand to look at!]
What stuck with me as the pastor expounded on these verses is the idea of Jesus' blazing eyes: that He looks into the very depth of my soul--a place even I dread to enter at those times when I know sin is brimming over...But Christ cannot HELP but see into that place, as that is simply who He is; He must see ALL of me because he created all of me. And He brings light--HIS light--to each dark corner, doing so by staring me in the face--eye to blazing eye. Wow. What a terrifying picture of the Saviour who sleeps "away in a manger" on a "silent night."
Continuing in Revelation, John says, "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead." How will I myself react if John--the disciple whom Jesus loved--felt this way upon seeing His Lord and friend? John: a liquified apostle. Christ is not merely to be sung about in carols as a rosy-cheeked, halo-wearing baby, or seen teaching on a hillside or even bleeding on the cross as a merciful and compassionate lord. NO, He is to be seen as the son of God reigning in majesty and power, glory and honor. THAT is the Christ. That is Jesus.
And He is coming soon...
With this new picture of Him in my heart, there is a newfound sense of awe and reverence in worshipping Him. We ended the service with one of my favorite worship songs: "I stand and lift up my hands...for the joy of the Lord is my strength...I bow down and worship Him now...how great, how awesome is He...and together we sing, everyone sing...Holy is the Lord, God Almighty...The earth is filled with His glory...Holy is the Lord, God Almighty...The earth is filled with His glory..."
The earth is filled with His glory...
Sitting in the back corner of the room, I looked around at the congregation as we sang. Several people that I could see were completely into the song, worshipping with raised hands, clearly talking to the Lord with their words. Many, many people were much more subdued, however. I felt a bit discouraged: after that eye-opening sermon, didn't people understand the God we were worshipping? Didn't it want to make them melt right then and there, out of sheer unworthiness in His awesome presence?
The earth is filled with His glory...but this room doesn't seem to be, I thought.
I glanced out of the little window on the emergency-exit door beside me. There was a little maple tree, its leaves a beautiful gold and brown, flapping wildly in the wind. And I thought of the verse in Isaiah 55 where God says, "The mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." (The leaves really did look like clapping hands!) The branches were shaking like they were desperate to rid themselves of those leaves--indeed, The earth is filled with His glory...!
I thought, too, of the verse in Luke 19, the Triumphal Entry, where Jesus replies to the Pharisees rebuke of the people's worship, "I tell you...if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Jesus, our God and King, demands worship! The trees and the rocks and all of nature sing songs of praise to the Most High; if we choose not to join them, it is our loss--and what a loss. Christ is coming, and He knows us inside and out, to the very soul of our souls! And in spite of our sinful natures, we are allowed to offer the tiny bit of praise we can while trapped in these mortal bodies. What a privilege to do as the Lord commands--what a privilege to do it, and be called friend.*
My absolute favorite passage about love is Song of Solomon 8:6-7, and I am always surprised it is not quoted more often. Verse 6 says that love "burns like a blazing fire." Now, I'm no Bible scholar, but knowing this and recalling Christ's eyes of "blazing fire," I think this seems to indicate that there is indeed love behind those eyes. In spite of the holy fear I feel of Him after understanding Christ's description in Revelation, I am drawn to Him, knowing that love is His ultimate motive for having chosen me. In light of that, the stones should never have to cry out. Holy is the Lord!
*John 15:14
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