This anthology was conceived a number of years ago whilst I was at University and I was looking for poetry for use in worship after picking up Spoken Worship by Gerard Kelly. As a creative writing student I was interested in the idea of using poetry within worship and Spoken Worship was a big influence on how I came to think about worship as a poet and a leader of sung worship. However, in the years that followed I never did find the book I was looking for. In the mean time I independently published my own books until I finally gained the confidence to seriously consider putting together a full anthology of worship poetry. I always intended this to be a collaborative effort and having come through the process now I feel blessed and truly amazed by the support people have given and the enthusiasm towards the idea and so I want to thank everyone who encouraged me in this effort.
I really believe that poetry has an important role in how we worship and how we come into relationship with God. Poetry gives us the words that we do not have or cannot find, poetry helps us to see differently and it challenges us in the most eloquent and simple ways, as humble words read against silence. And as a poet I feel that it is my job to try and capture something of the ineffable but not try and define it. Some of the poets featured here have written hundreds and often thousands of poems, each providing a mere glimpse of our Creator, each subsequent poem further seeking the face of God. I believe that poetry is about interacting with mysteries like love and death and religion and I think about worship in the same way. I want to embrace the mystery of God but know that as I fling my arms open in awe, know that the living God will meet me.
The poets included in this anthology are from the past and the present, from all over the world and from different traditions and different age groups. We range from vicars and scholars to scientists and doctors to teachers and carers to writers and artists to missionaries and campaigners to office managers and administrators but we all come seeking God, hoping to bring glory to God in the small ways that we can, but in the belief that in doing so we get to see more of who God is and know God more.
I want to thank all these contributors who have generously given permission for their poems to be used here, without them this book would not be. I also thank them for getting behind the heart of the project as a non-profit venture. I love the saying “there is no money in poetry and there is no poetry in money” as this is what I had in mind for this project all along - that people would be able to download it for free or buy it for as little as possible and use it without worrying about the cost of the resource. In return I ask that you respect the time and energy that we, the poets, have invested in this volume and that if you wish to use any of these poems in recordings, books, films, etc, that you seek our permission and that you use the resource in the spirit it is given.
Finally, I truly hope that this anthology will be a blessing, that in using it you will be challenged, assured, encouraged, inspired, comforted, awed and that through using it you will come to know God deeper.
Daniel Paul Gilbert