George Herbert claimed that

he saw God through his pen

How should I praise You, Lord!

how should our rhymes

Gladly engrave Your love in steel,

If what our soul does feel sometimes,

Yes if our soul might ever feel!

We’re aimed to feel the love of God

He wrote to engrave it in the steel

of human language for others

to see and feel.

His Poetry was entirely for God,

Isn’t our everything entirely for God?

He wrote:

As a poet He wanted to be

God’s echo.

God’s secretary.

To me,

Herbert’s noted my poems are the

“Secretarie of Your praise.”

O Sacred Providence,

who from end to end

Strongly and sweetly moves us!

shall we write,

And not write of You,

You through whom

our fingers bend

To hold our quill?

shall we not do You right?

Of all the creatures

both in sea and on land

But only to us

You’ve made known Your ways,

You put the pen into our hand,

You made us Secretaries

of Your praise.

God bends our fingers

around His quill.

Cause us to do You right

Make us faithful secretaries

of Your praise —

Let us faithfully render —

Let us beautifully render —

the riches of Your truth and beauty

Writing Leads to Seeing

In the poetic effort to speak

the riches of God’s greatness

Give deeper sight

into Your greatness.

Writing poetry isn’t merely

the expression of our experience

with God

We didn’t have it before the writing.

The writing is part of

our experience of God.

In writing we get the actualities

we get, the essence of things.

As one has written

My God, a verse is not a crown,

No point of honor, or happy suit,

No hawk, or banquet, or renown,

Nor a good sword, nor yet a lute:

It cannot vault, or dance, or play;

It never was in France or Spain;

Nor can it entertain the day

With a great stable or demain:

It is no office, art, or news;

Nor the Exchange, or busy Hall;

But it is that which while I use

I am with You, and Your my all.

Love bade me welcome:

yet my soul drew back,

The Guilt of dust and sin.

But quick-ey’d Love,

observed me grow slack

From my first entrance in,

You Drew nearer to me,

You sweetly questioned

If I lack’d any thing.

A guest, I answer’d,

I’m unworthy to be here:

Love said, you shall be he.

But I’m unkind,

But I’m ungrateful

I can’t look on You.

Your Love takes our hand,

and smiling You reply,

Who made the eyes but I?

Truth Lord, but we are marred:

this is our shame

Go to another who deserves You.

But, Love says, I bore the blame?

So we will serve.

You must sit down, says Love,

and taste My meat:

So we sit and eat.

Love’s yoke is easy

Love’s burden is light.

The King of kings serves us

He reclines us at His table,

and He comes and serve us

Luke 12:37

Love says:

sit down,

and taste my meat:

So we sit and eat.

So amazing that Jesus

would feast with us

So amazing that Jesus loves us

So amazing that He would

wrap a towel around Himself

and bow down to us

and wash our feet

before He goes to die for us

So amazing that His call of love

still comes to our ears

to bring us to feast with Him

He washes our feet

He makes us whole

What wondrous love is this,

O my soul, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this,

O my soul!

What wondrous love is this

that caused the Lord of bliss

To bear the dreadful curse

for my soul, for my soul,

To bear the dreadful curse

for my soul.

To God and to the Lamb,

I will sing, I will sing;

To God and to the Lamb I will sing.

To God and to the Lamb

Who is the great I Am;

While millions join the theme,

I will sing, I will sing;

While millions join the theme,

I will sing.

You friends of Zion’s king,

join His praise, join His praise;

You friends of Zion’s king,

join His praise;

You friends of Zion’s king,

with hearts and voices sing,

and strike each tuneful string

in His praise, in His praise!

and strike each tuneful string

in His praise!