“For we are His workmanship (poiema), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”.  Eph 2:10

Workmanship. What, exactly, does that mean? I could mow the lawn and that would be a product of my workmanship. I could work in a nail factory and the products would be my workmanship. The actual word used by Paul in his letter to the church of Ephesus is “poiema” from which we derive our English word “poem.” It’s actually the same thought.  Poetry…

Why do we (some of us) love poems so much? It’s an interesting topic for conversation. As a student and teacher of literature I’ve often pondered this question. I believe that it is through poetry that our feelings and philosophies are most succinctly articulated. Poetry can be beautiful or sublime, but good poetry is always vivid. Mind you, I’m not talking about any “Roses are red…” kind of stuff here. I’m talking the good stuff, the kind of poem that stays with you and haunts your thoughts. Good poetry makes you consider, or reconsider your most cherished beliefs and understandings of the world around you as well as your place in it and responsibility to it.

When Paul called us God’s “workmanship,” the thought he intended to convey in his choice of words is related to our word “poem.” You, yes you, are a poem. You are a living, breathing, walking, talking, sniffing, sneezing, laughing, poem. Consider the world about you. You know the one I’m talking about. The Monday world. The Monday world is the world of pain. It’s filled with people who don’t have the luxury of considering their feelings or philosophies because they’re trying to feed their kids. They’re worried about their son being involved with the wrong crowd or their daughter and “that boy.” The Monday world is the world inhabited by the single mom who is certain that she is trapped beyond hope in a cycle of poverty and the man who perpetuates, in his family, the scars left by his own father. It’s the world of anger, strife, malice, pain, and loneliness. We have all either sojourned into this Monday world or have been unhappy citizens of it. Either way, we come back to Paul’s point to the people of Ephesus. You see, he was pointing out to them that they, themselves were the answer to the Monday world. What would God say to these unhappy citizens of Monday? Well… He would say “you.”  Yes, you!  The one reading this blog. You are the words God has to say to a hurting world. You are God’s poetic words of love and hope to the Monday world. You articulate His answer to pain and regret. You speak the philosophy of Jesus on the phone, email, across the counter, through the drive-through window, from your desk, in the classroom, and from your car. You are God’s poem of healing to a hurting world. You are His poiema.