Strangely Brilliant

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely brilliant,
In the light of His glory and grace.

I apologize to the hymnist for turning her poetry inside out. What Helen Lemmel penned was,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim…

Her intent was to accentuate the unequaled beauty of Christ by casting all else in dull, muted tones. Fair enough.

But closeness to Jesus has mostly heightened my awareness of life’s beauty.

…Setting sunlight turning trees and trail to gold
…The glide of a canoe across a mountain lake at dawn
…An ancient marriage proposal sung in Gaelic
…Rhodies blooming
…The crack of a bat on a 98 mph fastball
…A full night of sleep
…The summertime incense of charcoal
…Saltwater and coconut oil
…Friendships rekindled

In my experience, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a baptism of all things into their intended glory.


Copyright Scott Burnett 2006

brevity | enormity

life is brief
and enormous
sweet, sad paradox

Pine

Pine indoors
Spirit of evergreen
Fragrance of nostalgia
Pining for simpler Christmases



Copyright Scott Burnett 2006

my soulscape thrums

There are moments
when my soulscape
thrums with jazz and banter
…pulses with brushstrokes and light

And then cuts abruptly
to a vacant soundstage
mute as ash
held like a breath
…pending and panicked

At such times my beliefs
like unemployed actors
must again audition
for their roles
in the script I hold

They are fragile and insecure
It is a wearisome business

But you are singing under a streetlamp
tambourine in hand
refusing to learn your lines
confronting me with hilarity
…reanimating the mundane


Copyright Scott Burnett 2007

God Sings

“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17, NIV

This little segment of ancient poetry is dense with mystical imagery. The first sentence states God’s nearness, potency, and liberation. The second sentence is a three-dimensional portrait of a shockingly good God.

Delight: There is an unshakable assurance of all-is-well in the notion that my Creator is happy with me. It forms a supremely livable world.

Quiet: I am a noisy-souled man and I live in a world of noise. Love brings peace and sorts the cacophony into intelligibility.

Music: Divine delight manifests in spontaneous melodic improvisation. Aesthetic order emerges in the sounds of everyday life. A key puzzle piece of my theology is that God sings.


Copyright Scott Burnett 2006

mercy

“Who is a God like you,
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
You will again have compassion on us;
you will tread our sins underfoot
and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea."
Micah 7:18-19 (NIV)

Right now I can’t imagine a more perfectly poetic description of God’s mercy. I need poetry like that.