I love words. I love their form and feel, their shape and size, their tone and taste and texture. I love the way they adapt and transform and move; words adapt to new situations even as they adapt our thinking; they transform their meanings even as they transform our understanding; they move as they enter our imaginations even as they move our emotions. The following flip boxes use three words as examples. (Just for fun)
``Flip``
adapts itself to describe this webpage element,a ``flip box``.
``Flip``
adapts my thinking to expect quick changes.``Like``
transforms itself to introduce a quote,(She's like, ``...``)
``Like``
transforms the speech I hear into confessions of personal identity.``Birdsong``
enters our imaginationonly when it moves
from note to note.
``Birdsong``
moves me intofeelings of joy.
Okay. I got carried away with my new HTML toy. The point is that even as words change their meanings and usages, they also change us. Words are a big part of our creative writing process and words can literally do some creating of their own. They can create thoughts and images and feelings.
Which word should I use to help create the thought or image or feeling I hope the reader will have? This is important question whenever we are translating Scripture.
My Bible professor, Lamar Williamson, translated the beginning of Ephesians 2:10 as “We are God’s work of art,” or “We are God’s poem,” picking up on the Greek word poiema that appears in the original. Both of those translations create a whole different feel within the reader than the standard translation of “workmanship.” (Take a minute to feel your way into a life as God’s poem.) The use of “poem” turns prose into poetry. It has helped me gain a new understanding of myself and of God’s work in our world; it has helped to create a lasting sense of beauty. (The New Revised Standard translation even drains the prose of any creative power: “We are what God has made us.” Huh?)
All this to say that I have found reading and writing poetry to be very helpful to understanding the Bible, allowing the Word to become flesh within me. You will notice this—and, I hope, take advantage of this—if you use my notes on the Scriptures which I am beginning to publish on this site as “Markings.” (So far I only have the first six chapters of the Gospel of Mark up and running.)
As I have begun the process of putting these notes here, in an easily accessible form, I have noticed that so many of my notes are poems. Yes, I am becoming God’s poem. And we together are God’s poetic work of art!
