The Heartbeat of God

By John Frye

Eugene H. Peterson writes, “It surprises me when pastor friends are indifferent or hostile to poets. More than half our Scriptures were written by poets. … The first thing a poet does is slow us down. We cannot speed-read a poem. …When we are reading prose we are often in control, but in a poem we fell like we are out of control” (“Novelists, Pastors, and Poets” in Subversive Christianity, 180). Words matter to Christians and should robustly matter to pastors. The very revelation of God in flesh is called “Word.”

Heartbeat of God

by

John W. Frye

I climb into the lap of God.
Leaning against the vastness of him,
I listen to his loving heart.

I hear strong blood, rushing—
Crying from the ground
Of ancient and present places.
Lonely, forgotten empty faces;
Wailing Palestinian mothers
And frightened African babies.

God’s heartbeat makes me uncomfortable.

I pull away and look into God’s eyes.
I see the tears of awful grief—
Tears did not, could not quench the Fire.

God’s heart of love
Beats on to the relentless rhythm of justice;
God will not coddle us
When violence competes, beats to death.
Who beats swords into plowshares?

I want God’s love to snuggle us, comfort us.
God’s love sharply pokes to trouble us,
To unsettle us on this orbiting rubble,
To break our bubble of “all is well.”