Tuesday -- Poetry Day

He [Jesus] pressed them, "And how about you? Who do you say I am?" 

Simon Peter said, "You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God."  

Jesus came back [replied],"God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn't get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I'm going to tell you who you are, really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out." Matthew 16:15-18 (MSG)

I think I'll publish one of my poems every Tuesday! (We'll see how long this determination lasts.) Today, I'm starting with a poem that I wrote just recently. It's based loosely on Matthew 16:15-18, along with a statement I once heard a speaker make, that gates are a defensive weapon, NOT a weapon of assault. So this statement was probably quite an attention grabber for Jesus' listeners that day. Many of them probably had first- (or second- or third- or fourth-hand) information about what it was like, sitting huddled in the dark, inside a walled city. What it was like, listening to the rhythmic thud . . . thud . . . thud, as the opposing forces applied their battering ram to the city gates. And what it was like, experiencing the unstoppable power and confidence of the victors, as they charged through the yawning gap where the "invincible" gates had been, and claimed the victory for their sovereign.

So, no more "speechifying"—here's the poem!

*****

Battering Ram

The Enemy reaches out
With claws,
Threatening to tear me down,
Declaring I have no value.
But you remind me
The battle for my soul
Was won 
By you,
So long ago.

The victory is ours.

And I run
Straight at the gates of hell,
And batter them open.