THE POET PRIEST

A quiet room, dust floating in the air momentarily illuminated by the sunlight coming through a window, a man sits quietly in concentration working intently at a desk.

What time period is it? What’s he working on?

The truth is that it could be almost anytime in human history. He could be typing away on a laptop, writing on a scroll, or painting the next great masterpiece.

The workshops of artists, poets, playwrights, politicians and priests share much in common. Often they are quiet places of deep contemplation and creation, as they work to bring something from another world to this one.

Whether that be the world of ideas, imagination, or the heavens; the work is similar and innate to human beings.

We were made to be Poet Priests.

We were made to love beauty and long for eternity.

We were made to co-create with God, by God at the beginning of creation.

We were made to worship and wonder, and stand, and bow, and dance, and sing in awe and worship at the goodness and beauty of God the ultimate poet and creator. The template and forebear for true beauty.  

This is part 2 of 3 wise letters where I share with you a 3 part framework for seeing yourself.

It’s a framework I have begun to use for motivation and clarification in my everyday, ever changing life and now you can too.

I recently sat down and recorded 30 minutes of content on this very topic on the podcast. You can listen to that here: Apple, Spotify, YouTube.

Part Two: The Poet Priest

Who You Are:

You are a Poet Priest. According to the biblical worldview, you are designed by God to worship Him AND you are designed by God to cultivate the earth. To take raw resources and craft works of intelligent design, just like God our intelligent designer.

We aren’t in competition with God and we aren’t equal with God, but according to His purpose we are in coordination and beautiful cooperation with Him.

The Poet Priest is comfortable in a house of worship, in an isolated time of prayer or Bible Study, as well as in a workshop crafting wood or writing code.

The Poet Priest is a builder, an innovator, an explorer, a questioner…

This part of us can easily be belittled by the world around us as trivial or indulgent, but it is an essential part of each of us in one form or another.

At other moments our culture idolizes artists and preachers and that isn’t healthy either.

In an ideal world, the extraordinary would be so prevalent, that it would in fact be ordinary and yet no less wondrous or beautiful for its abundance.

How You Should Live:

I love the popular image of the restless artist who can’t truly be at peace unless they are pouring themselves into their work of art.

The writer who has to write, the painter who has to paint, the preacher who has to speak the Word of God…

There is a lot of truth to this image and I believe it explains a great deal of the silent anxiousness and agony so many of us endure.

So many of us are Poet Priests sitting idly by, when we should be worshiping our God and getting our hands dirty as we create alongside Him.

I believe it is this idleness in part, this song still within our chests unsung, that is driving us mad!

So how should you live as a Poet Priest?

I’d say;

• Creatively.

• Self sacrificially in ardent worship of our Lord.

• Joyfully caught up in making things instead of simply breaking things.

Everyday we should have some sort of canvas before us, whether that be a spreadsheet, a pen and paper, or a toy as we play with our children.

We should be doing…enjoying…and making things better as we take the raw and untamed and intelligently imbue beauty.

Welcome to the guild of Poet Priests. This is not all of who you are, but it’s a crucial and important part of the tapestry. Stay tuned for Part Three.

P.S.

To increase happiness - for many of us but perhaps not all, ideally your income earning day job would be an expression of this part of you, at least some of the time.

You’ve subscribed to these daily wise letters, now continue the journey with my weekly podcast Can I Ask You A Question!

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See you next Thursday!

Geno Schmelzer,