Sunday Sabbath Poetry: David Ayres

David Ayres is an undergraduate student at Abilene Christian University, majoring in Bible. He was a fellow groomsman in my brother Garrett's wedding last weekend and wrote this prayer for that day, and posted it on his blog. David posts a new poem every few days, and his blog has become one of my favorites for that reason. (At the wedding we talked about wanting to find more like it, places online that collect or publish new poetry on a regular basis. If you know of such a resource, point us toward it!)

Anyway, I've paired David's wonderful poem with one I wrote recently about Dennis Prager's oft-repeated claim that unconditional love is neither biblical nor coherent when applied to God -- that it makes God a "love machine" wherein sadists and genocidal dictators are equally the recipients of God's love as children and virtuous persons. I taught a class at church once in response to Prager's argument, but perhaps poetry is the better medium. Enjoy.

[Update: I have taken down poems I am in the process of submitting for publication. I apologize for the confusion and/or inconvenience!]

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Prayer For The Day

Saturday, May 23, 2009

By David Ayres

Usually bread and wine are on the altar
to jog our memory
of things done in the past,
to remind us
of the distance left to go,
to bless us
who are so convinced of our unworthiness.
But today there are only white flowers on your table,
in celebration of our arrival to a kingdom
where your will is done.
Today we catch a glimpse of our true and present reality
us: the bride, enthralled and shining white,
you: the groom, wiping tears from your eyes.
We can't help but smile at the awesome scene,
your climactic vision.
And we thank you for being the God
of white flowers
just as you are God
of bread and wine.