Writing Devotionals
My New Project
A book of (poetic) devotionals.
I am making a book! I use the word ‘making’ because I am not only writing it but also creating artwork for it; and I appreciate the word ‘making’ in relation to writing poetry. The root word is poesis, which means making. My idea is to bring image and text together in a little book of poetic devotionals. Devotionals are small pieces of writing that reflect upon divine Scripture and encourage prayer. They traditionally have three parts: a Scripture passage, an illustration, and a practice to integrate them into daily life. They also have a certain rhythm to them, like poetry. And they keep us company on the long pilgrim path of faith.
Dr. Holly Ordway, the Cardinal Francis George Professor of Faith and Culture at the Word on Fire Institute, notes that devotionals help us to more deeply reflect upon the word of God, and thereby cultivate and enrich our relationship with Him. Devotionals can come in all sorts of ‘shapes and sizes’, and can also be based on the lives of the saints, or other sacred texts. She says they are “not essays, or arguments; they’re invitations, they’re glimpses of the fullness of a life that’s fully rooted and grounded in Christ. … They’re a form that calls for deep attention to language and imagery.”
In this sense, they have a lot in common with poetry, which similarly uses images, metaphors, symbols, finely-honed language, rhyme, and meter. I like the lapidary comparison to making poetry: it is akin to the fine cutting, polishing, and engraving of stones and gems. It is slow going, painstaking, and involves revision upon revision. A truly good poem is nearly a miracle. It’s something I can only hope to make, or strive to make. But, like the servants in the “Parable of the Talents”, in Matthew 25:14-30, I am obliged to try, somehow; to see if I can make something worthwhile. We are all asked to trust in Him, to conform our lives and our work to Him; and to have courage.
The late, great poet Mary Oliver said this:
“Poetry is a river; many voices travel in it; poem after poem moves along in the exciting crests and falls of the river waves. … Almost everything, in the end, passes. But the desire to make a poem, and the world’s willingness to receive it - indeed the world’s need of it - these never pass. If all is poetry, and not just one’s own accomplishment, that carries one from this green and mortal world - that lifts the latch and gives a glimpse into a greater paradise - then perhaps one has the sensibility: a gratitude apart from authorship, a fervor and desire beyond the margins of the self.”
Mary Oliver’s description of poetry acknowledges - lifts into the light - the spiritual dimension of the craft. A good poem might be shaped by the poet, nurtured and pruned like a fruit vine, but the life of the vine - everything, that is - comes from God. A devotional or a poem, a little piece of writing, can be an offering back to God, the Creator of all things; it can be a blessing returned, with thanksgiving.
References:
A Poetry Handbook, by Mary Oliver; Harcourt Inc., 1994
Dr. Holly Ordway: https://www.wordonfire.org/author/dr-holly-ordway/
Images: Juliette Pierce Kent