Poets and Saints

Happy Easter, everyone. I hope everyone has had a great spring so far.

I am going to go in the opposite direction of books. I have a nonfiction for you, which is a rarity; I think I have only ever done one or two other nonfiction books. I am doing another Christian-based one as well. Written by Jamie George, a pastor from Tennessee whose church is where the worship group All Sons & Daughters is from, Poets and Saints is framed around a trip that he took around Europe with his daughter and the worship team. The intent of the trip was to go to sites of major saints and great poets of the faith. Each stop provided a backstory on the saint/poet, a major focal point on their relationship with God, and how that focal point is relatable to all of us and is either used as an encouragement, conviction, etc. For instance, the first stop was in Ireland where George talks about St Patrick. St Augustine, St Francis, Martin Luther, C.S. Lewis, the architecture of Paris, and others are discussed.

I had done a bible study with Poets and Saints being the source material. I enjoyed doing the study that I ended up wanting to own and read this book for many years. This was a book I had asked for Christmas for three years and never got, so I went and got it myself. I was not disappointed. This was not one of those Christian living books where there are sections at the end of each chapter where you write and reflect with questions, which I appreciated. I still took notes while reading, but with Christian living books I am not looking for a journal and reflect; if I wanted that I would be doing a devotional.

I appreciate that there was an excitement about the trip that they took and going to the places that the featured people had lived. It got serious when it got into the theological portion of the chapter, but with it coming from a pastor, I get it. There is a pastor that I enjoy listening to who is very research-based when he speaks; when he speaks, you can hear him get so excited about his findings where then he will flip the attitude and become serious when it comes to translating his research into a concept the audience can understand. It reminds me of when I talk to someone about things I or they are passionate about; they get really excited when talking about it, but flip and get serious when they have to break it down for you.

Another reason why I wanted to read this to begin with is because with how much I love reading and learning from what I read, whether it is fiction or nonfiction, I wanted to start applying that to my own relationship with God. I had gone for so long learning and growing in a very charismatic setting that I hit a wall and was not learning anything. Reading Poets and Saints is the first book in a new season of growth that re/introduced me to people I can learn from. To me, it would be like a crude way of self-teaching theology. I think Christian communities get so divided with being more involved with Holy Spirit and spiritual giftings and relationships vs high church and order and strict teaching of the Bible… it is also not bad to have both.

If you are looking for something in Christian living, I would check out Poets and Saints; because of reading it, I went and found a copy of Confessions by St Augustine. If you do Poets and Saints, I hope that it was a good resource for you as it was for me. You can find it here.

9/10