THE WRITTEN WORD BECOMES A VOICE AGAIN

 

VI. “THE WRITTEN WORD BECAME A VOICE AGAIN”--Michael Edwards,

                    The Bible and Poetry

   The New Testament contains no word which has a direct bearing on a situation

   such as is ours to-day….The New Testament pays no attention to these time

   periods which are so significant to us.

                Rudolf Bultmann, 27 July 1938, Marburg Sermons

It won’t be there, that word we’re looking for,

but there is a word contained in the word,

we have that, and that’s the assuring

thread, as woke as I am blind. Farewell

words of Jesus for seminarians. Am I not

the school boy beginning to get the idea?

Isn’t this a good sign, if it’s anything.

We’re not going to get there on our own!

In-breaking time, Father Hopkins:

I am soft-sift in an hour glass.*

Riding the breath of now,

breathless, how could I ever think

I was the strong man any-way?

Look. Hope is the chink saving

me from satisfaction. Even

with the gift of a listening notebook.

Make peace. It’s been given.

Why these dare-deaths, this crew

in Unchrist all rolled in ruin.**

Time is in the other, beyond,

and can be heard without fear.

Jim Bodeen

29 January 2025

*The Wreck of the Deutschland, Gerard Manly Hopkins

**The Loss of the Eurydice, Gerard Manly Hopkins