About ten years ago, I returned to church after a long
hiatus. What drove me back to church was not a recovery of earlier beliefs or
even an articulation of new ones. In fact, if I am honest, I was more
ambivalent about Christianity than ever.
What compelled me to the pews was a hunger for poetry shared
in community. Church was the only place I knew of where people got together on
a regular basis and shared ancient poetry. I wanted--I needed--to be a part of
that.
I found poetry in the canticles, in the prayers, in the
psalms, in the fiery readings from prophets. It was in the songs that Paul
wrote to people at Corinth and in the parables that Jesus used to puzzle his
listeners. Poetry was in the hymns and in the simple words people offered as
prayer requests. The whole service appeared to me like one big exercise in
surrender to poetry.
