Spoken Word Poetry God, our Creator, could have used any and every possible method of creation to form this world, but he used his spoken word. And that same word, wrapped in flesh, dwelt among us, and was the greatest teacher of all time. And Jesus, he could have used any formation to frame information, but he said things like this.
The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed seed in his field, but while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. He knew how to weave words into a container that would hold people's attention. And words and how we wield them are a powerful thing.
The word of God is like a two-edged sword. We overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. We know with the centurion that just one word from the Lord changes everything.
And y'all, we still read David's poems, okay? Spoken word poetry is a powerful tool for spiritual... formation speaking of david and i love to talk to kids i love to talk to kids about david because i'll ask them if they know who was the man after god's own heart and they all say david and then i ask them if they know some things about david and they just list his accolades you know they say um you know he killed goliath and he was really good to his sheep and he killed some lions and he killed a bear and um he was the ruler And he was reigning and he was awesome.
They say all these things and I'll ask them, okay, well, what would you think about the fact that David took things that weren't his? David was a murderer. David was a slacker.
He didn't always show up where he needed to show up. He was still a man after God's own heart, that that person who did all those things was still a man after God's own heart. And it's not what we do. that makes us to follow after the heart of christ it's how he intentionally no matter what happened no matter what mistake he made he just poured himself out to god he poured his heart out to god and what made his heart after god's was that he offered it to him constantly and he did that through the kind of median of spoken word poetry and he was real and he was honest with the lord and that is still teaching us how to be real and honest and it's still blessing us and still sending chills down our spine and i don't think spoken spoken word poetry is just beneficial to my spiritual formation i think that it is beneficial to you know the spiritual formation of others who encounter it who get to read it or hear it um it's obviously A lot of fun in a corporate church setting. Typically I find that it's used for special programs or if we have Christmas or Easter or something like that.
But spoken word poetry is basically a sermon, but it's more succinct and it's nuanced and it's finely crafted. And I love that because we want to bring an excellent offering to the Lord. And I'm stuck in that part of the Bible right now where they're talking about crafting the temple and just all of building specifics and standards and this type of wood and that type of cloth.
And it's just so finely tuned. It's every detail is important. And I think that spoken poetry is often like that.
It's taking the extra time to finally craft something and to turn phrase and offer up art to the Lord in a specific, excellent way. And In public venues and local communities, I have done, I was called upon to write some monologues for a conference once. They were about Nona Freeman. It was Nona Freeman. The only one I can remember right now is Nona Freeman, and that's unfortunate because Benny Demershant in Brazil.
Noda Freeman and Benny DeMerchant, it was kind of monologues written from their point of view, and they were wonderful and powerful, and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to do that. But I really haven't branched out into the community very much with this, although I am kind of convicted just talking to you guys about this right now, because I totally could. That would be so easy, you know, like in a slam poetry bar, like, snaps for Jesus. I just think that looking up something like that and then participating Could be a really cool venue to open people's eyes to the Lord and to interact with my community. So I have been given some things to think about.
And now I believe I am to give you a sample and I wish that it were gonna be like dramatic and ambient and all of those things. It will be dramatic but probably not ambient. I'm gonna sit right here and I'm going to read the monologue I wrote for the Nats competition for Youth Congress 2017. My friend Tiffany encouraged me to join that. And I did, I did not make it into the big leagues, but I made it into the morning rounds.
And it's opened so many doors for me. So I'm grateful and I'm blessed to be able to speak at people's churches and to do conferences and to do all of those things. But it started right here with a spoken word. It started right here with this spoken word. So here we go.
Let's review. First, there was nothing. Then he spoke all of the light, followed by all of the rest.
First, there was paradise, followed by doubt like a parasite. First, there was trust, followed by betrayal. Broken heart, banishment. Am I my brother's keeper? Division, deception, debauchery, rain, so much rain.
Olive branch, rainbow, babble, tower and torn. Patriarchs, promises, Joseph, dreams, disaster. Pit, Potiphar's house, prison, palace, prosperity, oppression. River and basket, kill, run.
Bush that won't burn, ground that is holy. Let my people go, Red Sea parting, manna. Wandering, waiting, waiting, wandering, wondering. Tabernacle, stipulation, sacrifice, strain, stain, promised land, people, not perfect. Sin, bondage, repentance, rescue, redemption.
Sin, bondage, repentance, rescue, redemption. Sin, bondage, repentance, rescue, redemption, sin. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, except my neighbor's wife. Give me enough wisdom for 700 lives, and I'll use it to get 700 wives.
A temple for you, God, temples for all of them. Esther, Purim, Nehemiah rebuild, Hosea chases Gomer no matter how she tries to run, book on book of prophecy and then it seems we're done. 400 years.
400 years of placing faith on principle, just on the perhaps of fulfillment, what felt like forever as certainties and centuries began to fade. Then at long last came the sound everyone was waiting for and almost no one heard. It didn't sound like trumpets, no fanfare, pomp or circumstance, no starstruck maiden sighing, just a little baby raising feeble voice and crying. What darkness can comprehend light like that?
So no one really knew. Salvation sat down next to sin. and ran and played and grew. Baptism, ministry, water into wine, dead to life, lame to walk, sight to so much blind.
Parables and Pharisees don't mix. The Sabbath belongs to me. My house will be a house of prayer. There's better fishing out of the sea. You'll see.
Memorable moments and miracles and servant word and deed, standing in the midst of them all they'd ever need. Then those who claimed to love him could not stay and pray one night. Lips that cried Hosanna curled cold and crass with spite. Judge and jury.
Testimony and trial, beaten, bloody, red. Pilate grants a wish and washes hands. God's people want him dead. Give us Barabbas, we want Barabbas, we'd rather Barabbas, they said.
He gave them all the love they need and they chose Hayden's dead. Hear me when I tell you, he knows, he knows that kisses are capable of killing all your faith and love. He knows how it feels, a blood splatter, a heart shatter, you've given your all and it just doesn't matter. He knows. and he chose so it shows how far love goes.
They hung him high, they stretched him wide, his mother watched as her promises died. As those life-giving lungs let out one last final breath, a veil ripped in the temple, in dying he killed death. They did not know, they couldn't see in the darkness of that night, that when he broke his body, he flooded earth with light.
They had no way of knowing he had conquered over sin. No more stipulation, strain, or stain. They could walk right in. Emmanuel, God with us.
Jesus who is salvation, the sovereign of the universe, blood ransoming creation. Let's review. This is what you need to know.
It is ever, forever, and true. The minute you choose Barabbas, Jesus chooses you. He is right there. Choosing you, you can rest, return, run back home no matter how far you've gone because they said, let his blood be on us and our children.
And glory to God, it was. Glory to God, it is. So when you tried and turned and failed and you cannot help you anymore, run to him though dressed in sin, it's what the blood is for.
He won through loss to prove to us and him you cannot lose. In love and mercy. He'll choose you no matter who you choose.
I have a nephew. I have a beautiful nephew, world's best nephew, in my opinion. And my opinion in this case is fact.
And he doesn't love to eat. And so we run through ridiculous hoops, jumping through the hoops all the time, you know, to make him a grilled cheese and cut it out in animal shapes, to cut anything out in animal shapes, you know, to try to get it to march into, you know, his Noah's Ark of a Mouth or just different recipes. There's so many different ways we try to present him with food. And there are so many different ways that we can present the food. Of the word of God to his people.
And this is just one of my favorites. That's all.