Digital Editor’s Note: I’m delighted to welcome Matthew White as our Sorted Magazine Guest Writer. Matthew is a priest, poet and songwriter as well as an accomplished musician and singer. He is passionate about faith, poetry and music and has always had a keen fascination with words. His debut book Propelled into Wonder was released in September 2024 (Wipf and Stock Publishers).
Matthew writes: Did you know that approximately 33% of the Bible is poetry? That’s effectively one third of the entire canon of Scripture devoted to various kinds of songs and poems! Followers of Jesus who regularly attend a church will be familiar with the singing of songs as an integral part of Christian worship and discipleship but how many of us actively make room in our lives (or in our services of worship for that matter) for poetry?
If you’re anything like me, you can probably recall, hum, sing or whistle the words or tune belonging to your favourite songs or pieces of music but how many of us can confidently recite a favourite poem that perhaps over time we may even have committed to learning by heart?
For indeed, the “heart” is both pertinent and significant when it comes to engaging with poetry as this is where the best poems emanate from and where the best poems gladly make themselves at home.
In stark contrast to the often laborious and tedious experience of reading a set of instructions or pouring over an academic textbook, the beauty and “magic” of poetry is that it is a medium which demands to be savoured, chewed, interrogated, ingested and pondered. Or, to put it another way, poetry is that which encounters us.
I am more convinced than ever before that poetry is a rich and dynamic gift from God, the very same God who is himself a dynamic hum of perfect relationship and who “spoke”1 the world into being. I am also convinced that good poetry necessitates being felt as well as read and, sadly, there are plenty of people out there who haven’t tried either.
Poetry has many benefits to offer those who afford it proper time and due reverence. One of the main things I have benefitted from is poetry’s uncanny ability to give a voice to those emotions and experiences that perhaps I would have otherwise found difficult to talk about or make sense of myself.
Poetry has the power to profoundly and wonderfully enrich our lives. Poetry can be a source of healing. Poetry can soothe and comfort as well as stir and agitate. Poetry can lead us to meditate and poetry can provoke us into action. Poetry invites us to slow down and helps us to become present, serving the particular moment or text that we find ourselves in.
As we continually open ourselves to a varied plethora of poets and poems and as we spend time reading (and I would advise speaking and listening to) the Psalms, we quickly discover that our experiences of loss, heartache, abandonment, bewilderment, anger and hopelessness are perhaps not as uncommon as we might think.
My new book, Propelled into Wonder (Wipf and Stock Publishers), is an original poetry collection containing many highs and sighs from the past decade of my life. Several of the poems in the book were written in the gruelling aftermath of losing my beloved father unexpectedly and suddenly to Covid during the lead up to Christmas in 2021. Others were inspired by a selection of my favourite people and places or born out of several incredibly joyful and unsavoury experiences from both within and outside the walls of the Church.
Propelled into Wonder is home to poems about faith, doubt, grief, leadership, beauty, childhood and love (among others). Many of the poems are accompanied by original hand drawn illustrations. My hope is that this book will inspire and speak to others in the same way that the poetry of others so often ministers and speaks to me.
In the book’s introduction, I write the following words: “If nothing else, my hope is that the words on the pages that follow are honest. Moreover, that they are honest in the way that the Psalms are honest, holding nothing back and declining that dangerous invitation to adopt an unrealistic state of permanent politeness, all in the name of showing God due reverence.”
If you are kind enough to pick up a copy of my book, my heart’s desire is that my words will speak to you, or even help you speak, and I am praying that my poems will become both friend and firebrand.
It was one of my favourite poets, Gerard Manley Hopkins, who famously observed in one of his most well known poems2: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” Perhaps your world needs to be charged with poetry!
Genesis 1:3, Psalm 33:9
From the poem God’s Grandeur by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Photo Credits: Courtesy of Matthew White
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In the quest to bring you more insights Sorted includes interesting articles from specially selected Guest Writers. Each piece is carefully chosen and edited by our own Editorial Team to inform, inspire and entertain our readers.
Sorted discusses the big issues of the day – focusing on subjects as diverse as culture, sport, cars, health, faith, gadgets, humour and relationships. We aim to be positive and wholesome in all we do. And we have been achieving this since 2007.
Every printed issue of Sorted is read by more than 100,000 men in 21 different countries – while digitally, the number of people reading our online content (free and via subscription) continues to soar.
Opinion: Could poetry be what your life is missing?
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Digital Editor’s Note: I’m delighted to welcome Matthew White as our Sorted Magazine Guest Writer. Matthew is a priest, poet and songwriter as well as an accomplished musician and singer. He is passionate about faith, poetry and music and has always had a keen fascination with words. His debut book Propelled into Wonder was released in September 2024 (Wipf and Stock Publishers).
Matthew writes: Did you know that approximately 33% of the Bible is poetry? That’s effectively one third of the entire canon of Scripture devoted to various kinds of songs and poems! Followers of Jesus who regularly attend a church will be familiar with the singing of songs as an integral part of Christian worship and discipleship but how many of us actively make room in our lives (or in our services of worship for that matter) for poetry?
If you’re anything like me, you can probably recall, hum, sing or whistle the words or tune belonging to your favourite songs or pieces of music but how many of us can confidently recite a favourite poem that perhaps over time we may even have committed to learning by heart?
For indeed, the “heart” is both pertinent and significant when it comes to engaging with poetry as this is where the best poems emanate from and where the best poems gladly make themselves at home.
In stark contrast to the often laborious and tedious experience of reading a set of instructions or pouring over an academic textbook, the beauty and “magic” of poetry is that it is a medium which demands to be savoured, chewed, interrogated, ingested and pondered. Or, to put it another way, poetry is that which encounters us.
I am more convinced than ever before that poetry is a rich and dynamic gift from God, the very same God who is himself a dynamic hum of perfect relationship and who “spoke”1 the world into being. I am also convinced that good poetry necessitates being felt as well as read and, sadly, there are plenty of people out there who haven’t tried either.
Poetry has many benefits to offer those who afford it proper time and due reverence. One of the main things I have benefitted from is poetry’s uncanny ability to give a voice to those emotions and experiences that perhaps I would have otherwise found difficult to talk about or make sense of myself.
Poetry has the power to profoundly and wonderfully enrich our lives. Poetry can be a source of healing. Poetry can soothe and comfort as well as stir and agitate. Poetry can lead us to meditate and poetry can provoke us into action. Poetry invites us to slow down and helps us to become present, serving the particular moment or text that we find ourselves in.
As we continually open ourselves to a varied plethora of poets and poems and as we spend time reading (and I would advise speaking and listening to) the Psalms, we quickly discover that our experiences of loss, heartache, abandonment, bewilderment, anger and hopelessness are perhaps not as uncommon as we might think.
My new book, Propelled into Wonder (Wipf and Stock Publishers), is an original poetry collection containing many highs and sighs from the past decade of my life. Several of the poems in the book were written in the gruelling aftermath of losing my beloved father unexpectedly and suddenly to Covid during the lead up to Christmas in 2021. Others were inspired by a selection of my favourite people and places or born out of several incredibly joyful and unsavoury experiences from both within and outside the walls of the Church.
Propelled into Wonder is home to poems about faith, doubt, grief, leadership, beauty, childhood and love (among others). Many of the poems are accompanied by original hand drawn illustrations. My hope is that this book will inspire and speak to others in the same way that the poetry of others so often ministers and speaks to me.
In the book’s introduction, I write the following words: “If nothing else, my hope is that the words on the pages that follow are honest. Moreover, that they are honest in the way that the Psalms are honest, holding nothing back and declining that dangerous invitation to adopt an unrealistic state of permanent politeness, all in the name of showing God due reverence.”
If you are kind enough to pick up a copy of my book, my heart’s desire is that my words will speak to you, or even help you speak, and I am praying that my poems will become both friend and firebrand.
It was one of my favourite poets, Gerard Manley Hopkins, who famously observed in one of his most well known poems2: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.” Perhaps your world needs to be charged with poetry!
Photo Credits: Courtesy of Matthew White
Guest Writer
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Sorted discusses the big issues of the day – focusing on subjects as diverse as culture, sport, cars, health, faith, gadgets, humour and relationships. We aim to be positive and wholesome in all we do. And we have been achieving this since 2007.
Every printed issue of Sorted is read by more than 100,000 men in 21 different countries – while digitally, the number of people reading our online content (free and via subscription) continues to soar.
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