SEPTEMBER 2020
moderator was, “Are hymns poetry?” I looked around the room at the other hymn writers, finally turning back to the moderator. “Is there even a question?” I asked, brows furrowed. A few people shrugged. Several nodded. I finally stuttered out my opinion that yes, hymns are poetry, but a very specialized and strict form of poetry.
A
Poetry expresses what cannot be expressed in ordinary words. It prods the imagination, it speaks in pictures, it evokes, invokes, invites, incites. Poetry does not force, it does not manipulate. Te poet sees, observes, writes what must be spoken, and invites others to the window to see what they have seen. When God commanded the human to name the animals, God was giving the task of being a poet, of giving words to things which have no words, of entering the Mystery of life and creation.
Hymns are poems that have special boundaries placed upon them. Tey are poems meant to be sung. Te words must be good in the mouth. Tey are poems meant to be sung in community. Te community must be able to enter the words and assent to them. Tey are poems meant to be sung in community in worship of God. God, spoken or unspoken, must be at their center. And, since God is at their center, the words must be true, and beautiful, and excellent, reflecting God who is true and beautiful and excellent.
Music is not benign. Words are not neutral. And yet often at gatherings in worship of God, we sing out words married to music, words carried on breath into the universe. We breathe out the intent of the words and the meaning of the music, setting the air and our bodies in motion with vibration. With what kind of words are we vibrating? Beautiful words? True words? Patiently and skillfully crafted words?
Words are powerful. Tey can lift up; they can debase. Tey can heal and they can harm. In the book of Genesis, God spoke the world into being. Te power of loving intent. Spoken intent. Creating worlds. And yet, we carry in our bodies the wounds of words powerfully and carelessly spoken. Creating worlds of pain in our lives. Te Midrash Tehillim for Psalm
t a roundtable discussion for hymn writers a few years ago, I was startled when the opening question from the
120: 1-2 says, “Te tongue is like an arrow . . . once the would-be slayer aims and lets it go, it cannot be brought back”. Words are powerful. What kind of words and intent are we singing out into the universe?
Quantum physics teaches us that nothing in the universe disappears without a trace. Energy coalesces into matter, and matter is transformed back into energy. In like manner, that in which we consciously, intentionally participate will incarnate in us. Te energy, the intent, the meaning does not just dissipate or disappear. It continues to vibrate, shape, and form us. What are our hymns and sequences and litanies planting in us? How are they shaping in us our identity as baptized people, people called from living waters, people made in the image of the Creator?
“ Poetry uses the concrete things of this earth to speak about the unknowable mysteries of this earth, of life, and of God.”
Each human being is a part of the whole: an individual, yet connected to the infinite intimacy of God and God's creative fire. Each and every human being is suffused with creative possibility through the life-giving breath of God, singing into us an invitation to follow. Some will compose melodies, some will bake bread, some will tell stories, some will weave, some will garden, some will listen. Some will be poets. Whatever the gift, it requires courage to open the door of invitation, and patience to keen the skill.
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