A Poem of Hope

Friends,

A few years ago I was preparing for a sermon, and the only thing that came to my heart was the words that I share with you below.  That was long before any hint of coronavirus, but there were plenty of global fears and local worries then too.  It is a poem of hope, inspired by Isaiah 35.  It was a most unusual sermon (the only poetic sermon I've ever written) and I'm quite sure the congregation was glad that I didn't often write my own poetry.  Nonetheless, one of that day's hearers of the sermon requested a copy to share with the men in a prison ministry that he visited with each week, so I pray God was present that day.  I don't know what else God might have done with it, if anything, and I don't know what God might do with it now.  It's been on my heart, however, so I offer it to you with the belief that God might speak to someone through God's word recorded in Isaiah and now proclaimed in this way.  Maybe as we find ourselves isolated with no definitive end to the restrictions on our lives, we too might hear a whisper of God's grace.

Some notes about the poem: I've never studied poetry.  Technical poetry folks will find deviations from proper meter and punctuation.  Please ignore those.  The repeated refrain seems alternately too much repetition, but then I think it's also necessary, calling to mind the loud and persistent chorus of discouragement and cynicism that so often fills the world.  If you find yourself starting to skip over the refrain, in the same way that we stop listening to things we think we don't need to heed, pay attention near the end to where the refrain starts to change. 

Blessings.

Isaiah 35

1 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. 

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. 

3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 

4 say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you." 

5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. 

7 The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here.

Aint nothing gonna grow here.

Aint nothing gonna grow here,

That’s what people say.

I’ve been here some fifty years; 

seen some good days but mostly tears.

Folks talk big, but mostly fears 

beneath the surface lay.

Aint nothing gonna grow here.

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

That’s what people say.

We tried sharin’, it didn’t work out.

We tried givin’, it didn’t amount

To much more than a withering sprout:

Couldn’t break this hard dry clay.

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

That’s what people say.

So long ago they had a dream:

"Build a church for the kids to see

How God’s provided for you and me!"

But old dreams are child’s play.

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

That’s what people say.

Grandma used to run this place

With God and Grandpa they could face

Any changes to time or space!

but that was a different day.

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

That’s what people say.

"Oh how I wish that it weren’t true!"

"Been on my knees like you told me to do!"

"Prayed so many words till my face is blue!"

I beg, “Is God hearing what I pray?”

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

That’s what people say.

My hands are weak, my knees won’t stand.

The people don’t care for God’s commands.

Neither do I see much of God’s plan,

And my soul so dry it lay.

But then in the distant scorching blue

A faint aberration, then I see two

Small gray wisps on the horizon!They move

dust slightly stirred from its place.

The smallest gray hint a bit closer grows

Taller, too, and wider it flows.

From a distant cloud a breeze hot blows

Some air moving against my face

But too early aloud to name.

The breeze, if you can call it that, does grow.

Now it’s more of a wind as feigns to blow.

Still not enough for hope to flow

From a dry heart and two legs lame.

The wisps now clouds are towering high.

No longer distant, they fill the sky,

And raindrops three, then four then five

Tap and splatter on hard baked clay.

Aint nothing’ gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

That’s what people say

The parched ground first rejects the gift.

It shrugs off the water, which runs into rifts.

“Depart from me!” But it’s as if

The rain is here to stay.

While much runs off, still more sinks down

Between the cracks below the ground;

And hopelessness begins to drown

As the dry earth feels water play.

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here,

IS THAT what people say?

Just beneath the surface, long

Dry and parched, without a song,

Now awakened now among

A multitude asleep did lay.

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Words that had their day!

Seeds once dormant once encased

Now break their shells and in their place

A transformation with great haste

Is happening today.

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

"Empty words!" the people say.

The hard packed earth now wet with rain

Makes way for green chutes shooting plain

Up from the earth no longer chained

By dry, parched, hopeless clay.

The chutes rich green, they climb, they grow

And out come leaves and flowers show.

(And with the sun and rain) to know

The purpose for which they were made

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Aint nothing gonna grow here

Never again proclaimed!

For God has promised and come through

That life would come again anew

All that was hopeless now is through

For God is sending rain.

Aint nothing gonna grow here?

Watch what God can grow here!

Yes watch what God can grow here:

You’ll never be the same.

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