Reflection for the Week

Imaginative variations challenge us to be attuned to the poetry and art of life. In contrast to the pervasive and impoverished mantra of being uninterested in a disenchanted world, poetry and art raise the screen and open us up to the possibility of a re-enchantment. Ironically, or better perhaps strikingly, poetry and art dominate the landscape of the mega narrative of Scripture. The Bible is so full of art and poetry that the meaning of its words could never be contained in-between the covers of a book. The beautiful, yet fragile treasure of art and poetry, and their capacity for creativity and critique in describing God and the world, give us living formulations that re-ignite a sphere of the sacred and a space for the spiritual, which are all too often today buried under the technological evolution of a de-natured naturalism. Poetry and art take us far beyond passive contemplation of the pleasing and aim to fit us for faithful action and engagement with the world.