We Christians commit too much prose.

You know what I’m talking about.

Yet prose is the style of speech we Christians prefer. Straightforward. Unambiguous. Simple and to-the-point. We are devoted to the indicative (with occasional, though ill-received, detours into the imperative). But never the subjunctive for us! Never the conditional, metaphorical, or lyrical. We are Joe Friday rather than Bob Dylan. We want the facts. We are disdainful of the mysterious. We would rather be accurate than memorable.

We believe prose speech is faithful speech. We love the logical, the linear, and the lucid.

Silly us.

The truth is, we are meant to be poets and don’t know it.

We are makers of metaphor, shapers of simile, bold sailors on the ship of faith searching the world’s horizon for points of comparison. We are parable-shaped people, story-tongued people, bards and psalmists and singers. We yearn to speak in rhyme and rhythm, to be freed from the flatness of our prose-bound habits.

How could it be otherwise for people living with one foot in this world and another in the next? We are, after all, the ones who have touched the face of God. We have experienced God’s Spirit and bathed in God’s grace. We’ve witnessed miracles. We’ve been transformed. We’ve received a great calling. We are children of the High and the Holy One. We are heirs of heavenly treasures.

How can such things be reduced to mere prose? How do we talk to our friends and neighbors about these matters using “ordinary speech” or “dull expression”? How could it be possible to communicate the “hope that is within us” by means of lists or facts or dogmas or plans—without symbol or simile? How can we not sing as we speak of God’s redemptive love?

For many of us, sadly, prose is sufficient to describe the only Christian walk we’ve known. It is not our speech that is reduced, it is our experience. Faith is tiny. God is a concept we hear about in church. “Calling” and “gifting” and “miracles” happen to other people—never to us. “Grace” is a word stumbled over in hymns rather than the life-line to which we cling.

For others of us, however, the experience of faith is rich—the transcendent, praise-provoking walk with God is real—but prose is the only language we know. We’ve never been challenged to poetry. We’ve never been taught to sing. We want to speak of faith, of world-changing, life-altering encounter with God. But when we open our mouths, what comes out are facts, assertions, claims, reasons, points. It is deeply unsatisfying to us when this happens. It is deeply unmoving to those who would listen. But prose is all we know. It is the best we have to offer.

Perhaps we should do something drastic: lift a lesson from our Lord’s life.

Jesus’ native language was poetry. He was a storyteller (“There was a man who had two sons. . . .”), a spinner of similes (“The kingdom of Heaven is like. . . .”), a dealer in paradox (“He will live, even though he dies. . . .”), a puzzler (“Destroy this temple. . . .”), a lover of hyperbole (“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. . . .”), a singer with a fondness for provocative phrases (“Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood. . . .”).

We strive to be like Jesus in compassion and purity. Why not strive to be like him in this? To become as poetic as our master?

Our every word—if we could but see it—connects here and beyond, now and later, visible and invisible, mortal and eternal, flesh and spirit. Every interaction is an opportunity to offer some comparison, some word picture, that will make the unseen more perceptible to those whose spiritual eyes are wide shut. Every event can become a witness, if only we develop the artist’s touch.

So let’s become fluent in a different kind of speech. Put away childish, prosaic talk. Learn to speak like a spiritual adult. Tell stories. Confess. Write psalms. Testify. Dare to be hyperbolic! Use immoderate words, provocative words. Discover God in movies, books, and current events and then commit poetry over the backyard fence and in the break room. Master the poetic trick of shifting the rhythm of conversation from the secular to the sacred without anyone objecting or even noticing. Discover how to sing over the brokenhearted using the Spirit’s rhymes.

It’s too late for prose. The times are too dangerous for prose. We need poets with the courage and wisdom to speak with the tongues of angels. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells